Those Autumn Leaves…

My favorite things about fall:
College Football (Go Vols!)
The smell of fallen leaves
Wearing long sleeves (especially my faithful hooded sweatshirt)
Not constantly sweating
This year, Fall also means a lot of crazy stuff for the Music Team:
Church Retreat- the challenge of the retreat is not so much the actual retreat music; it’s the two worship services that still need musicians at home. Music Team members tend to be the same folks who love going to the retreat, so we have a blast at the retreat, but it is a real challenge to get the normal services organized.
Special Holidays and Events – In addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas, we also have a special Reformation Day service that we will be involved with. My dad will be coming up to lead a mass choir singing two of his songs, “Death Is Ended” and “Rock of Ages” at the Kirk of the Hills, and NCF-STL’s music team will be leading a set of worship songs. Add in two special concerts with other churches and the fall starts to look pretty crazy.
Leadership Development- Our church will be starting a pretty active campaign to develop leadership in our various teams. What that exactly means, I’m not too sure. But, I know that it will be a real challenge for me. I tend to complain a lot about lack of leaders, but when it comes to delegating or asking more from people I get cold feet.
When I scan across the giant wall calendar hanging in my office, I get a little fearful about all these things. I begin to doubt my leadership abilities and my decisions. I get a strong procrastination feeling that makes me want to sit here and write blog entries or add CDs to my Amazon wish list instead of do my job. I need to remember the song we sang a few weeks back that says, “Be still, God will fight your battles.”
Being still does not mean that I sit in my office and play solitaire until something amazing happens. Being still means that I cast these burdens onto Jesus and bring my anxiety to him and rest in his faithfulness to empower and equip his people to do what they need to do in the time they are given. Then I go out onto the battlefield with confidence that I am not alone and that the victory is already won.
So bring it on, Fall!

How to Practice Before a Worship Rehearsal (Part 2)

Vocalists,
Even if you don’t read music, you can print off the music before the rehearsal to get the lyrics and the form.
1. Review the form.
“Form” describes the various sections (verse, chorus, bridge, tag, etc.) that make-up the song. A song’s form can be very flexible or it can be very specific. Listen to the recording for the form or use the chart to see how it all fits together. Most of the charts have the sections of a song labeled, but if they don’t then use your brain to figure out what the sections are and in what order those sections come.
2. Use a guitar or piano to find the key.
If you have access to any kind of instrument that can give you a starting pitch then always use it when you are practicing a song. You may not think that you have perfect pitch, but I think most singers have something like it in a subconscious form. So, if you practice the song in the key of C then the next time you sing it, you will probably sing it in C again. This can create a problem if the band plays it in the key of D. If you don’t have access to these tools its ok; it’s worth it to practice even if you don’t have a starting pitch. Also, at any music store you can buy a “pitch pipe.” This is like a little harmonica that can play all 12 notes of the chromatic scale; you’ve probably seen people using them and you might feel a little cheesy playing one. But, there’s nothing un-cool about pitch pipes and if you are really embarrassed about it then just lock yourself in a closet to practice.
3. Spend a few minutes reviewing special languages pronunciation.
Just a little bit of pronunciation work can go a long way. African tribal languages are actually the easiest to pronounce because they are spelled phonetically. Swahili and Lingala, which are the most common in our church, have only long vowel sounds (like Spanish). For example: Swahili is pronounced Swah-Hee-Lee not Sway-hill-leh. French is by far the most difficult that we use in our church (haven’t sung in Mandarin in a while). Do your best to figure it out and then ask a French-speaking friend to help you later. You could probably do some kind of Google search to find free info on French pronunciation (Normally, I would do all that work for you and then just give you a link, but I’m feeling lazy today.)
4. Spend time mediating on the lyrics and what they mean.
There’s a funny scene in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” where Ron’s competitive co-anchor changes the words on the teleprompter that he is reading to include insults and profanity about their viewers. Ron mindlessly reads the words on the teleprompter and is completely unaware of what he is saying. We can sometimes be just like that as worship leaders, singing words with no thought about their meaning. I’ve even sung lyrics that included non-sense typos and only realized it when it was too late. The point is, read the lyrics and review what they mean so that you sing them from your heart with sincerity.
5. Sing the melody through at least once.
Before you dive into figuring out your harmony part, start with the melody. Work on singing it clearly and confidently. The congregation you are leading will be singing the melody and sometimes you might serve them better by not harmonizing.
6. Determine your harmony part, and sing through it at least once.
Unless you are a descent sight singer, you might need a piano or guitar for this. If you can, try singing your part and playing the melody with it. It really helps you to remember your part, if you can hear how it relates to the melody.
7. Sing every verse (especially, if you have to sing a hymn with six stanzas that’s full of King James English).
Don’t assume that if you can sing verse 1 then you can sing all the other verses. Practice all of them and look for trouble spots or spots of confusion. Being ready with questions is always helpful in rehearsals.
8. Practice vocal fills and cues.
Vocal fills are those little things that lead singers add into a song that give it a little spice. They always seem so casual and spontaneous, but they are usually planned out in advance. Seasoned singers improvise those fills by using their bag of tricks and clichés, but the origin of those fills was in practicing them.
Cues: As a song leader, it is your responsibility to serve the congregation by being their tour guide through the song. The congregation wants to have clear signals about when to stop and when to start. No one likes to have a surprise solo. Don’t assume that they will have no difficulty following an old classic. They still need help, and besides, visitors need you help on those classics just as much as the new stuff. Just like vocal fills these are not spontaneously improvised at first. As you get more comfortable with giving the congregation cues, you can do it more freely in the moment, but if you have never done it before, you need to plan these in advance.

