How many members should you assign to a praise team?

Four?  Eight? Twelve?  More?

Again, let’s consider the different purposes of the praise team:

1.  The musical aspect  

2.  The visual aspect

From the musical aspect, I believe it is highly important that the team blend in with the congregational singing.  See Praise Team Thoughts: Volume Levels article.  If this is the philosophy you adopt, then hearing individual voices stick out is not the goal.  This is an important factor to be considered in the vocalist selection process and when working with the musicality of the team.  Seek voices that “blend” well.  (Some of the most talented singers may not be good blending voices.)

If blending with the congregation is your goal, then two singers per part will blend better than one per part.  This is common sense.  It would also follow that three per part seems to blend better than two.  That’s why we established some of our praise teams to be twelve-member teams at Madison.  It seems that eight is the most common (standard) number around the country, but twelve works best for us in establishing a good mix.  I suppose that sixteen would even be better, from strictly a musical standpoint, assuming the voices blend well (however it is more challenging).  Eight is much more practical, especially in congregations where potential talent recruitment is limited.

Visually?  I know of some, including Ken Young who have used combinations of the seated and standing team to produce a quality “wall of sound,”  effectively utilizing the benefits of both musical and visual leadership.  In this scenario, you can tweak the benefits of a standing team and a seated team to attain the balance that works best for your congregation or event.  What is the best combination?

Four standing and four seated?

Four standing and eight seated?

Eight standing and four seated?

There are so many possibilities.  Some might suggest that sixteen “standing” could be distracting, but that is a matter of preferences.  I’ll have to defer to those with more experience with standing teams, since we only use the “seated” model at Madison.  I do believe in planning variety in worship.  Randy Gill and Woomont Hills uses an entire choir to lead worship on some occasions.

Another consideration that would have probably fit well in the “Volume Levels” post has to do with the balance of four-harmony.  Since most people sing the melody, and, since the worship leader also sings the melody, it has always been my mixing philosophy to mix the soprano section lower than the alto, tenor and basses.  There are musical exceptions (when the ladies sing a section of the song by themselves), but for the most part, I ask for the sopranos to be mixed lower (sorry, sopranos!)  This may affect the number of singers you require, especially when surpassing the standard eight vocalists per team.

This past week I worked with some talented singers who were the praise team for the Discover Youth Rally in Monroe, Louisiana.  At one point, Jason Barnard and I led some songs without the team.  Once the team came on stage, the quality of the singing increased noticeably.

One of the next times I work with a praise team and get to choose the configuration, I’ll consider having four standing and twelve seated.  I can see great potential with this configuration.  Of course, as always, much of the quality of the sound/mix will be in the hands of the sound engineer.  And, it is vital for the singers to watch the leader's direction, (for tempos and changes) or the sound of the congregation (sound travels so slowly) may cause them to drag the tempo.

Is the praise team's purpose more musical support (audio) or in the modeling of dynamic worship (visual)?  I suppose your answer to this question will have a bearing on your ideal number.

What do you think is the most effective number?