When Brother Zhang Yu (pseudonym) was young, he and his family came to faith in Christ, and he began to participate in the worship ministry of his church. Later, he even had the opportunity to receive more specialized training in music at a conservatory.
Today, while serving in the worship ministry of the church, Zhang is also involved in worship training, but he only recruits a small number of students, usually about ten. To better train these students, Zhang also arranges for teachers to give them lessons on popular musical instruments from time to time.
For each student he trains, Zhang hopes that "the student can form a band in his own church when he returns.”
Pastors, according to Zhang, first assess candidates for his training to determine whether they are steadfast Christians and cannot be tone deaf. Eligible candidates receive Zhang's free training, and upon completion, they must work in their home church either full-time or part-time. Zhang said they all understand that they cannot participate in the training without a ministry commitment.
Zhang further explained, "Our school offers courses in vocal training and more than a dozen musical instruments, including drums, bass, guitar, and keyboard, as well as other courses in music arrangement, music production, tuning, and choral conducting. These courses are all major subjects, and nothing is secondary; among them, keyboard training is the most important."
"It is our hope that all students will be able to return to serve in their home churches and start their own worship bands. At the school, they are students, but when they return to their churches, they need to become teachers and teach the members who join the worship team how to sing and play musical instruments, and then develop and lead their own bands," he added.
Zhang pointed out that while some churches may only need a pianist to play during worship, most churches lack resources and may not even have worship teams or basic musical instruments, which is why Zhang has always stressed and stayed committed to the concept that "one man builds a band".
"I hope that my students can not only play the piano in their churches but also control the speakers, microphones, and mixers, direct the choir, and produce programs and other audio-visual works. If churches lack such talents, they will have to pay extra to hire someone to do the work.”
Zhang went on to explain his goal: "We hope that after our students are trained, they can become teachers and train many other people, so that the development of churches in China can be further promoted.”
"In some churches, even though some people have studied music for ten years, they are still students. And some choir members would say, 'Because the teacher didn't teach us this song, we can't and don't dare to sing it.'"
"When you teach someone to worship, you have to show them the right technique. For example, when you start to teach them a song, instead of just teaching them the song word by word, you must first show them a breakdown of the song and tell them how to handle that kind of song before letting them sing it themselves," Zhang adds.
Zhang underscored the importance of providing prompts while also emphasizing the necessity for teachers to grant students the opportunity to independently engage with the musical material. Rather than reading it aloud in its entirety, students should be encouraged to explore and comprehend the music autonomously. This approach enables them to progressively enhance their reading skills and achieve greater accuracy as they gain confidence. Furthermore, teachers should train students according to the characteristics and laws of music so that instead of remaining students, they can eventually become competent teachers themselves.
- Translated by Joyce Leung
