I know there is a tendency to generally stay towards similar songs, but I really think we should work on expanding our song collection, and not shying away from hymns and songs that challenge us to grow musically. Improving musical excellence can be led from above and over time will help our church in this area.

Most of the neutrals are simply because it doesn’t matter one way or the other. I can be flexible. I said strongly disagree for introduction of new songs simply because I’m not aware of the method. It would be nice to add new songs but I think we must consider how to incorporate music which lyrically honors God and demonstrates truth but also allows for expression of feeling. Any new considerations should definitely be run through with the Deaf ministry as well to consider how interpretable (not a word, I know!) it is.

The team has done a great job of considering both the hearing and deaf congregation for which I am extremely thankful. It has been an honor to serve.

Do not compromise with the world, the culture, or the flesh!

1) We do pretty well, and we’re blessed to have so many musicians from different backgrounds 2) In line with point 1 though, I honestly think that we need more practice time as a result, instead of just practicing on a Sunday morning. At MCC, we would meet Wednesday evenings to practice and refine the songs - part of making excellent worship music 3) I was unsure of what makes a song “deaf friendly” versus “not” in the question set. Is a deaf-friendly song easier for the interpreter to interpret and for the congregation to sign? Or one with less abstract words that make for ambiguous interpretation? I didn’t know how to answer that truthfully. I know that “more bass” was requested by Matt so that he could better feel the songs when he’s worshipping. Balancing the mix with that could be hard though. 4) We do need more bass in general ;)

Listen / watch ourselves on YouTube to improve our performance.

Harmonies and different keys than usual are definitely underrated and should be a little bit more prominent and we should be more experimental with them every so often. It may help change our usual songs and give us more variety without retiring songs we love.
Harmonies help me personally with worship when I'm not on the worship team, and maybe others in our congregation too. I know for me I sometimes am unable to follow the lead but can't quite pick out the harmony right away. It shouldn't be over done obviously, but it helps a ton.

Kid friendly music can be a good thing as long as it is not silly. It should be as worshipful as any other worship music

I love worshiping with all of you. I hope that as we grow as worship teams that we will strive for musical excellence, and that excellence will be transmitted excellently though the mixing of vocals and music and through excellent interpretation. I hope that each of us will allow ourselves to be teachable where it would benefit RHC. I hope that we can adjust and align our expectations of how we conduct worship so that our worship conforms with scripture. I hope that we can reduce legitimate distractions from worship where possible and encourage members to worship the one true God in spirit and truth.

I think we could take this opportunity for the session to decide if we want to worship like an evangelical church, or if we want to worship like the confessional Presbyterian church. I think we should ditch the concert set up and go with a mode that encourages congregational singing. I can’t hear myself or anyone around me. Whats the point of singing as a church if all we are really doing is listening to the “band” (Even if they are talented). Secondly I think session should take more active control of the song choice. I think normally in PCA churches the Trinity hymnal is used as the menu. I think it’s good practice for song selectors to choose from a closed set that is pre-approved by the session. We should stick with songs that glorify God, by proclaiming his works, and attributes. This also has the added benefit of catechizing our children (this is what I would call child friendly songs). Too often we are singing songs about us, and how fond we are of Jesus, and how good he makes me feel. Let’s stick the the greatest hits of the Trinity Hymnal, add a number of Psalms, sing a few contemporary songs that are individually approved by session, because they add something of value (Christ our Hope in life and Death, How deep the Fathers Love for us, Peter originals, etc.) I’ll just end with a personal anecdote since this response has been so brief. In the summer when we go camping we attend a PCA church in Ligonier where they simply play a piano and sing the Psalms and Hymns with no one singing into the microphone. It is the richest worship I have had the privilege of participating in, and the church is packed to the gills. Younger reformed families (including ours) are yearning for a return to communal worship in contrast to mega church rock shows. Finally I find playing music during the Lords Supper to be distracting.

I would like to see tradition Hymns used in an newer arrangement for the musicians to play, and for the congregation to be able to sing and join in worship with more ease. A little more contemporary music also.

The only aspect of the worship that I find difficult and distracting is when the slides are not being advanced in sync with the songs we're singing. For me it's a distraction that if it cannot be remedied we need to go to song books.

I don't like the more performance-style direction the music team seems to be taking. I don't think more musicians and more musical tricks makes it better. If it were up to me, we'd all be behind a screen like an organist.
I find vocal ornamentation (sliding in and out of notes, scoops, etc.) distracting. It also sometimes makes a team with two vocalists not sound as good because they end up actually being dissonant part of the time because they aren't always singing the same note. I think it can also make it difficult for the congregation to know what to sing, especially when learning a new song. Adding vocal ornamentation is for soloists and performers, but we're neither. I really think we should almost always just sing what the congregation is supposed to sing--that's what I think our job is. (I know this is difficult because most artists use this type of ornamentation ALL THE TIME and we often learn the songs by listening to them. But they're soloists, so they're allowed. We're singing together as a "choir," in a sense.)

While I think two guitars can sometimes be beneficial, in general I think it doesn't add much to the team. I'm sorry to pick on Peter, but he is usually so much louder than the other guitar, that there's no real point in having multiple guitars. His voice generally also overpowers any other male voice we currently have. Jamye is usually not turned up loud enough to hear. The last few times Noah and Peter have played/sung together, I couldn't hear Noah singing hardly at all.

I want to hear the congregation singing!!! I think this is the whole point of congregational singing--to hear the whole group singing together to God. I think we need to make sure the amplification is not so much that this is not possible. I think when the mix is too loud and the team is too "perform-y" it can discourage people from actually singing and participating.

The following are just my preferences/opinions. I'd like to sing more hymns. I think some of the songs we sing have a mismatch of music and words (sad, slow music with powerful, rejoicing words) and we shouldn't sing songs like that. It's not too many, just 2 or 3. Some of the verse/chorus/bridge songs we sing are difficult to sing I think because they're written for the radio and for the vocalists to show off their range and abilities. They're just waiting to really rock out on the bridge. I don't think we necessarily need to retire these songs, but I think we should think about whether they're good for congregational singing. I think a few of our songs are a little bit weak theologically or talk too much about us and not enough about God.