A lot of the times when we pray, we seek those ‘feelings,’ and we very much so through music, especially during praise and worship. We must guard ourselves from this, lest we just use it to entertain ourselves.
Music, used for praise and worship can deepen our relationship with God. It can help us pray when we are at a loss for words ourselves. It can lead us to a greater sense of hope. As St. Augustine says, “Singing is twice praying.”
So as Music Coordinator, you will almost always have to choose songs for praise and worship and for Mass.
As a past Music Coordinator mentioned, a good knowledge of Christian music would be very helpful both old and new, and traditional hymns. (To be honest, only by becoming a Music Coordinator my knowledge of Christian Music had expanded, especially for traditional hymns.)
Reflecting on my role as Music Coordinator, I think that the most crucial aspect of it is our relationship with God. The reason I say this is because, you will be leading a lot of praise and worships, and they really are prayers as a community. So as a leader, you are leading people into prayer. As a leader you must be the first one to be prayerful, to humble yourself and allow God to teach you how to pray; to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and directions.
If you feel that you haven’t had the best relationship with God, then now is the best time to develop that. Take on the challenge, I dare you. Let this role as a Music Coordinator stretch you, and let God come to you through it. And so as a consequence bless and enrich others through music because you humbled yourself and allowed God to come to you!
And now, the practical side of things:
Because as a Music Coordinator you will be choosing songs and be arranging practices together with your fellow musicians, it will help you very much and save you headache and spare you from panic by being organized.
So Planning is Key:
- Arrange and set a day before the event itself for practice and also a venue for it, i.e. Tuesday nights or Saturday mornings. It is preferable that you keep to one day and not shift days for practice.
- You do not have to lead all the Praise and Worships as you can ask people to lead as well. Now, when choosing people, I suggest that you book them more than a week ahead, and so on for the other weeks. Try to plan out a roster for the whole month for worship leaders.
- When choosing songs for worship, try to do it more than a week before the set day, and also as much as possible see if you can relate to the theme for the day, or however you feel how God wants you to pray or what message He might want to impart through you.
- Also because you will be taking care of COSDU’s music equipment, and at times the venue for Mass will be at different places, you will need help to get the equipment around.
If you do choose to accept the challenge and this anointing that God will be giving you by sparking a desire in you to serve as Music Coordinator and to be leading people in prayer, I encourage you to do so.
I also encourage you to add in your flare, the talents God has given you and to multiply them. Be creative!
Here’s a little sharing of my experience as a Music Coordinator before I end. Through this role, by God’s grace I have been stretched and have grown in my character.
I used to be afraid of singing in front of people; it used to be one of my biggest fears. I just felt shameful about it, shameful about my own voice. Through the years, little by little I started to overcome this fear, and becoming a Music Coordinator, I can say was the pivotal point. I can sing now anytime, and alone in front of people if I must.
Also through this role, God has exposed to me of my own pride. I won’t say that it is completely gone, like everyone I am still a work in progress.
And finally, if I can condense this role into a few words it would be, planning, and growing in your continuous relationship with God.
And with that, may God be praised.
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