When Melanie Catana arrived at Waynesburg University, in 2009, the worship band at Tuesday Chapel was structured very differently.

Catana, assistant professor of vocal music and director of choral music, said that when she came to Waynesburg, the band consisted of a few students chosen by the chaplain to put together some songs for the service. It didn’t take long for Catana and the music program to change the format.

“Soon after I came, we realized in the music department that we could make a course [for the chapel worship team] that would be really great for our music ministry majors…” Catana said. “So that’s when the music department started the course in probably 2011. We started a course, and it has just taken off.”

Catana estimates that there are usually between 15 and 20 students from a wide variety of majors who take the course titled “Applied Music: Group Worship Team.” The worship team is split into two groups that rotate through the weeks.

“Basically, anybody can take that course for one credit,” Catana said.  “It’s one of these courses in music we have a lot of that are co-curricular. Half of the team is taking for a fine arts credit, and half of the team is essentially volunteering. But they all commit to a year of providing music for the worship team.”

The leader of the worship team this year is junior Bryce McGarvey, a biblical ministry major with a path focus on international missions. McGarvey started working in a leadership capacity last spring, and Catana feels that he represents what she and the Rev. James Tinnemeyer, university chaplain, want in a worship leader.

“Rev. Tinnemeyer and I like to have a leader who knows the team really well, and who has demonstrated dedication to the team and to music and to God, and Bryce is a perfect example of that,” Catana said. “He’s a very good musician, and he is also very dedicated to helping others learn about worship music.”

Although McGarvey has been involved with music for most of his life, he was not sure if he wanted to continue playing in college. But filling out some basic forms began his journey as a team leader.

“I’ve played in worship teams since I was in fourth grade at my church,” McGarvey said.  “…I put on my freshman interest forms that I played the drums and guitar, and [Catana] contacted me and said that the chapel band was in need of a drummer. So that was something I was hoping to get involved in was a worship team. I’m really passionate about worshipping through music, so I hopped on that, and the rest is kind of history.”

The requirements for the class are rehearsals, which take place Monday evenings and Thursday mornings, as well as playing and singing in chapel Tuesdays at 11 a.m.

Catana hears all students individually so she can critique their strengths and weakness. From there, she and McGarvey divide the students into two teams that rotate each week.

“If you’re at chapel every week, you’re going to see that the two teams are rotating back and forth,” Catana said. “Everybody who is leading in music is part of the chorus.”

The first part of class time is dedicated to Bible study, which McGarvey leads. Catana said that the group tries to do an overnight retreat every year, and celebrates the end of the semester with dinner.

For McGarvey, managing people from both teams is one of the difficulties of leading the band.

“[Being the leader] definitely has its challenges,” McGarvey said. “It’s pretty difficult when you have a lot of different personalities, and they’re so spread out between the different teams. It’s a lot of trial and error and trying to figure out ways in which to communicate best to your band members and also communicate in loving ways.”

One thing that McGarvey has looked to change from years past is the vocal element of the band.

“Last year I looked into giving more responsibility to the singers,” McGarvey said “…Because I’m a musician, I look more at the music side… I try to look to build more of a dynamic throughout the whole song… I might have a couple of singers sing a couple lines, or a certain singer sing a certain line, or have them all sing together at once if we really wanted to drive a point.”

For McGarvey, understanding the different backgrounds of people in attendance is essential to the style of music that the band plays.

“Because we have a lot of the [college generation], we do tend to gravitate more towards contemporary worship,” McGarvey said. “But I found that there are students in the audience that do come from traditional backgrounds. There’s tons of different dominations, so we do focus more on the contemporary side, we also haven’t taken out the hymns either. I even try to incorporate different hymns that might have added choruses, so we can kind of bridge the two backgrounds.”