The Secret To Excellent Music Charts

Tim H. Swanson

At times, leading rehearsals can feel like trying to lead Universal Studios backstage tour through a hurricane. But not a staged hurricane, like the one on the actual Universal tour, that goes exactly as planned. It's more like a real hurricane, where you have to take inventory of the damage afterwards. Sometimes you get hit with old tech that breaks down at the worst possible time. Other times interpersonal conflict becomes a powerful wind trying to knock you off your feet. On top of that, there are about a million other little things that can threaten to wash your rehearsal away. Some dangers are bigger than others, but it's some of the more obscure ones that have the most potential to wash us out to sea. One of these little things is the music charts that we hand our team members.

Most musicians think of music as a language, which is good because that's what it is. However, a surprising amount of band leaders don't treat it like a language when they prepare for rehearsals. Many worship leaders will breeze through chart preparation thinking, “They’ll understand what I mean.” Sometimes that may be true, but often their own handy work begins to contribute to rehearsal chaos.

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Wow, wasn't that unpleasant. Have you ever done that to your team by handing them difficult to read charts? I've certainly been guilty of this , especially on weeks where I'm particularly busy and rushed. So these are the steps I've learned from older and much wiser leaders about how to consistently prepare clear music charts for my team.

1. Road maps aren't lame, they're awesome. Whether you use chord charts or lead sheets, writing a road map at the top of the first page is really helpful. For your visual learners, it provides a kind picture that helps them process what they're about to play. While editing this, I showed it to Jonathan Thomas. He told me that he has his team write the road map on their charts as he explains it during rehearsal. This is great because it appeals to more learning styles. When you are communicating new information, you want to touch on as many different learning styles as possible.

2. Talk through new tunes, but not too much. I recently observed a rehearsal where I watched the whole band go cross eyed as the worship leader whirled through the chart to a new song explaining everything in it. When you talk through a song with your team, which you should, mention just one thing about each section. Example: "drums come in on verse two, then lets kick the energy up on the next chorus". Also, if you're anything like me, you'll be tempted to use fancy musical words to make yourself look good. Avoid that. Use accessible terms, especially if your team has newer or more inexperienced members.

3. Play through your charts, and look for mistakes. This is a great way to cut down on confusion and frustration during rehearsal. By sitting with your instrument and playing through a song for a while, you'll catch all the stuff that'll trip up your team. Make it your goal to hand people charts with mistakes. The goal is not to be perfect, it's to eliminate distractions. Doing this will  also provide the added bonus of giving you confidence when you begin leading your team through the song.

4. Bring a red pen to rehearsal. It's the worst when you discover a mistake on a chart and then it reappears every time you go to play that song. Use a red pen to mark up any mistakes on your charts, then fix them in your database that week. Then the next time you go to play them, you'll be giving your team more of want they need. I do this any time I've written a song. It's especially useful if you are the type that makes changes to songs during rehearsal.

5. Use grownup charts. It's easy and free to go to a tab or chord website and get the chords for a song you want to do. But you get what you pay for. Other websites, like Praisecharts.com or musicnotes.com, provide professionally made charts that come loaded with everything you need. They are easy to read, complete, and many come in a number of different keys. This is the easiest way to give your team the clear instruction on how to play a song. Yet, even with professionally made charts, you'll still want to use a road map.

The music we do is unique because it communicates a powerful truth that everyone needs. The words that we sing have great significance and real power. In order to support those words musically, we need confident musicians. While you can't make people confident, you can provide them with the tools they'll need to do their best.