Learn to master the art of the song transition—how and when to sing, speak, play, and lead in the spaces. Charmaine gives strategies, ideas, and tips to help you gain confidence and eliminate the sometimes awkward, distracting moments between songs!
Hi Charmaine! Just watching this, I LOVE your teaching! I’m new at leading…I’ve lead songs for years, but I’ve only led the whole set a handful of times…but I know God has called me to this! I’m leading worship this Friday for a graduation (LCU), & I have 3 songs…could you tell me if the theme/flow is good? Alabaster Jar in E, King of my Heart in A, & Spirit of The Living God in D…I was planning on going back into the “Worthy, Worthy” part softly after ending Alabaster Jar, then ad libbing something like, “God, You are so Worthy…You are so Good…You are my King, You are my King”, then going into King of my Heart…then after that maybe just praying & inviting Holy Spirit to have His way, & move in our midst before starting the last song. (Problem is, my Dad is the keyboard player…I’m still learning…& we may/May not have a drummer…my Dad loves to “bang” on the keys, so it’s hard for me to ask him to play it “my way”….I appreciate ANY advice/insight/observations! 🙂
Charmaine
on May 9, 2018 at 12:37 pm
Hey! Glad this was helpful for you! I’m not familiar with Alabaster Jar, so I can’t speak much to theme flow, but I do have some suggestions for song key flow. As I talk about in the video with the circle of fifths, the way song transitions flow best is to move one key to the right on the chart. Second best is to move two keys to the right on the chart.
Since the chart moves D – A – E, and you’re moving E – A – D, the transitions won’t necessarily be “bad”, but they could probably be much smoother if you were able to change things up a bit! You’ll have to decide if it will affect your theme flow too much, or if your voice wouldn’t be able to handle a different key, but here are a couple ideas:
Change some of the keys:
D Alabaster Jar
A King of My Heart
E Spirit of the Living God (or do this one in D, because at least you’ll have one “better” transition in the set!)
Change song flow:
D Spirit of the Living God
A King of My Heart
E Alabaster Jar
Or… change both!
A King of My Heart
D Alabaster Jar
D Spirit of the Living God
Another suggestion for the future (best not to get into big discussions with musicians so close to the service dates) but I would suggest having a conversation with your dad about how you would like him to play keys. Show him real examples (from youtube, etc), and tell him WHY you want it played differently. Spoken in kindness and love, this is often an important and necessary conversation to have with musicians!
Hope this helps! 🙂
Slarkinm
on May 9, 2018 at 1:42 pm
Yes it does, thank you so much!! 🙂
Charmaine
on May 9, 2018 at 1:43 pm
You’re welcome!
jmarines
on April 13, 2018 at 11:33 pm
Awesome video! God is so faithful! I’ve been struggling with how to transition between the fast to slow songs for this Sunday’s service. I decided to watch this video, even though I didn’t think I had 42 free minutes, and I’m so glad I listened to the tugging in my heart. And to put the icing on the cake, those songs are on my setlist!!! Thank you Charmaine. God continue to bless you and your ministry!
Charmaine
on April 14, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Awesome! So glad it was a blessing to you and practical for what you needed!! God bless! 🙂
alfredicnad79
on March 7, 2018 at 8:50 pm
Thank You so much I learned from this session, May God Bless us all.
Charmaine
on March 9, 2018 at 2:19 pm
You’re very welcome!
alfredicnad79
on March 6, 2018 at 10:08 pm
Thank You so much, Miss Chamaine I learned a lot this chapter. We pray that God leading our heart while we worshiping and praising His song.
Charmaine
on March 7, 2018 at 8:20 pm
You’re welcome! And amen! Following His leading!!
Michelle
on September 8, 2017 at 7:44 pm
This may be a bit off topic but I was told recently to practice in front of a mirror and that it would help a lot..can I get your thoughts on this please? 😉
Charmaine
on September 9, 2017 at 10:48 am
Absolutely! Practicing in front of a mirror is an amazing thing to do because it helps us to be aware of what we look like to other people… posture, facial expression, etc. Another good idea is to have someone take a video clip of you when you’re singing in front of people (on stage at church, etc.) because that helps you be aware of any nervous habits you might have!
Hi Charmaine! Just watching this, I LOVE your teaching! I’m new at leading…I’ve lead songs for years, but I’ve only led the whole set a handful of times…but I know God has called me to this! I’m leading worship this Friday for a graduation (LCU), & I have 3 songs…could you tell me if the theme/flow is good? Alabaster Jar in E, King of my Heart in A, & Spirit of The Living God in D…I was planning on going back into the “Worthy, Worthy” part softly after ending Alabaster Jar, then ad libbing something like, “God, You are so Worthy…You are so Good…You are my King, You are my King”, then going into King of my Heart…then after that maybe just praying & inviting Holy Spirit to have His way, & move in our midst before starting the last song. (Problem is, my Dad is the keyboard player…I’m still learning…& we may/May not have a drummer…my Dad loves to “bang” on the keys, so it’s hard for me to ask him to play it “my way”….I appreciate ANY advice/insight/observations! 🙂
Hey! Glad this was helpful for you! I’m not familiar with Alabaster Jar, so I can’t speak much to theme flow, but I do have some suggestions for song key flow. As I talk about in the video with the circle of fifths, the way song transitions flow best is to move one key to the right on the chart. Second best is to move two keys to the right on the chart.
Since the chart moves D – A – E, and you’re moving E – A – D, the transitions won’t necessarily be “bad”, but they could probably be much smoother if you were able to change things up a bit! You’ll have to decide if it will affect your theme flow too much, or if your voice wouldn’t be able to handle a different key, but here are a couple ideas:
Change some of the keys:
D Alabaster Jar
A King of My Heart
E Spirit of the Living God (or do this one in D, because at least you’ll have one “better” transition in the set!)
Change song flow:
D Spirit of the Living God
A King of My Heart
E Alabaster Jar
Or… change both!
A King of My Heart
D Alabaster Jar
D Spirit of the Living God
Another suggestion for the future (best not to get into big discussions with musicians so close to the service dates) but I would suggest having a conversation with your dad about how you would like him to play keys. Show him real examples (from youtube, etc), and tell him WHY you want it played differently. Spoken in kindness and love, this is often an important and necessary conversation to have with musicians!
Hope this helps! 🙂
Yes it does, thank you so much!! 🙂
You’re welcome!
Awesome video! God is so faithful! I’ve been struggling with how to transition between the fast to slow songs for this Sunday’s service. I decided to watch this video, even though I didn’t think I had 42 free minutes, and I’m so glad I listened to the tugging in my heart. And to put the icing on the cake, those songs are on my setlist!!! Thank you Charmaine. God continue to bless you and your ministry!
Awesome! So glad it was a blessing to you and practical for what you needed!! God bless! 🙂
Thank You so much I learned from this session, May God Bless us all.
You’re very welcome!
Thank You so much, Miss Chamaine I learned a lot this chapter. We pray that God leading our heart while we worshiping and praising His song.
You’re welcome! And amen! Following His leading!!
This may be a bit off topic but I was told recently to practice in front of a mirror and that it would help a lot..can I get your thoughts on this please? 😉
Absolutely! Practicing in front of a mirror is an amazing thing to do because it helps us to be aware of what we look like to other people… posture, facial expression, etc. Another good idea is to have someone take a video clip of you when you’re singing in front of people (on stage at church, etc.) because that helps you be aware of any nervous habits you might have!
Brilliant
🙂