The Art of Worship: A Musician's Guide to Leading Modern Worship

by Greg Scheer

Book Overview

Contemporary worship continues to gain strength as the form of worship of choice for many churches across the country. The Art of Worship is a complete resource to which a musician or pastor can turn... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080106709X
• ISBN13: 9780801067099
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

This book is moving me from where I was to a better place to serve my God and His people with music. A must read for anyone in ministry, not just musicians.

Very insightful and informative

All of the bio info on Greg seems to indicate that he possesses the skill set and body of knowledge that would qualify him to write authoritatively on the subject that he addressed in his book. He holds a Masters Degree from the University of Pittsburgh and has an impressive resume. Greg has experience in all the facets of music ministry such as being a church musician, composer, and a director of choirs and praise bands. He also has experience teaching as a music professor. By all accounts, Greg seems to be a good model music minister (although I do not know him personally, nor have I ever worked with him). Greg's book is quite comprehensive insofar as that it covers most (if not all) of the aspects of music ministry in a church. The fact that his book has 51 foot notes demonstrates that he did his homework. His book covers: · The potential hazards and pitfalls a church may encounter when making the transition to a contemporary service format with a praise band; · The details to consider when putting together a praise team and making it effective in a church service; · How to select songs and build a repertoire; · The different formats in a church service and how adapt style to structure; · Each instrument's role and dynamic in the praise band; · How to prepare and conduct rehearsals; · And finally, how to lead the singing during the actual service. The book gets quite technical in some parts. Greg shows his vast knowledge of music theory when he elaborated on the various types of modulations a praise band could do in the last eight pages of chapter four. He even provides scores of these modulations to illustrate his point. Greg also did the same thing in chapter five when he devoted about eight pages to elaborate on the different types of harmonies the vocalist can use. Greg provided a lot of insight and analysis to many of today's popular praise songs. He addressed their lyrical content and musical style while also demonstrating a knowledge mainstream pop music. I love the cover of the book. It has a photo of a five piece drum set (brand name unknown) accompanied by three crash cymbals, a hi-hat and ride cymbal (brand name of cymbals unknown). I could not have selected a better cover design myself. In chapter 5, Greg gives an analysis on all the typical instruments that could be used in a praise band. He elaborates on each instrument's distinctives and how they contribute to the overall dynamic. For the most part, I thought Greg did a pretty good job of breaking down all the instruments and their specific roles. Overall, I think Greg's book is very good and his book would be very useful for those who want to be involved in praise ministry in any capacity.

A Joyful Noise

You couldn't get a blander title for this book, although one might note that it cleverly comes up in search engines under both "art" and "worship". The subtitle really says it all, but again, I think it's a bit off. Reading Steve Scott, I realized his (Scott's) book wasn't only directed at artists, and I don't think this book is only for musicians, but one might note that it cleverly comes up under both "musician" and "modern worship" So, bases covered. I'd actually set out to find Gordon MacDonald's Who Stole My Church, a far more evocatively named title, until I realized that book is actually a novel. Never mind that I think a lot of non-fiction ought to be written as fiction (since the authors know it's not true, anyway) and vice versa. So think of this as the non-fiction companion to MacDonald's novel. Or not. Greg Scheer has done the impossible, combining passion with level- headedness. What's more, he knows whereof he speaks. That said, I still wouldn't have read this book had I not read the intro, a biographical bit about how he hated (OK, strongly disliked) Church music. So how did he end up leading worship teams? I could have read his whole life after that, it got me so hooked. Instead, what follows is a sort of how- to manual, which I can best sum up like this: Imagine you're a musician. Bingo! You're now worship leader for Church X. What now? But there is an underlying current that may also be read like this: Imagine you're a church goer. Bingo! Some young musician shows up and steals Church X. What now? Anyone in the first scenario will want to read this book, although they may not feel a need to. Anyone in the second scenario probably won't read the book, because they're barely becoming aware there even is a first scenario. The second scenario, which I might term, in more MacDonaldish, graphic language, as the schrapnel of a culture clash, is the real reason for someone in the first scenario to read the book. A musician reading the book will become comfortable with Scheer's allusions, not to Beethoven's Fifth, but Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" as musical examples. Delightful as we Boomers find these bits, don't discount the book yet if your yearnings run in a Classical vein. There's plenty about tonal range, modality, harmonizing, and believe it or not, he goes through a half dozen instruments, musing on the role of each player in contemporary worship. He gives well- worn hymns equal time, and even names some, for those unfamiliar with them. Equally, he reflects on well- known praise songs, and similarly, some segment of his readers will find themselves in new territory. I knew some in both camps, others were new. I asked myself if he provided resources for various readers to track down the needed info, and concluded, provisionally, yes: in the footnotes, sometimes in the text, and if you read the whole book, he builds on these ideas enough to enable a good start (I'd be all in favor of Greg providing a companion workbook t

An excellent leadership resource for modern worship

Greg Scheer's THE ART OF WORSHIP: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO LEADING MODERN WORSHIP offers contemporary church leaders an excellent leadership resource for modern worship, considering the struggles between traditional and modern musical taste and blending discussions of biblical principles with insights on worship methods suitable for musicians, pastors and students of ministry alike. Collections catering to this audience will find THE ART OF WORSHIP excels in including discussions of new music, the influence of new resources such as the Internet, and more.

essential for all worship pastors

Greg Scheer's immensely practical book hooked me in the first paragraph. Full of wisdom and practical insight, my copy has bright yellow highlighter marks on every page because there is so much I want to return to again and again. This book, with Kevin Navarro's "The Complete Worship" leader, are essential reading for all worship pastors, especially in a contemporary environment.