Our youth program, like many others, takes on a different schedule for the summer. With all the trips and unusual schedule we found it hard to keep up with our Youth Band over that same period of time. Now summer has come to an end and it’s time to get going again.
You also may be done with the hectic travel of the summer and are beginning to gear up for the school year. So what do get ready for your youth band to start playing again? Here are just a few ideas:
1. Equipment Check- Where did the kick pedal for the drum set go after your last service… 3 months ago? Are the bass strings still good after sitting out the same time? Did the adult praise team return the extra monitor they borrowed? One of the first things to do is to check and make sure that you have everything located and in working order. This is the time to replace strings on church owned instruments, purchase batteries needed for microphones, and to check all cables.
One way is to do this yourself. The other way is to get several of your youth band members together on a day when you will not be rehearsing. Have them sort, check, find and prepare their instruments. The more responsibility they take, the better.
2. Music Check- Where are your folders of music from last year? Are you planning on doing the same songs from last year? What new songs are you wanting to start off with when rehearsals begin? Last year I wrote about the process we use to evaluate our overall song list. It helps us to determine which songs we know we can play immediately, which ones we want to work on, and those that need a well deserved rest.
3. People Check- Two of our vocalists graduated and are heading off to college. Another member has moved away to another town. Now is the time to be thinking about how to replace those members. Whether you have a try out process, or you personally ask students, now is the time to fill those holes. At one church I had two youth bands. One was a learning band, and the other led on a regular basis. When we lost a member in the band, we had a member ready to step up and take their spot.
Does your youth band even take off during the summer? Why or why not?
Read more posts relating to Youth Worship Teams.
Check out my friend Jason Huffman’s thoughts on Youth Worship Bands, including last year’s post about Taking the Summer Off
Russell, thanks for the links to my posts. We haven’t graduated any students and haven’t had any equipment shuffled around much except for my PA that I used at camp. So we will focus most of our time on music check. I only hope everyone knows where their folders are. We are also going to incorporate some new songs for the fall, so this will be a good time to at least pass out music. As for what I would add, would be maybe a “Commitment Check”. About half of our band works really hard and takes their craft very seriously. The other half enjoys the musician moniker more than they enjoy the time and effort it takes to really progress as a worship musician. So I really want to start the new year off right by renewing our sense of commitment to the band, to the youth group, and to the discipline that goes with being a musician. I know as the school year went on, I got burnt out on band rehearsals, so I hope to start with a new vigor as well. Another thing I hope to do this year is a “Heart Check”. I hope to have an activity where our youth band serves the rest of our group in a non-musical way. Maybe serving them food or cleaning the youth building. I want them to remember that they are servants before they are leaders. As I figure out how to make this happen, I’ll try to let you know how it turns out.
Jason.. great thoughts. Thanks so much for sharing. Looking forward to hearing about what your youth and youth band are doing this year!