CROWD CONTROL
As a praise and worship leader in prison, you can probably imagine that we are a pretty tough crowd to get situated, get focused and sometimes get motivated. I have had just as many high points as I have had train wrecks, but there is not a worse feeling than having a congregation that is not into what you are doing. It is a mighty task to uplift a people who have so much on their mind. These are some of the tips I have learned to get a tough, unfocused crowd motivated:
PICK AN ANTHEM
You have to remember that when you are up there performing, you will be in front of a crowd of people who have been carrying a heavy load all week, and just want to come let it all hang out for God, fellowship and let the Holy Spirit take over. That means they have to be able to sing back at you at the top of their lungs. In order to do that, they either have to know the words of the songs, or the songs have to be easy to learn.
As musicians and singers, we like to show how good we are, and have a tendency to take on complex pieces of music, or songs that show off our skill sets. There is a time and place for what I like to call "spotlight performances", where a singer or choir mezmerizes a congregation with beautiful, intense hynms, full of dynamic shows of their talent, where people just sit back and watch in awe. But if you want to blow the roof off of the place, the song has to be powerful, simple to learn, and easy enough for everyone to sing...or at least join in on the hook. You may be in a situation (like me) where you are around the same 40 or 50 people every week, in which case you can adopt an anthem- the one song that represents your body of believers that is sung every week, that everyone can't wait to join in on. My church has three: "I Won't Go Back" by William McDowell is a great opener with a contageous hook that I usually close a service with. But to open a service, and wake everybody up, I have taken the song "How Great Is Our God"; bumped up the speed of the song to 95 beats per minute, added a thumping, peddling bassline (like the one in "Jump" by Van Halen)...and when the crowd is singing at full throttle, I drop the music out simply so God can hear the pureness of their worship. We do this also with "Every Praise" By Hezekiah Walker, where I bump up the speed of the song from 100 to 120 BPM. In my mind, I have always equated power and drive with speed. You have to find what works for you, but the goal is to pick a song that gets everyone to their feet. You may have to help with that using these tactics: 2.)
CROWD SPLITTING
If you have several praise and worship singers helping you, you can have one take the right side of the room, the other the left, and when it comes to the hook of a song, make a contest out of which side sounds better. We usually make a bit out of the whole process where my lead singer will demand that I stop the music, We will then playfully argue with each other over which side of the room sounds better, then make the crowd prove us wrong by diving right back into the hook of the song with one side going first, then the other, then everyone together. It is fun, playful and gets everyone involved.
CROWD PLANTS
My praise and worship team at the Celebrate Recovery® inside program consists of 5 or 6 regulars... two of them help me sing, one guy controls the remote control to change the lyrics of the songs that are displayed on a massive flat screen T.V. set up behind me, and those who have nothing to do I have seated in strategic places in the crowd (along with choir members who aren't part of the C.R. team, but still support our cause,) Their job is to find dead spots in the crowd, and to stand up and sing, and gently urge the people around them to sing, because joy is contageous, just like laughter. It is the same tactic used by stand up comedians who pay plants to sit in the crowd and laugh at every joke. People laugh when people laugh, and people sing when people sing. It’s just that simple.
When I am singing to pre recorded music or videos (or even sometimes when I am behind the keyboard) I will grab a cordless mike and wander out into the crowd, or along the front row trying to find people who want to give it a shot. You can tell the ones who want to sing on the mike versus the ones who don't want you to come anywhere near them...but every now and then you will come across one man or woman who knows the song, and sings it better than you. I will walk away from them, leaving the mike with them, and urging them to come to the front to finish the song.
Anything you can do to get everyone involved is a good thing, I think. There is no better feeling in the world than a church full of people praising God's name in unison. When the praises go up, God's blessings come down, and the presence of the Holy Spirit is palpable.
STAY PRAYED UP, and God bless you.