How do you use PowerPoint for music?

[Troy Smith]

In reading through some of the threads I read where some of you use PowerPoint for displaying the words for songs. How do you use PowerPoint for music?

I have done this only because it was forced upon me during district convention. The music director they brought in and the band that performed during the NYI convention each brought in their PowerPoint songs. Neither time was a pleasant experience, I will never, ever do it again.

[Mark Bolerjack]

We have the words on the screen with just a simple background. I send the order of service to the man who prepares the PP and runs it during the service. Works well for us.



In reading through some of the threads I read where some of you use PowerPoint for displaying the words for songs. How do you use PowerPoint for music?

I have done this only because it was forced upon me during district convention. The music director they brought in and the band that performed during the NYI convention each brought in their PowerPoint songs. Neither time was a pleasant experience, I will never, ever do it again.

[Cindi Hammons]

Troy,

Hi there. We use PP to project words to a screen in the front of our church. We had thought about using other programs, but finances were an issue at that time. There are easier programs, but we are now used to PP and it works for us...for now.

Using PP to project words takes a little extra planning. I have been in situations where people gave me a disc of their words right before service and it always ends up a mess. Rushing is NEVER conducive to a polished projection. At our church, I am the PP person. I am the one who sets up the PP's but others are usually the "operators" during the service. I choose the songs we sing and type up the program. A while back, our pianist picked the songs, but it grew tiresome getting the order of service on Saturday evening. SO...I started doing the order and I usually have it all done and ready to go by Tuesday or Wednesday. I have songs typed out in Word that I cut and paste to the PP slide. Another way...I have frequent flyer songs saved individually in a generic PP file where I can paste directly into the new projection file. It is very quick and easy to do it that way.

I'm really sorry you had a bad experience projecting your words, because it has made waves at our church...most good, some bad! Ha! We have had one family leave the church over the "words on the wall." Obviously there were other problems. Mostly, the words are loved. I have had several seniors come to me and thank me profusely. You see, they couldn't see the words in the hymnal due to poor vision...and now they can see the words wonderfully up on the "wall."

Don't give up completely because of a bad experience. Preparation can make all the difference.

Cindi H.

[Charlene Clevenger]

Our PP guy has the words of the songs saved in the computer. He has typed them all in over the years. We rarely surprise him anymore.

He uses white font on a blue background. One thing he always tells people if they are filling in for him...go to the next slide BEFORE they sing the last words of the current slide. If you wait the next slide will be late. People tend to think ahead.

[Bob Woolley]

Hi Troy,

I will just add a bit of comments to the above answers! We began our PowerPoint slides about a little over a year ago when we renovated our sanctuary with a large built-in roll down screen. The church secretary makes up the order of service and sends me the order and bulletin each week in the email. I take it and post the bulletin online plus do the PowerPoint slides for the choruses and hymns. Yes, we do the hymns on PowerPoint as well. Some do not like the hymns on the screen even now but we always put the hymn number on the first few slides so they can look in the book as well. I have just about all the Sing to the Lord hymnal on PowerPoint now...all but about 1/4 of the book is remaining. I file them in numerical order plus by song title in two folders. The choruses are done by alpha order.

I try to do each hymn or chorus with a background that suits the words of the hymn or chorus. So each of backgrounds are different. I do some that are not in the hymn book for special hymn sings. Here are some examples below of backgrounds that were done for "Church in the Wildwood" and "This Little Light of Mine". I create most all my backgrounds by hand using several photo creation programs.

This is one area of ministry in the church that I enjoy doing for the Lord! I love creating the backgrounds.

Always tell others to give you plenty of time to be prepared with PowerPoint slides during a worship service. Your song leader should be prepared and well aware of each hymn and slide to be shown. A close relationship between operator and song leader is necessary for everything to run smoothly. Skipping stanzas and backtracking give many a powerpoint operator headaches and it also breaks the Spirit during a service. It can ruin a song service in no time if both are going in different directions. Experience is always a plus in both areas of ministry.

Blessings, Bob

[Charlene Clevenger]

A close relationship between operator and song leader is necessary for everything to run smoothly. Skipping stanzas and backtracking give many a powerpoint operator headaches and it also breaks the Spirit during a service. It can ruin a song service in no time if both are going in different directions. Experience is always a plus in both areas of ministry.

Blessings, Bob

Our song leader goes over the songs before the service with the PP guy to let him know what verses he will do, but if he doesn't have time or if he changes his mind he holds up the number of fingers correlating to the verse. I don't know if everyone notices it or not. I do, but I'm at the piano, so I'm looking at the music.

