Worship Ministry

Providence Vocal Team Auditions

Auditioning for Vocal Teams at Providence

Thank you for your interest in the worship team at Providence! We want you to know that we are glad you took this step in exploring how the Lord might use you in the Worship Ministry. If after reading this information, you feel like this may not be for you, we encourage you to participate in the auditions anyway, so that we can at least get a chance to listen to your vocal instrument and explore other ways in which you might be able to serve through music.

The intent of this page is to orient you to the vocal worship team area of the Worship Ministry and to provide more detailed information to help you decide if this is a ministry area that is right for you. We also want to give you information related to the function of the worship team and what is needed to prepare for our auditions. For our purposes at Providence, the pop-style worship teams consist of a SAT ensemble (Soprano, Alto and Tenor). We do not use basses in the worship teams, but we are always looking for basses to lead in the choir!

If you are interested in leading as part of a rhythm section (i.e., keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, percussion), please go to the rhythm audition page.  If you are an instrumentalist desiring to be a part of the orchestra, please click here to learn more about auditioning for orchestra. If you are a vocalist that would like to participate in leading with the choir, you may contact Nan Honeycutt (326-3000 or nan@pray.org) and she will help get you connected with that area of our ministry.

Purpose of the Worship Teams

At Providence, we use worship team vocalists to serve a variety of functions as worship leaders.

First, at the risk of sounding too obvious, worship team vocalists (and instrumentalists) need to be worshipers. This is not an "act" or a "game-face." Sunday corporate worship is a culmination of daily private worship, manifested when the body of believers assembles to say the same thing to God and about God together and in the same way. There is no secret formula to this, but the congregation cannot effectively be led to a place of worship if the leaders have not already been there themselves. We often and too easily focus on the mechanical, the liturgy and notes, but this view of worship leading is an ever-present undercurrent we want to see modeled from all the groups on the platform, be it the worship team, choir, orchestra, even the tech crew, who are facilitating the worship leaders.

Because of this (and second), we esteem the worship team members as leaders spiritually and musically and have expectations of high character from each of the members.

Third, worship team vocalists need to be flexible stylistically, and be willing to "mix things up" vocally. We would like to see worship teams used as an ensemble of a dozen or more singers on risers, to a duet or trio leading a band-led or intimate set of worship.

Fourth, the worship team is often the group called upon to teach new songs to the congregation. Inherent in this is the use of individuals to sing a section of a tune as a soloist, sometimes on short notice.

Fifth, the worship team, or members thereof, sometimes function as BGVs (Back Ground Vocals) for soloists. This can be anything from "Ooos" to a significant part of the song.

Finally, a significant role of the vocal team is that of support for the choir when the members are not leading from a microphone.

Expectations of Worship Team members

  • Be on a spiritual growth trajectory, evidencing the fruit of the spirit in your life and seeking to walk a walk consistent with biblical truth.
  • Ability and willingness to hear and accept critique graciously and consistently strive for improvement.
  • Embrace the team! No lone rangers with personal agendas! We are a family.
  • Arrive promptly for rehearsals on Wednesday nights and at call time on Sunday morning.
  • Be reasonably prepared for rehearsals, availing yourself to the resources provided, such as the worship team portion of the Providence website where items such as service orders, song charts and recordings are made available for this purpose.
  • Be thoroughly prepared for Sundays (have the ability to prepare on your own time when necessary).
  • Be available for all morning services on the weeks you are scheduled to lead on mic and from the choir, and first Sunday of the month evening services if you are scheduled for those weeks.
  • Be a regular Internet user. This may seem like an unlikely expectation, but so much of our communication takes place through the Internet. Members can see schedule information, weekly service information, download and print their music, and even download and hear mp3s of the songs we are preparing.
Skill Sets

Not everyone can do all the things listed below, but we are looking for teachability, the willingness to improve in areas of weakness and the possession of at least half of these skills that we feel are critical to being a part of a contemporary ensemble.