9. Be prepared to ask questions.
Your preparation before the rehearsal might leave you feeling more confused than when you started. However, if you come to rehearsal ready to ask specific questions and aware of the spots where you need help, you will be prepared to hit the ground running.
10. Save your charts and take notes.
Take time in rehearsal to take notes on a song and then save those notes for the next time we sing it. I rotate songs about every three months. That might seem like a long time, but if you plan to be in the same church for more than a year then you will probably be singing some songs quite a lot.
Be active in the role you play on the music team; you are a part of the team to serve, not to be served. Practicing is a way to serve your teammates and the congregation.

How to Practice Before a Worship Rehearsal (Part 1)

woodshed-verb, to abandon all other responsibilities and personal pursuits in order to practice one’s instrument.
On our music team, we have the luxury of providing downloadable sheet music for the members in advance of their weekly rehearsal. This gives them the opportunity to practice their part before the rehearsal. If you have never practiced before (I hadn’t really ever practiced until I became a music major in college) then you might need some direction about what to do to prepare for a rehearsal.
I will start with the Instrumentalists:
1. Review the form.
How does it start/end? Where are the repeats, DS, Coda? What is the chorus/verse/bridge/vamp?
2. Review the chord vocabulary.
Are there any chords that you have never or rarely played? Circle the difficult chords to reference later.
3. If it is available, listen to the recording.
This can be helpful most of the time. First listen for the big picture: the feel, tempo, mood, texture, etc. Then listen to the details: what is my specific instrument doing on this recording? But don’t beat yourself up for not being as good as the recording; most people who are listening to the worship have never even heard the recording.
4. Play every song in the set to a metronome.
Slow tempos and fast tempos are very difficult to master even for experienced professionals. If a song is really slow, set the metronome to click 8th notes or twice as fast. It is temping to practice a slow song faster than it is performed in order to save time, but you will always gravitate toward the tempo that you practiced it. It’s ok to practice a fast song slowly at first to learn the chords; however, make sure that you can play it at the correct tempo, too.
5. Determine what special needs or settings are required for the song.
What guitar effects? What keyboard sounds? Brushes or mallets?
6. Focus on the trouble spots.
After you have played through the whole set, go back and hit the trouble spots. Get repetitive! If there is one measure that you always mess up, then just practice that one measure. Set the metronome at the performance tempo and then play the phrase and rest, play the phrase, rest, play the phrase, rest, etc. If you can’t play it at the performance tempo, set the metronome at the speed at which you can play it flawlessly and then slowly increase the tempo until you reach the goal. Another technique to getting a fast phrase is to set the tempo at the performance tempo and then play just the first note of the phrase until you play that perfectly. Once you have mastered that one note, add the second, and then the third until you can play the whole phrase. Some say this is actually better than the previous technique because you are more likely to create bad habits when practicing at a slower tempo.
7. Overall, prepare to play simple.
Pianists and guitarists will often practice songs in such a way that when they get to the rehearsal, they can’t play with anyone else. While they are practicing, they want to hear the whole groove fleshed out, and so they end up playing too much and step all over everyone else. So, when you practice, try to imagine how you will fit into a band sound. This takes a lot of intuitive thought, and will take a long time to cultivate. But even if you can’t hear it all in your head, just focusing on simplicity will go a long way.
I think that I will save the vocal practicing for next week, stay tuned…

