Use of Accompaniment Tracks in Worship

I was introduced to accompaniment tracks at my home church, Mt Sinai, during a time when we didn’t have musicians. My first accompaniment track song was “Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart” on a cassette tape. It was totally different. Different because it’s timed managed and no detours could be made without being a hot mess. If I remember correctly we used accompaniment tracks in worship for about 2 months before the church hired a musician. We didn’t like tracks much but we did what we had to do to have church.

When I got to First Goodwill, we didn’t have a musician so we started singing to accompaniment tracks. Again, it was different and cumbersome because we had to change the CD (or tape) for every new song we wanted to sing. If it was a tape, we had to make sure to fast forward to the right key or we’ll be singing the song too low or too high or with the demo version of the song. I placed a big boom box radio on the banister of the pulpit, with microphone in front, and CDs/tapes on the side. The appearance was totally ugly. People would walk through the door of the sanctuary and see all this mess next to the pulpit and the pastor playing DJ during praise/worship, fellowship, invitation, offering, and the benediction. At that time our sound system was terrible and we couldn’t hear transitions well. So we missed our queues and at times clapped off beat. It felt like UniverSoul Circus in our worship. All of this is going on in the middle of the service and before I preached. I was exhausted before preaching time. I’m surprised people kept coming every week.

I got frustrated after a while and we canned the usage of accompaniment tracks to hire a musician. Before long, money got tight and we could no longer pay a musician. So, I pulled out the accompaniment CDs/Tapes, boom box, and microphone. And we’re back at it again. WOW!

My use and appreciation for accompaniment tracks changed when a friend of mine from Nashville came to Cali to do a concert with his wife at a church in Bell Gardens. When I arrived to the church, the concert was in progress and it sound like a full band was playing. When got into the sanctuary they were singing to accompaniment tracks. They didn’t have a boom box with a microphone in front of it. They didn’t change CDs or Tapes every time they changed songs. They were having church to accompaniment tracks, unbelievable. I was totally impressed. When the concert was over I asked them to help me understand how they used accompaniment tracks. After that conversation, my opinion of using accompaniment tracks changed.

Since that time, we’ve used consistently accompaniment tracks in our worship service for the last 2+ years and in many ways perfected the use of them. I will admit that using accompaniment tracks in worship service has it’s limitations but I think there’s more positives than there is negatives. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a desire to hire musicians when I’m financially able to do so. But until then, accompaniment tracks are my friend.

I write this article as a music ministry aid for pastors and churches that cannot acquire a musician(s) and wonder what to do to enhance their worship service. In addition, there are other ministries who do use accompaniment tracks but struggle like I did with various challenges in using tracks.

Here are some suggestions and benefits for using accompaniment tracks in worship service.

Benefits

Cost Effective: Many ministries, like ours, are not able to hire a musician at the cost of their worth. So, we settle for anything for the sake of having music in our worship services. However, using accompaniment tracks allows you an opportunity to wait until the ministry is ready to acquire a musician(s). You don’t have to settle for anything for the sake of having music in your worship service. I would rather wait until our ministry is financially able to hire a quality music staff that loves the Lord, anointed, and loves music to pay a decent salary. In the meantime, it’s much more cost effective to pay $10 for an accompaniment track than $150-$350/week for one musician. Add all other instruments and you will be paying upwards of $1000/week for musicians.

Time Management: Accompaniment tracks average time is 5-6 minutes. This helps in the timing of worship and cuts out a lot un-necessary reprises of songs. “But it doesn’t give time for the Holy Spirit to move in worship”, you may be saying. That’s not the issue. The Spirit of God will move in a worship service using an accompaniment track or full band. It does keep you from forcing the Spirit to move by singing the vamp over and over and over again to get the congregants to worship God. Forced worship can be frustrated worship!

Full Band: With an accompaniment track you get piano, drums, bass, guitar, and background singers if you desire to use them. The sound is awesome with all levels mixed just right making it easy on the ears of our members.

Church Participation: Many popular gospel songs are on accompaniment tracks much of which our members listen to on a regular basis. When they hear the familiar tune they’ll start singing because they recognize the melody as it is played on the radio or CD. It helps a praise team, worship leader, or even the pastor when the church participates in worship.

Travel: I use accompaniment tracks when I go places to sing an “A” selection in representing our church. A CD is all I need and fits in my suit pocket.


Suggestions:

Plan Well: Just like anything else in ministry, you must plan well for accompaniment tracks to work. But with track you need to be intentional in your planning. In conjunction with our sound engineer, we prepare a list of songs to play during the worship service. This allows us the opportunity to keep the service flowing without any dead time. Lately, we’ve played tracks of songs that the members know during the invitation, offering, and invocation. Again, when members recognize the music they automatically start singing the song.

Make a CD Compilation: I’ve made a number disc of all our favorite songs. This eliminates the hassle of changing CDs for the next song you want to sing. I’m in the process of making special CDs for praise/worship, invitation, offering, and fellowship time. This eliminates the hassle of CD changing as well as creates a more consistent flow.

Rehearse: Make sure you rehearse the song to familiarize yourself with chord transitions and chorus changes. While the music sounds like the album, it does change, especially, if the CD was a live recording. Don’t expect it to be like the original album.

Purchase a DI box and cord: I stated earlier in this article that my friend from Nashville did a concert using a CD player with direct box and cord to run the music through the house speakers and monitors. By doing it this way, you and the audience can hear the music. I think overall I spent less than $100 for this equipment and it can work with any sound system. Anyone can run this system even the pastor if need be. I eliminated the ugly appearance of a boom box sitting on the banister. If you have a sound system with a CD changer, use it (if possible).

Use MP3 player or IPOD: Many tracks can be purchased through download of the internet onto an MP3 player or IPOD. These to technologies can also be played through your sound system using a direct box and cord.

Create a Catalog: Create for yourself a catalog of tracks to prevent double purchasing.

Accompaniment track purchase: You can purchase accompaniment tracks from your local bookstore. Many bookstores have a machine that holds 5000+ songs and can be download while you wait. You can one websites like www.daywind.com to purchase tracks. I’ve contacted gospel artist that I liked and asked them to purchase a copy of their album instrumentals. I already have the lyrics I need the music to sing to. I have not been turned down yet and still within my budget.

I believe music is a vital part of the worship experience. Unfortunately, many churches are not able to pay for musicians, especially during this terrible economy times. But that doesn’t mean your worship service can’t have praise/worship with music. Think outside the box and get creative until the Lord blesses your church financially to hire a music staff.

We live in an age of technology with many options to accommodate our love for music in the worship experience. Use it and don’t be afraid.