[Adam Spriggs]

I prep the song and announcement slides for our church each week. The deadline for everything is Wednesday. Under normal circumstances we just don't do last minute "new" songs. It's a little different if we have done a song before, however. We also rehearse all of the PPT with the worship team on before each service so we know it's all right -- specials and all. Anytime there is something that's not right with the PPT, it's a distraction. We try especially hard not to have any of the A/V be a distraction

Our church is blessed to have front and rear projectors, so we occasionally have special singers that request the words on the back screen. I'm pretty insistent on not typing any lyrics on Sunday. If they would like to have the words on the screen for their special, they need to plan ahead and get the words to me via e-mail before Friday.

I hardly ever type any lyrics. Using our CCLI license, we have access to the SongSelect service (http://www.ccli.com/) online. When we do a new song, I just download the words and copy/paste them into a new presentation. We keep each song in it's own PPT presentation. To prep the services, I just copy & paste them into a new presentation.

Like Bob W., I enjoy creating/finding good backgrounds. I look forward to my PPT prep time on Friday night.

[Barb Bouldrey]

John used the backgrounds he found here on this forum and typed the words to the Christmas songs on backgrounds that fit the song. It was beautiful.

The order of worship is usually ready by Wed...plenty of time to find backgrounds and do the Power Point. John never has just black letters on a white background.

Our older people enjoy having the words to the songs large enough that they can follow along. More and more people are enjoying having their hands free and their heads up as we sing.

It adds "class" to our services to have backgrounds behind the words of the songs as well as everything else in the order of service.

John has done a great job learning how to use Power Point.

Barb

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

In reading through some of the threads I read where some of you use PowerPoint for displaying the words for songs. How do you use PowerPoint for music?

Actually, we use SongShow Plus for songs and announcements, and I use powerpoint for preaching, but I think you are talking about any approach that puts the words to songs on a screen.

Our folks love it and really missed it when our projector was out of service for two Sundays.

People look up while singing and that makes a big improvement in the singing.

Also, responsive readings are just wonderful when the words are up front and everyone is looking up while doing them.

I guess anything can be abused or misused, so your experience might be a negative one -- but believe me, using media really helps when it is done right.

An aside, have you heard Tim Lovelace sing "Singin' on the Wall" -- it is a very funny song about a guy who "don't want no singin' on the wall!"

[Barbara Moulton]

In a small church you don't always have the luxury of a Power Point operator.

In our church, my husband (the pastor) has a remote control to the laptop so he can advance the slides as needed.

I am the preparer of all the slides. It takes me less and less time each week because I have already done up most hymns and choruses we use so it is just a matter of doing "insert".

I normally don't have many graphics or images on the slides where the words are. If we are doing a hymn, I might have a graphic for the last slide (verse) only. I have attached a sample.

[Charlene Clevenger]

My only regret about using power point or something like it for songs is that the congregation isn't watching the progression of the notes. I learned to sing harmony as a child by watching the notes in my hymnal and listening to Mary Alice Green, a woman in our church with a beautiful alto voice. I'm afraid our kids are missing that experience.

[Gina Stevenson]

... can you put something here in a post so we can hear it, please!?

Thanks!

An aside, have you heard Tim Lovelace sing "Singin' on the Wall" -- it is a very funny song about a guy who "don't want no singin' on the wall!"

[John Bouldrey]

In our services powerpoint is not an "either/or" with the hymnal and bulletin but a "both/and". We still have the hymanl available for those who want to see the music and there are a few who use them in that way. The words in the bulletin are also available. I saw that done when I was on a trip some years ago and worshiped in Knoxville, Tenn. First Church of the Nazarene and when we were able to incorporate technology I felt that was the way to go and it has worked very well.

[Rich Hudson]

Last minute stuff can be a bit of a problem, but the overall response to powerpoint at our church has been positive. One man liked the change so much he encouraged me to become more proficient by paying for a class at a local community college. We took it together and continue to conspire to make presentations better. Sermon note takers love it because they don't have to whisper to each other for answers anymore. Seniors love it because we can sing some of their old Stamps-Baxter, Alfred Brumley type favorites without small print in the bulletin. Those who like contemporary music appreciate having their hands free! :)

The best part is all the help provided here at naznet. All the colors, patterns, flavors, pictures...it all adds up to a great visual experience.