8 FREE Ways to Improve Worship Through Technology

[Today's post is from Jamin Coller, Milestones Music.]

Creating a worship environment is a delicate art form, but the prep for it is usually just plain, hard work. For our the worship team, we see it much like preparing a romantic night out: the end result should be feel romantic, but the real satisfaction comes from the other person knowing that you cared enough to make it a special time.

As a worship director and online piano teacher, I’m looking for cutting-edge technology to enhance my musical product; as a self-employed father of two, I’m always looking for a way to do it for free.  Here are some great ways to increase worship team effectiveness through tech tools that won’t cost a penny:

1) PDFs on iPad/iTouch/Android: we put our lead sheets in a PDF version and everyone views them on their own personal device. Less on-stage clutter, and we can all practice that week’s songs any time.

2) Team Viewer: Remotely control someone else’s computer.  Awesome! Free! Simple!  You can discuss lead sheets together, looking at the same files and listening to the same music.  Even surf the web together, viewing the same example videos and commentaries.

3) Evernote: cloud note-writing.  Make notes about arrangements for all your songs that everyone can view and/or edit at any time, from their phone or computer.

4) Google Voice: free texting over Wi-Fi. Great for important conversations about last-minute changes during worship… “what r we playing after prayer?”  or “skip 3^rd song” (Be sure your phone isn’t on vibrate and the ringer is off. Also, place phone/iPad on music stand and text with one hand so the audience can’t tell you’re texting.)

5) Skype: Free video conferencing. You can’t practice together because of the delay, but you can audition that week’s soloist, show a guitarist their riff, even hold a prayer meeting.

6) Dropbox: Free cloud storage. Drag and drop that week’s mp3s and PDFs into a public folder and your worship team can access them anywhere they have internet.

7) Ludwig Metronome: quickest way to find out how fast they’re playing on the recording…just open the app and tap along. After 2 or 3 taps, it tells you the exact speed. Then, just press start and it will keep that tempo for you.

8) Tuner tool: Best, free guitar tuner app.

Because musicians aren’t always the tech-savviest people, be sure to try a new tool out as the leader before you try to implement it.  Then, try it out for more than a week or two with the team.  Any artist is sure to fight against a change to the way they make their art, but with a little convincing and a fair trial period, these apps may just revolutionize the way you get things done.

Jamin Coller teaches music instructors and private students from his home studio and across the nation through MilestonesMusic.net. Writer and arranger for Lifepoints Church and the Gospel Music Workshop of America, he also offers free instruction and advice on YouTube and can be followed on Twitter or Facebook.