How to Choose New Worship Songs for 2012 - Part 1

Is your playlist getting better every year?
Are you just adding the latest and "hottest" new songs?
Maybe it's time to try a more structured approach.

 

This year I set specific goals for new songs. You can see the enhanced scan of my filled in worksheet on the right.
I write in pencil and recycle paper, so this is the best I could do.
In the past I have been sporadic in introducing new songs. There are always more new songs I want to introduce than we can sing. Some of our song categories need some fresh songs. We have worn out our favorites or we never had enough songs in some categories that we really want to play. I'm committed to balancing the content of our songs.

I decided I needed a more deliberate approach. As I outline the process I used, you may find some of these ideas are helpful.

1
Determine how many new songs is a realistic number.

Since we needed some fresh songs, I decided to go for 8. We have a 3 week rotational leadership schedule, and I lead every other time. As a result, I have 8 rotational opportunities to introduce a new songs. Since we play new songs three weeks in a row and only introduce 1 new song at a time, 8 songs becomes the maximum. For 2012 I probably won't try to do as many, so I can continue to reinforce all the new songs I introduced this year.

2
Determine what types of songs need attention.

I intentionally forced myself to introduce songs in hard to fill categories because they were in the most need of attention. I categorize songs to balance coverage. Some of those categories are easier to fill than others. If you look at my filled in worksheet, you can see I exceeded my minimum targets. Yet some one of those hard to fill categories (Closer-Evangelism/Missions) still got no new songs, so I will alter the worksheet to address that in 2012.

Though not visible on the sheet, 7 of the 8 new songs are congregational. I also categorize songs as to whether they are personal or congregational. I have been trying to balance this by introducing more congregational songs.  For 2012 I will be going for a balance since we now have a good selection of congregational songs.

3
Organize your potential new song list according to your song categories of interest.

I started the year with a potential new songs binder with tabs for each song category. I put all the new songs I was considering in the binder accordingly. I also took a goals sheet and used it as a table of contents listing song the titles by category, so I could see what I had to work with. New songs that have merit that I want to test go into the binder. In June I transitioned that new songs binder to my iPad and I have a separate index that lists all my potential new songs by category.

4
Work the plan.

As I practice I typically focus on songs in a category or two. Over time some songs get more play time than others. Some songs are removed, other songs get added. I have a mental idea at any given time what the next new songs will be and in what order I will introduce them.

As I listen to new songs, I determine their categories and focus first. To get songs in those categories I often have to filter out excellent songs (musically) I don't need and end up trying good songs (musically) I do need.   I hope those lyrically strong songs in the needed categories will grow on me as I sing them. A better approach would be to review more songs, so I can find excellent ones in the categories I need. But I have limited time and resources too!

My approach at first consideration might appear too constraining. Sometimes constraints are needed. For example: when it comes to eating, healthy diets are not an accident. They aren't driven on taste alone. It takes discipline to make the choices and establish the habits necessary that will lead to long term health. I also believe the same principle applies to the songs we sing.

In Part 2 I will outline my new plan for 2012 and the rationale behind it.