Ch 5: Specific Service Elements
A great MD will work with their Worship Leader before they get to this part of the service to find out their vision, or at least options. They may want to deviate from the plan and shift the song depending on a few factors, but having a tentative plan with them is always a brilliant idea!
Prayer Tag Dynamic Arc
We don’t just build on prayer tags because it’s “what we’ve always done.” It’s incredibly purposeful and intentional. When we pray in services, we’re all pressing in for miracles and breakthrough so we need the music to reflect that! That translates to building more and more tension as we pray. The prayer tag we lead people in is part of the “amen” and a faith-driven response as we celebrate our God going before us in these areas! This is why we generally move to a groove after the “amen” to bring an atmosphere of more resolution and celebration.
Best Practices for Building
Don’t feel you need to start on the eventual chord progression immediately. As discussed previously, we use chord progressions to our advantage and don’t let the song we’ll be going into dictate what and how we play leading up to that. For instance, if a Worship Leader wants to go into the bridge of What A Beautiful Name, a smart MD might have the band vamp on the chorus until we start to build behind prayer, then switch to the bridge chords. This way, shifting from a resolved chord progression to a more tension-filled one can help feel like a more dynamic shift is happening and add to the dynamic layering.
Generally, we pray for three things in services: those who need a shift/miracle, our city and our pastors. A good rule of thumb is to be on an 8th note build by the time we get to the third prayer topic if we’re not already.