As you choose the songs to play, do be sensitive to the style of songs that would appeal to the majority of your congregation.Ĭopyright 2015. Remember that the pre/post service background music is intended to be subtle, to stay in the background, to not attract attention to itself. So I ask is that you carefully think it through, and don’t let it just happen. At that point, it’s no longer background music and that music becomes the center of attention – not what members of your congregation are trying to communicate to their friends. If on the other hand your church leadership wants to liven up the mood and keep things rockin’, that’s up to you. But in the right application, using instrumental background music with a contemporary arrangement does a great job of setting the stage for what comes next. And in those settings, it really may be best just to leave things as they are. I have been in a few churches where pre/post service music just wasn’t a good idea to start with. Playing pre/post background music isn’t for everyone. They fit perfectly with this light “SoCal” jazz feel. While not specifically a Christian artist, check out some tracks by Ken Navarro. Do an iTunes search for Kevin Madill, Juju Song, of course Phil Keaggy, or the Christian Jazz Artists Network for starters, and expand your search from there. There is a ton of very nicely arranged, well-played light jazz arrangements of Christian songs available, including contemporary P&W songs as well as older hymns that work perfectly in this application. Maranatha has also released a couple of CD’s that have instrumental versions of popular Praise & Worship songs. You may still be able to find those early ones (e.g., “Grace” or “Peace”). Many years ago my choice of pre/post service music were the instrumental CD’s produced by Integrity Music. If you’ve not gone down this road before, you may be asking where to find such things. It can set a nice peaceful mood, give those not engaged in conversation something to listen to, and in general create a welcoming environment. The solution? Use instrumental music instead. Do they listen intently to what their friend is sharing, or do they take momentary timeouts to focus on the story the singer is singing about? And that process is continually updated throughout each background song. Everyone has to constantly determine which conversation they are going to focus on. If the music track that you’re playing has vocals in it, it instantly becomes a distraction for those engaged in conversation. They are interested in what they have to say.

They are trying to visit with their friends. After investing many years of my career driving the FOH console for worship services large and small, I’ve learned to never choose background music that has vocals in it.Īgain, think about it from your congregation’s perspective.

It’s not supposed to attract attention to itself. Always remember that it is “background” music. After the service they may be praying for one another, or inviting them to lunch that afternoon, or setting a time to meet later in the week, and so on.Īny music chosen for pre-service or post-service should not interrupt or detract from that social moment. They long for that ever so brief moment to interact and catch up on the past week’s events. What are they doing? Longtime members of your church are most likely engaged in visiting with their friends and people sitting nearby. It may be that the best music to play before and after the service is no music at all.

Why do we want music playing in the background as people are assembling before the service? And why do we want music playing in the background after the service as people start to leave? And how long should the music play anyway? The best choice of music to play is NOT your favorite Christian CD, not that new cool song that you want everyone to hear, not what is the most requested artist on the local Christian radio station, or anything of the sort. I might as well make you feel bad right from the start.

Christian background music