Aug 17
2012
How to communicate in writing with your worship band
Written by Bryan Nelson | posted in leadership | 1 Comment
Do you ever wonder what the effectiveness of your written communication is? The more I communicate in writing — the more I’d rather pick up the phone. Written communication takes work. It’s take more time. You must be more accurate with it. You must read what you’ve written from other perspectives. Frankly, some thins shouldn’t be communicated in writing.
Check out the following example. It’s an email sent to a worship band. Tell me — Is it effective? Why or why not? What could have been done differently?
Worship Band:
MINOR CHANGE TO “REMINDER EMAILS”In the past, I would send out an email on Saturday night letting you know that your music binder was ready to be picked up (2 weeks prior to when you are actually scheduled to lead worship). I’m going to change this pattern of email to make life simpler for me/you.
Here’s how it will work:
YOU WILL RECEIVE A REMINDER EMAIL ONE WEEK (ON SATURDAY) PRIOR TO WHEN YOU ARE SCHEDULED
You will receive an email reminder on Saturday at 10am one full week prior to you being schedule to lead worship. These have been sent out 3 days in advance of rehearsal — but this will now change to be sent one week in advance.
MUSIC BINDERS STILL AVAILABLE 2 WEEKS IN ADVANCE
As always, music binders will be available 2 weeks prior. You simply will not get a luxury/courtesy email about it. Instead, you’ll now get an email reminder just 1 week (Saturday) prior to when you are scheduled. This should serve as a reminder to pick up your music binder, if you haven’t already.
MUSIC IS ONLINE
24/7If all of this doesn’t make sense, don’t worry too much. You’ll still know when you are scheduled to play through planningcenteronline.com like always. This simply means you won’t get the “luxury/courtesy” email 2 weeks out that music binders are available. And, as always, music is available 24/7 online.
LEARN THE MUSIC IN ADVANCE, SO YOU “RE HEAR” IT AT REHEARSAL
Learning the music is secondary to our rehearsals. Learning the music takes place before the rehearsal with the tools provided. Avoid coming to rehearsal without having listened to, sung with, or played with the music. Re-hearsal is “re hearing” the music. Help us make music the secondary reason we come together. We have many helps in place to make music secondary — but it takes work on everyone’s part to make the music “happen” when we come together. Music binders, and the PDFs of the charts, and recordings are there for us to become familiar with the music prior to rehearsal. This aspect hasn’t changed. Let’s make the focus of relationships more important than music at our rehearsals.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Leave a Comment
Subscribe
Keep up with the latest by 
Video
- How to Start a Weed Whacker by my Neighbor May 10, 2013
- My Neighbor's Weed Whacker Part 2 May 8, 2013
- Topeka Christmas Light Show 2011 April 28, 2013
- Topeka Christmas Light Show Documentary 2012 April 20, 2013
- Leaks April 9, 2013
Snaps
There’s a few things that I like about this email and a few things that I don’t like:
Like: I appreciate that it’s very matter-of-fact. I’ve learned to write emails to groups that are very matter-of-fact. I’ve learned that writing warm in an administrative email tends to prevent people from seeing the message. That said, there is no real thank you in the email. In my opinion, it’s always good to include a quick recap of the information presented along with a thank you. In other words, this message is missing a proper conclusion.
Dislike:The use of All caps is… odd! HTML email is a lot more wide spread, and all caps is generally read with a yelling “voice”. Using bold headers would make for a much easier read.
Simpler is better: there’s a lot of what we used to do with what we’re going to do now being presented. This can muddy the message in the mind – especially if people just glance at what you’re writing.
You do a good job with encouraging your folks – though, not in the common use of the word encouragement. Defining the word learn in this context is true encouragement in that it promotes (encourages) a progression of thought and practice from the current thought and practice of what it means to learn ones material.
As for whether or not this is something that ought to be communicated via email… that’s not exactly a pat issue. To make this kind of determination, you have to know your team and your own time constraints. Sometimes communicating one on one or in group settings isn’t always the best way. It just depends on the culture you’re in and the constraints that you have to deal with yourself.
I think you could have trim some of the message and come out with something a bit more concise and to the point. This would have made it easier to comprehend. A little more warm and fuzzy would be nice, and using bold would provide visual clarity and get rid of that yelling factor.
August 21, 2012 ·