How much do we need to plan in worship music ?

The bible says, paraphrased, "Man may plan but it's God who decides."

Without planning, the music might be chaotic or not in-sync or not nice at all.

But over-planning would stiffle the flow of the Spirit and creativity. In addition it might not even be practical due to time constraints and the inability of most self-trained musicians to read musical notations.

Of course it would be ridiculous to write down every bit of music for each worship services, unless you are a full-time church musician.

What to plan

• the tempo
• the musical style
• the chords !!
  
• who plays what and when
  
• the building up of the song
• the climax

What not to plan

• instrument solo
• while solos are not written down, a solo musician should know the starting note and the ending note and roughly whats in between.
  
• song of the Spirit
• number of times the song , stanza or chorus is sung
• music when someone is prophesying or word of knowledge or ministering time

It would be ideal if church musicians are able to play what they sense God's message is. For example, if the pianist senses God is saying "rain", he should play music that reflects "rain" if he is skillful enough.