Where to Find Replacement Musicians, FAST!

 

Have you ever had a last-minute thing come up where your drummer texts you the night before an event and can’t make it to your event or service. Now their lack of planning or their emergency becomes your problem. What can you do? You have to find a replacement fast!

 

Where do you look?

 

Well, here are a couple of ideas on where to find some subs at the eleventh-hour.

Local high schools and colleges

Check the jazz bands and choirs of local schools, and you may be able to find someone who’s free. Colleges are my preference for finding help, but there are high schoolers who can play just as well.

 

A good contact point will (obviously) be the teachers or professors. Check the school’s website for their email address, shoot them a message, and let them know who you are and what you need. They’ll have a better idea of the talents and schedules of any musicians in their groups, and, more importantly, they’ll know how to get in contact with them today!

You’ll need to request someone who can simply show up and read the part. Your job will then be to have your ducks in a row and get them the music ASAP.

 

Post a cry for help on Social Media

You can always reach out to your friends and family on FaceBook or Twitter for help.

 

Start by posting in music and worship groups from your area. That’s going to be your best bet for finding real solutions to your problem.

 

As a last resort, post a status. You don’t want to trouble friends unnecessarily, and you won’t get as focused a response by posting a status. Chances are, 90% of your responses are going to be something like…

“Oh, no! Praying for you!”

It’s nice, but not very tangible.

When you submit your help-wanted ad, attach exactly what you need (what, when, where) and a way to contact you (direct message, text, email…) in the post. Don’t attach a method of contact that you aren’t comfortable answering.

 

For example, I rarely answer phone calls from numbers I don’t recognize. So, I would never post my phone number and ask for calls.

 

If you rarely check your email, don’t attach your address! Use something you use, but something that you don’t mind strangers using to contact you.

Ask local theaters

Ask your local theaters about any people that come and play for fun during intermission. Talk to them about who they use for shows and events. Chances are they’ll be happy to help you out.

 

This might seem like a stretch, but I found a really great back-up pianist this way recently.

 

Make friends with local gigging musicians

This one will require some forethought…

 

If you go out to a place that has live music, consider saying hello to the musicians between sets. Buy them a drink or some fries, it’ll be money well spent! For the cost of a coke and a couple baskets of fries, you’ll gain a friend or two, and next time you have an emergency come up, it’s nice to have some favors stored up.

 

Pull from your Congregation!

 

The simplest option is often one that leaders overlook, and that is to get someone from your church to fill in.

 

This might be someone who used to play percussion in high school, but stopped when they started working. Maybe it’s someone is a guitar enthusiast, but they just have never played for you group. These are folks that are there, but you just don’t know about their talents… yet!

 

Send out a church-wide email asking for volunteers. There’s bound to be a possible replacement somewhere! Chat with the coffee group that meets every week, see if there are any musicians in the bunch you can pull right then and there to go practice with. Ask your current musicians if they know someone who used to play in your church (you know, before you got there).

 

The benefit of using someone who is already part of the congregation is that they’ll be more comfortable at the location than an outsider, they’ll be more familiar with the way you do music, and they’ll be more knowledgeable about the Order of Worship. That can make a big difference to the success of a substitute and a service.

 

Even if you don’t find someone for this Sunday, maybe you’ll have found someone for the next time you have an emergency!

 

 

What do you do?

 

Those are my tips for finding some last-minute help for your music team. Finding a replacement isn’t so hard if you know where to look! If you read something you liked here or want to share a source you use for finding musicians, comment below.

 

Go in Peace.