Movies ‘n’ Stuff

No one officially tagged me for this, but I love movies so much that I have been sitting on the sidelines waiting. Normally, I don’t crash a party without an invitation, but as one of the founding fathers of St Louis blogs, I think I have earned the right.
1) What is a movie that changed the way you think and act? Or just got you thinking, if the first question is too intimidating.
When I was in middle school, I watched the movie “Reality Bites” and became obsessed with Ethan Hawk’s coolness. I think that it created this platonic ideal of coolness in my brain that still lingers in my subconscious. (For example that last
sentence I just wrote would be something like what Hawk’s character would
say.)
2) It’s a late autumn evening and rainy and cold? What do you have for dinner/snack? What movie do you pop in the DVD player?
Snack: Ice Cream
Movie: The Incredibles
3) You are off to wee Himalayan hamlet for a year, your laptop hard drive can hold one film. What will it be?
Lord of the Rings
4) What movie made you laugh the hardest? What movie made you cry?
I love comedies, but they always make me laugh more when quoted. Here’s a list of some of my favorite films to quote in no particular order: The Big Labowski; Raising Arizona; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Spinal Tap; Bottle Rocket; The Three Amigos; Spies Like Us; The Jerk; Fletch; UHF;
I cry at almost every movie I see. The hardest I’ve cried I think was after In America.
5) Favorite actor (female, male)?
I am more likely to look at who the director is than the actors, but there are a few folks off the top of my head that I especially like:
Actresses-Rachel Weiz (she reminds me of Sarah), Toni Collette, Audrey Hepburn, Holly Hunter, Reese Witherspoon
Actors-Cary Grant/George Clooney (their the same guy, right?), Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle, Ian Holm, Edward Norton, Jack Black, Will Ferrell
6) What book or story would you like to see made into a film or what book do you love that could never be made into a film?
Neil said Perelandra, but I would say That Hideous Strength. In my mind I see the whole thing as a really cool movie, but it would never get made.
7) What is a movie that immediately after you watched it, you wish you hadn’t?
A Clockwork Orange, Monster’s Ball, American Pie
8) Do you read movie reviews? Before, after, never? Whose reviews do you find the best? Are you an analyzer?
Yes, I am most likely to read Good ol’ Roger Ebert, but I also value to opinions of friends and family highly. Yes, I analyze like crazy, but my wife doesn’t. So, we comprise: I will analyze for only about 5 minutes after a movie.
9) What movie do you think is a must see, but that you can only recommend with caveats? What movie do you really like, but can only recommend with caveats?
There are comedies that only certain people will like (UHF, Bottle Rocket, Napolean Dynamite)
There are dramas that are important, but hard to watch (Schindler’s List, American History X)
There are Romantic Comedies that my wife and I love to watch together, but they are only for the truly sappy (How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, 50 First Dates, Laws of Attraction)
10) What movie do you most wish to share with your friends?
The Station Agent
Now tag at least 5 people.
Sarah told me she didn’t want to be tagged, so…
Kate
Meg
Anna
Rinnie
Joanna

You Mock My Pain!

