Worship Leaders: Repetition is a good thing

I love to learn new music. I love to play it, listen to it, and absorb it. However, I have learned this summer through having a busy schedule of mission trips, sports camps, and youth retreats that playing music everyone knows has a very healthy impact. If you take a moment to look over the set lists used over the last three months, you will see a number of repeated songs. Our people have begun to sing out, and loud!

When I lead at a camp, I like to do nearly all new stuff. It makes the experience unique and new. This summer, at the 2 sports camps I decided to only use 5 total songs for an entire week to try out my new theory. To me it felt like I was overusing the music, but I noticed without a doubt that they needed the repetition. They wanted to do songs over and over again.

At Ridgeview I have typically introduced a new song for 3 weeks before I have considered it "learned" by the congregation. These may not be consecutive weeks, but they are 3 weeks within a 4-6 week period. I am going to be more intentional about playing a new song 5 or even 6 weeks out of a 7-9 week period. The people appreciate the extra face-time, and can worship better because of it.

Anyone want to challenge my "research?"