Dead Air

~ by Heather and Clara Birch

Absolute silence in a worship service can be desirable, if it is planned or if it results in worshipful contemplation or reflection. However, if periods of silence are due to the worship team shuffling their music or a speaker walking to the podium, these silences are not valuable, and can distract worshippers. We are not advocating for busy or rushed worship services, but for the worship team members to take responsibility for minimizing potential distractions.

We propose two ways in which our worship team can minimize undesirable silence, or, “dead air.” First, when a worship set is coming to an end, the worship leader can give a small nod to the speaker who is up next. Then the speaker is prepared to walk up to the podium on time, reaching it as the music ends. Second, the worship team can make an effort to minimize dead air between any two worship songs. This can be done by

• playing worship sets which feature songs in a single key and time signature, and playing them without stopping in between,
• being prepared after each song to quickly begin the next one, within 1-2 seconds, or
• practicing musical transitions which can effectively link worship songs together.

While we try to link worship songs together as often as possible, admittedly, it doesn't always work perfectly. Poorly executed transitions which sound abrupt or awkward, or cause the congregation to become confused about when to come in are unfortunate. However, this is not a reason to declare that musical transitions are inappropriate or undesirable, but a sign that we need more practice, or that the transition needs adjusting.
It is possible to move between songs of different keys, without stopping, by playing a chord progression (series of chords) which leads you from one key to another. This is known as modulation.  

Tools

• Tim Bergmann has created a tool called The Modex, which he advocates as “an effective tool for creating musical bridges.” An old-school version of The Modex, which is made of paper and a plastic spinner, is in the Worship Room for your use. There is also an iPhone app ($1.99) called “Musician's Toolbox,” which contains The Modex, as well as a transposing tool and a tuner. When you indicate any two keys to The Modex, it provides 7 different sets of chords you can use to move between those two keys. I highly recommend buying this app if you have an apple phone!
• A tutorial explaining how to write modulations between keys is also available on this site.