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti
I’m just gonna stop taking these tests. First Eowyn, then Marzipan and now Buttercup. Sheesh!

Bob Dylan a Christian?

One of my pastors let me listen to an interesting CD, “Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan.” It is a specially produced recording of various black gospel artists performing some of the best songs from Dylan’s “Christian” period.
It has some good tracks on it. I pretty much dig everything on it except the Aaron Neville (I can never seem to stomach Aaron’s vocal style.) But, other than that there is a great line up of gospel performers (Shirley Caesar, Chicago Mass Choir, Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Rance Allen to name a few.) It’s cool to hear these tunes reproduced by accomplished gospel artists who can do justice to the emotion of Dylan’s poetry and song craft.
Is Bob Dylan still a Christian? That’s not my job to judge. There is a whole group of musicians and celebrities in the secular sphere that Christians love to speculate about their faith. Bono, Bruce Cockburn, Bob Dylan, Jessica Simpson (wait…scratch that last one.)
Do have a favorite artist in the secular market who has professed to follow Jesus or who you have suspicions about?

Drum Circles

I am not a fan of the “drum circle” phenomenon. I have bad cultural associations with it (hippy lifestyle, smoking grass, and bad musicianship). But, cultural associations are not always the truth and this website is a good example of Christians who are redeeming this culture for the service of the kingdom:
Psalm Drummers

James Ward circa 1987

It’s amazing what Google can unearth from the bowels of the World Wide Web. I did a search on “New City Fellowship” and a few pages in, I discovered this archived interview that my father, James Ward, did for Reformed Worship in 1987 about being a music director in a multi-cultural Presbyterian church. It’s cool to read his responses and to think about NCF Chattanooga in those days when I was only 8 years old.
Harry Boonstra did the interview. I don’t know what his personal position on worship was but he asked some great questions that Reformed Worship readers would want to know the answer to. As a NCF kid, I never questioned why we do what we do because it’s all I’ve known, but it is a good reminder to see just how bizarre NCF still is to a lot of people.
Some questions that I particularly liked:
Q. The reason for not singing from the Scottish Psalter is that it would be foreign to the church?
Q. How can your church still be recognized as a Presbyterian church?
Q. The Church Growth people say that a church is most likely to grow if it is as uniform as possible in terms of income and race and social status. Why have an intercultural, interracial church? Aren’t you putting up barriers to people joining?
Q. On the question of diversity— most of our readers are from middle class, homogeneous churches. Should white, suburban churches deliberately, in their choice of music, borrow from other traditions, such as black gospel? Or would that seem contrived?
Q. Let me put the music question another way: If New City gets rich enough to buy a pipe organ, would you vote for that purchase?

Read the whole interview; it’s worth it!

Funny Book

I realized today that in the book post, I list some books that made me laugh, but I failed to list the one book that had me laughing so hard that I was in tears. I had to put it down after a while because I was in too much pain from laughing so hard. I first read it on a road trip with friends and so I recommend reading it out loud with a group of people. If you know Josh Green, you have probably been exposed to the book already.

“Letters from a Nut” by Ted L. Nancy, forward by Jerry Seinfeld.

Welcome Judah!

Praise the Lord for miraculous babies!

Our friends, the Taylors, were told that having children would not be possible for them. They had completed their paperwork and jumped through the hoops to do the foster care/adoption route when God decided to allow them to have their own child. Yesterday morning, Judah David Taylor was born.
May the Lord bless this child, and may his life be a constant testament to the fact that with God all things are possible.
Here are more details on the Taylor’s blog.