  • Ability to blend in a contemporary ensemble setting
  • Ability to sing and feel various styles required by service content
  • At least a rudimentary ability to read notes and rhythms (or the ability to ear your way through a part)
  • Altos/Sopranos, ability to cover each other's parts when needed
  • Tenors, comfortable living in the D-F# above middle C range
  • Ability to harmonize in a duet or a trio setting
  • Ability to harmonize pop parts on hymns (we will usually get to rehearse this)
  • Willingness and ability to sing a short solo (i.e., song segment) sometimes on fairly short notice

Real World Worship Team

Wednesdays

You may be wondering when rehearsal is and what the commitment is for Sundays. Currently, rehearsals each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. We meet in a double classroom equipped with gear for a combined vocal and rhythm rehearsal on the fourth floor. The exact schedule varies from week to week, but at some point we are usually joined by the rhythm section in the same room for a service run through around 7:15 p.m.  Next, we move to the worship center around 8 p.m where we attempt a technical and musical "dress rehearsal" of the service with as little stopping as possible. We always work to complete our rehearsals as soon as we can, aware of kids, work, concentration and so on. We are caught in the tension of realizing that many of us have families to be home with and the obligation to prepare for Sundays to the best of our abilities. Effort is made each week to keep rehearsal time as short as possible, but there are weeks when we have to go up to 9:00 p.m. Currently AWANAs end at 8:00 with extended care provided for those involved in the worhsip ministry through 8:30.

Choir
By auditioning for worship team, you are also making a commitment to the Worship Ministry overall, part of which involves being a member of the choir when you are not scheduled to be on the worship team. We expect more from our worship team members than we do other ensembles because of the up-front leadership role we ask of you, but we do not expect 100 percent attendance. In fact, we discourage it. We want to help you manage a healthy schedule of attendance and participation between worship team commitments and choir commitments at 80-85 percent participation.
Sundays
Participation on Sundays vary depending on which group is leading. We may have the worship team members lead as part of the choir one week, as a trio the next week, or just use one member with another worship leader in a band-led service on another week. You will be given plenty of notice via a schedule made available to all members as to when you are needed to sing on mic. When the choir leads, you are expected to participate in those services.

About the Auditions

We see the audition process as less about "making" the group and more about inventorying the ministry's resources. We would like to see how well you learn a song/part on your own by giving you material to prepare by yourself. We would like to see how you learn in a rehearsal setting with only a couple of minutes to learn a new song and find your voice among the blend of the others with you. We would like to hear how you handle and adjust to suggestions/instruction/coaching, and finally, we would like to hear your ability to blend musically and stylistically with others.

When and Where
  • Schedule by appointment most Wednesdays at 6:00pm in room 402 or Sunday mornings at 8:30am (after the 8:00 service music ends)
  • You will be joined by a current vocal team trio, who you will sing for and sing with as we listen to your ability to blend and adjust stylistically. (don't let this make you nervous, they're all very supportive!)
  • The audition will last about a half hour, with a mix of singing and informal questions, just trying to get to know you better.
What to Expect

We would like to recreate the environment in which you would find yourselves on Wednesdays and Sundays. Other than your solo sections (below), the audition will be spent mostly in the feel of a rehearsal, with a full SAT trio of our current members singing with you.

You will be coached, pushed, prodded and stretched. Our hope is to determine skill set, hear different styles and sounds, listen to different ensemble members and sing to their sound.

We are asking each of you to sing a portion of one of the songs as indicated below so we can hear you in that context, but we also want to hear how you work as an ensemble member.

How to Prepare

You may download the music and the mp3s directly from this information page (links below), or you may request to have the music and recordings mailed to you.  [to save the files below, right click or control click on the links and select "save target as..." or "save link as..."]

Here are the songs you'll need to learn:

Ladies, be prepared to sing the opening verse solo on "Made Me Glad." Everyone be prepared to sing parts in the choruses and bridge.

Tenors, sing the opening verse on "Let the Praises Ring."  Everyone be prepared to sing parts on the rest of the song.

Everyone please prepare your parts as best you can on "Blessed Be Your Name." We will spend most of the time in the choruses.

In addition to preparing these songs, you will need to bring and be prepared with the following:

  • This form , completely filled out
  • A portion of a song you can sing for us, unaccompanied (Nothing fancy--a hymn will do)
  • We will give you new music and ask you to sing your part (within a group context)
After the Auditions

We will make arrangements to meet one-on-one within the next week or so after your audition for a little debriefing meeting. This will allow us to let you know what we heard in your instrument, what we heard in you as an ensemble member, and where we hear areas for growth potential. If we all agree that the worship team is an area of gifting for you, we will ask for a one-year commitment to be a part of the worship team.

Questions?

If this area of ministry at Providence interests you and you feel like you would like to pursue this to see what the Lord may have for all of us, we welcome your audition. We are looking forward to hearing you sing and excited to see how God may use you to serve His church!

To schedule an audition, contact Brian Megilligan (326-3000).

We look forward to hearing from you!

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