How To Transition Between Songs

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!

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28 Responses

Thank you so much for this video, this is exactly what I need right now! I have a question, you mentioned that we should not speak out during every transition, but just once for a shorter set. Do you mean for a 3 song set, choose to either speak out OR pray OR read Scripture only once, and not say anything during the other transition?

Charmaine Brown says:

November 8, 2019 at 1:12 pm

You’re welcome—glad you enjoyed the video! Yes, in a shorter set, I would leave one transition with nothing spoken, and the other transition you could do one or a combo of those things (read a scripture and pray, scripture and a quick thought, etc).

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The responsibility of leading worship kind of fell in my lap recently when our worship leader had to go out of state for his job for an extended period of time. We were just getting the band to a new level and had added transitions, but I had never done them myself. I was nervous and just wanted to make sure I was on the same page as our pastor. He is a former worship leader himself and he’s been very helpful. I’ve been leading for a month now and am beginning to feel more comfortable, but I have found your webinars so helpful! Thank you so much!

Charmaine says:

July 5, 2019 at 11:12 am

That’s awesome Pamela! So glad you’re starting to feel more confident in these things — and it will grow the more you lead and plan out transitions!

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Hi Charmaine, thank you for this really insightful video on transitions and for the reminders of how important transitions are and how much more time I ought to spend planning and thinking of the in-between songs. Appreciate it a lot!

There has been something on my mind which I’d like to hear from you about. Usually, when I lead worship, during transitions, I either pray or read scripture, but I don’t usually ‘speak’ to the congregation. I don’t do that because when I speak to the congregation, saying “Let’s worship God”, “Let’s put our hands tog”, “Let’s declare who God is” it sounds as if God is not present and so it feels a little awkward to me. God is present in our worship and God is right there with us and we can just talk directly to him. (: In that case, then I wouldn’t really need to ‘speak’ to the congregation and say, “Let’s sing, let’s reflect on this scripture” etc, but to just be so in awe of God and to direct everything I say to Him, and not to the congregation. What are your views on this? Would really love to hear some perspectives! Thank you very much.

Charmaine says:

June 3, 2019 at 11:17 am

Hey! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Ultimately — you have to do what you feel comfortable with, and every worship leader is different when it comes to that.

Re: speaking to the congregation — I totally agree that God is very present with us, but encouraging and leading the congregation with some short phrases, from my perspective, is not “excluding” God, or intimating that He’s not present — our congregations want to worship and join in, but sometimes they don’t know what to do, so a short encouragement to them is actually very helpful to lead them!

I absolutely agree that we can and should talk directly to God as well! Speaking to God and speaking directly to the congregation serve two different purposes in the worship set.

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1. sherlynang says:
  
  June 3, 2019 at 6:46 pm
  
  Thanks so much for sharing your insights! (: I’ve been watching the discover your voice series and learning a lot from you about the heart behind what we do. Also started trying out/practicing some new things for a set I’m leading this week!
  
  Reply
  1. Charmaine says:
    
    June 4, 2019 at 1:06 pm
    
    Awesome! Hope the worship set goes well! 🙂
    
    Reply

Hi Charmaine! I’ve been absent from the site for a while…and wish I hadn’t been!! I have totally been missing out! This is the most amazing tutorial! I felt….honestly ministered to through this video. Not only that, but since the new year I have led 3 services and though I think I have done a decent job have had some struggles. I am the kind of person who needs it spelled out for me…and you do exaclty that! I think I am going to listen to this several times to really soak it all in, but I wanted to say thank you SO MUCH! You are a blessing ♡

Charmaine says:

May 2, 2019 at 9:27 pm

Hi Susan! Nice to hear from you! You’re so welcome, I’m so glad to hear that this video has been a blessing for you! <3

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First of all just let me say… I love you and what you’re doing! No one else I’ve ever found is doing exactly what you’re doing. I have the Brett Manning program and have used it and it was helpful in vocals but you taking Brett’s principles and applying them to worship leading has been such a helpful tool. Thank you for your ministry and for answering the call of God to train worship vocalists.

Here’s my question… I have been the worship pastor at my church for right at 13 years now. Normally I like to have the person leading the song do that transition before their song. I have a lot of lead vocalists who are hesitant to do this and it gets really awkward at times. Do you think that it’s okay for me to just handle all the transitions for a short time just to model to them what to do? Or is it awkward for the transition to come from someone who isn’t singing lead on that particular song?

Charmaine says:

February 20, 2019 at 11:24 am

Hey Steffanie! Thanks for the encouragement! That’s a great question. In many cases, yes, having the person who’s leading the song do the transition can be ideal. However… it’s FAR from ideal if it’s sacrificing too much strength/energy/excellence in the service. In my opinion, I think modelling for them first is the way to go, with clear expectations given to them that they will be expected to do it in upcoming months… so they should be watching closely and practicing at home! I don’t think it’s awkward at all for you to do the transitions, even if you’re not leading that song, especially since you’re the worship pastor and obviously a very “known” figure at your church having been there for many years!

I’d say give it a time frame (2-3 months?). Transitions are incredibly important, so do your best to communicate the importance of it being a smooth flow… that it be theologically sound and not just unnecessary “fluff” (it’s crazy what some people say between songs!), the importance of preparation in advance, etc. At your rehearsals, and/or after the worship service, give them the “what” and “why” of what you’re doing/did in the transition… if you chose a scripture verse, why that one? If you chose to speak out an encouragement/exhortation, why did you choose the words you did? If you chose to sing something, why that? If a transition doesn’t go well, tell them why! For people who are new at leading transitions, it can be so overwhelming and mysterious of what to choose… when… why, etc…. but if we break it down for them, it can make the learning process a lot smoother!

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How To Transition Between Songs

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