THE MIX

Everybody approaches "the mix" differently. Some churches like new stuff. All the time. New stuff.

Other church like the old stuff, the familiar, the standby, the tried-and-true.

Some churches like a blend.

And some churches don't really care.

Since I'm in the process of changing churches in the next few weeks, my approach to this will probably change once I get in place, but for now, let me share how I've approached song selection/rotation in my time at First Methodist.

WHAT'S OLD
As introduction, let me say that when I speak of "old" in this post, I'm not necessarily talking about hymns. Sure, they can fit in that category, but I'm using "old" to refer to songs that the congregation has been singing for some time. It might be a Vineyard song written four years ago, but the church has sung in 800 times and knows it cold.

THE CATALOG
I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. There's not an actual "catalog" of songs sitting in my office. There's no giant whiteboard calendar or spinning wheel program on my computer. No, the "catalog" I speak of resides primarily in my head. Here's how I manage a song catalog.

Since I put all the songs on a website, I also keep a running list of what we've played. There are programs that do this - Planning Center, some CCLI apps, etc., but I just keep them in a Word document. Here's what that list does for me.
#1. Allows me to track song usage. I notate the first six times I do a song. (Research tells us a congregation "learns" a tune by 6 plays.) So, for the first six appearances, my tunes have little 1-2-3-4-5 or 6 beside them. Once I hit six performances, I know that the song is fairly ingrained, meaning it's not necessarily considered a "new" song anymore.

#2. Allows me to keep up with CCLI reporting. Now, CCLI is usually very good about sending a letter telling me it's time to start reportving again, but my little database file helps me know a bit further out that my reporting season is coming up soon.

#3. Keeps me fresh. Here's the thing...a song catalog simply cannot be more than about 25 songs, in my opinion. I don't think it's wise to consider every song you've ever done, ever will do and ever can do as your catalog. It's just too many songs. And I think congregations get that, too. At any given time, there are 20+ songs that you're probably focusing on. Sure, you've got more tunes that that, but you and I are staying in certain areas at different times of the year. A massive database like this helps me when I want to do something different. I can scan back through my list to find that "old" song that we haven't done in awhile. No, it's not part of our current catalog list, but it's familiar enough that I can throw it in to add some freshness.

OLD VS. NEW
I like teaching new songs. I think it's important to constantly be on the lookout for tunes that are going to galvanize moments or ideas for our crowds. Lots of new songs don't work...usually by about the 4th use, I know if a tune is going to work or not. That's okay if some songs don't work. Because some do.

I'd say I try to introduce 1 new song a month. Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less. But that's probably a fair average overall.

In a set with a new song, I'd say three of them are fairly familiar (10+ plays) one is new and one is "old" (20+ plays.)

KILLING TUNES
I think it's okay to kill a tune. (Because you have the power to resurrect it at any time!) I've read some guys who say every time they add a new song, they remove a current one from their "top 25" list. I'm not quite that particular about it, but I do think it's okay to realize that a song may have very little life left in it. This varies from place to place, of course!

When I'm planning way in advance, I can be way more creative with song usage, but when I'm pressed for time, having a database is a big help.

SO....

How do you rotate? Use software or some other application to keep setlists straight? And what songs have been "sung to death" at your church?