dress code for the music team
02-08-2007, 03:56 PM
<QUOTE author="sonworshiper,Feb 8 2007, 09:44 AM">
I think that you have a pretty even-handed way of looking at the issue of garmenting. (Notice how I deftly avoided the use of MY dreaded word, "balanced"). The whole thing IS simply to not call attention to ourselves, thus stealing the focus from our beloved Lord to our ill-clad or over-clad selves!
I can tell y'all stories about the things we've seen in various places and the appropriate clothing in one place would be in serious trouble in others. Dresses below the knee for ladies when everyone is on the floor or on an 8" riser is just fine, but when the platform is elevated 4, 5, or even 6 steps up (more than a meter!) that same just below the knee skirt becomes a problem for any men in the front rows.
We've been in places where the folks on the worship teams had coordinated outfits. Band & singers wore similar clothes, or at least similar color schemes. One of my favorites was a smallish congregation, primarily urban blacks in the US. They were a GREAT and lively congregation. Pastor Luther was all about Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. This was, after all GOD'S HOUSE, BROTHERS AND SISTERS (his emphasis, not mine!!) and we should come dressed well out of respect to our KING, not our baby-sitter or our drinking buddies. God's House is a special place, where we meet a special God, and in Whose presence, we need to be appropriately attired. Part of being on THEIR worship teams meant that you bought or made the garments, four sets of 'em. For the men, suits and ties or jackets and ties with the correct color or dress trousers. The shirts were coordinated to what the ladies were wearing and the jackets or suits also complemented them. A yellow set, a blue set, a black and white set, and one set that had a lot of a deep, rich red, if I remember correctly. They were stunning! They dressed alike, and they practiced so that their music was as coordinated as their garments. They were not professional sounding, but they were pretty darned impressive!
I remember them so well because they came to our really laid back Sunday night service once, all dressed to the nines, and there we were, VERY casual. Pastor had his Hawaiian shirt (long before Rick whatshisname made it popular), shorts, and flipflop shower shoes!. Pastor Luther stepped up to the podium in his very spiffy black three-piece suit, sparkling white shirt, and gleaming highly polished shoes, almost as though he'd just gotten off the top of a bridal cake! Quite a contrast. He told his people publicly that if they learned ANYthing that night, it was NOT how to dress for church! We all laughed, but we knew he wasn't kidding. We did a MUCH better job of dressing when it was our turn to visit their church. I went into the restroom where an obvious dad-type was looking at a 7 or 8-year-old who did not have vest, jacket, or sweater on and heard dad-type tell boy-type, "You'd better not let Pastor Luther see you!" And again, everyone in the room knew he wasn't kidding!
And we've seen torn jeans, tacky or unclean tee-shirts or really low slung tanktops with underwear hanging out or no underwear worn (for the ladies) nor concern expressed about it. "Yeah, well, like, y'know, like, whatever, man..." And a whole bunch of other fun stuff in between the extremes.
Personally, I do like to see the team dress just a touch "up" for their service before the King. Doesn't have to be suits or matching outfits, but if we're going to lead, it's nice to be leading in all those areas, too. We do have to be careful to be "culturally relevant" to a point, but in my mind, leadership should be in the upper portion of that cultural range. If jeans is the norm, they ought to be really nice jeans that fit well and are not worn to a frazzle, with a nice shirt, as befitting the occasion. IMO.
A suggestion for your djembe player, Sonshine, er Moe, I don't know the technical term, but I've seen a lot of women wear what could be described as a VERY wide-legged pant that's hard to distinguish from a skirt when the wearer is standing. I think they're pretty elegant and very practical for instrumentalists. Even a female cello player could wear it and not compromise her modesty. That way your lady could wear what looks like a skirt if she'd like, and still remain true to your need for a well-anchored djembe!
So, in case you'd not figured it out, I LIKE the idea of some gentle form of garmenting guide. Where there are resources, I LIKE the idea of complementary garmenting. Helps define them as "team" visually as well as by the fact that they are somehow (and only in some places!!) "up front".
My two cents worth.
sonworshiper,Feb 8 2007, 09:44 AM Wrote:Ah yes, the dreaded "dress code" topic!I see that "appropriate" affects you like "balanced" does me! <EMOJI seq="1f607">:innocent:</EMOJI> and yes, it does come up on the Worship List pretty regularly, actually.
...I would imagine that all would agree that worship teams--whatever that means to us individually, should dress appropriately, a word which makes me shudder, as there is nothing much "appropriate" in me. However I mean, not too much skin showing--meaning, women no cleavage, not too much leg. . .etc. Men are not free of cautioning here--no tight jeans! Nothing that would cause people to have attention on you and not God.
My "team" consists of myself and a wonderful girl, who plays djembe. One day she wore a skirt--long jean, not short or anything. . . .but I found that she had a hard time with the djembe as she had to balance it off to her side instead of between her knees. I've since asked her not to wear skirts again.
I think that you have a pretty even-handed way of looking at the issue of garmenting. (Notice how I deftly avoided the use of MY dreaded word, "balanced"). The whole thing IS simply to not call attention to ourselves, thus stealing the focus from our beloved Lord to our ill-clad or over-clad selves!
I can tell y'all stories about the things we've seen in various places and the appropriate clothing in one place would be in serious trouble in others. Dresses below the knee for ladies when everyone is on the floor or on an 8" riser is just fine, but when the platform is elevated 4, 5, or even 6 steps up (more than a meter!) that same just below the knee skirt becomes a problem for any men in the front rows.
We've been in places where the folks on the worship teams had coordinated outfits. Band & singers wore similar clothes, or at least similar color schemes. One of my favorites was a smallish congregation, primarily urban blacks in the US. They were a GREAT and lively congregation. Pastor Luther was all about Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. This was, after all GOD'S HOUSE, BROTHERS AND SISTERS (his emphasis, not mine!!) and we should come dressed well out of respect to our KING, not our baby-sitter or our drinking buddies. God's House is a special place, where we meet a special God, and in Whose presence, we need to be appropriately attired. Part of being on THEIR worship teams meant that you bought or made the garments, four sets of 'em. For the men, suits and ties or jackets and ties with the correct color or dress trousers. The shirts were coordinated to what the ladies were wearing and the jackets or suits also complemented them. A yellow set, a blue set, a black and white set, and one set that had a lot of a deep, rich red, if I remember correctly. They were stunning! They dressed alike, and they practiced so that their music was as coordinated as their garments. They were not professional sounding, but they were pretty darned impressive!
I remember them so well because they came to our really laid back Sunday night service once, all dressed to the nines, and there we were, VERY casual. Pastor had his Hawaiian shirt (long before Rick whatshisname made it popular), shorts, and flipflop shower shoes!. Pastor Luther stepped up to the podium in his very spiffy black three-piece suit, sparkling white shirt, and gleaming highly polished shoes, almost as though he'd just gotten off the top of a bridal cake! Quite a contrast. He told his people publicly that if they learned ANYthing that night, it was NOT how to dress for church! We all laughed, but we knew he wasn't kidding. We did a MUCH better job of dressing when it was our turn to visit their church. I went into the restroom where an obvious dad-type was looking at a 7 or 8-year-old who did not have vest, jacket, or sweater on and heard dad-type tell boy-type, "You'd better not let Pastor Luther see you!" And again, everyone in the room knew he wasn't kidding!
And we've seen torn jeans, tacky or unclean tee-shirts or really low slung tanktops with underwear hanging out or no underwear worn (for the ladies) nor concern expressed about it. "Yeah, well, like, y'know, like, whatever, man..." And a whole bunch of other fun stuff in between the extremes.
Personally, I do like to see the team dress just a touch "up" for their service before the King. Doesn't have to be suits or matching outfits, but if we're going to lead, it's nice to be leading in all those areas, too. We do have to be careful to be "culturally relevant" to a point, but in my mind, leadership should be in the upper portion of that cultural range. If jeans is the norm, they ought to be really nice jeans that fit well and are not worn to a frazzle, with a nice shirt, as befitting the occasion. IMO.
A suggestion for your djembe player, Sonshine, er Moe, I don't know the technical term, but I've seen a lot of women wear what could be described as a VERY wide-legged pant that's hard to distinguish from a skirt when the wearer is standing. I think they're pretty elegant and very practical for instrumentalists. Even a female cello player could wear it and not compromise her modesty. That way your lady could wear what looks like a skirt if she'd like, and still remain true to your need for a well-anchored djembe!
So, in case you'd not figured it out, I LIKE the idea of some gentle form of garmenting guide. Where there are resources, I LIKE the idea of complementary garmenting. Helps define them as "team" visually as well as by the fact that they are somehow (and only in some places!!) "up front".
My two cents worth.
Blessings!
Dean
DeanZF
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