January 2008

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education

———————————————-

no matter what you’re “thing” is, it’s easy to plateau. it takes concerted effort to continue to grow and improve your skills. this is true with musicians as well. we learn patterns and habits along the way. it’s easy to get stuck in familiar patterns. you have to be proactive about stretching.

one of the best ways to keep improving is to sit at the feet of a master. and a master is anyone that is further along than you in any particular area. in fact, i’ve learned that most other musicians have at least something to teach me if i pay attention and ask for it.

this may mean formal lessons. i’ve taken guitar, vocal and keyboard lessons on and off for my entire life. lessons are not just for beginners. in fact, going into a teacher with something very specific that you want to learn or work on adds so much value to the lessons.

i’ve found that branching out to “masters” in a different style than you’re used to is helpful. even though i don’t play much jazz, i’ve found my jazz guitar and jazz piano lessons extremely beneficial in the “pop” music world. and if nothing else, i’m giving myself something else to reach for. a reason to approach the instrument in a different way. it forces me out of my predictable patterns.

aside from formal lessons, a ton can be learned “by the way” just by asking questions. “how did you play that?” is a good one. “can you watch me sing and see if you see any weird tension in my neck?” is another good one (albeit a bit awkward). “what’s your signal chain?” can charm just about any guitar player. “who do you listen to?” is another good one. most players channel other players by repeated exposure.

as i’m writing this, i’m realizing that it’s been too long for me since i’ve proactively sought out a coach. i’m going to start the search…..

what else can you add?

chinese new year is february 7. 2008 is the year of the rat, in case you were wondering.

this past saturday was the annual celebration put on in raleigh by the triangle area chinese american society. we got to celebrate with one of darby’s china “sisters,” kylie, and her mom and dad. more pictures and info at C.C.’s blog.

we had a great time watching performances of several different chinese art forms, including the lion dance, the dragon dance and chinese opera. we also sampled some chinese foods: dragon whiskers candy, lo mein noodle dish, lamb gyros and cheese fries (yeah, i was confused too!).

our girls are a still bit too young to get the full benefit, but i look forward to exposing darby to these types of events as she gets older so that she’ll be able to maintain a connection with her heritage.

on a somewhat disappointing note, we learned that although our new friend Lin IS from Lianjiang, China, he IS NOT from the same province. apparently there is more than one Lianjiang City in China. darby is from Lianjiang, Guangdong Province. Lin is from Lianjiang, Fujian Province. bummer.

“here is our king” by david crowder band (cd “passion 05: how great is our god”)
“salvation’s chorus” by todd fields (cd “northpoint live: louder than creation”)
“let the praises ring” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
—-connect—-
message - jBow
prayer

we went with a shorter music set this week because jonathan needed more time for the message…..which was extremely practical and helpful, by the way… who knew that jesus was a kung fu practician?

“here is our king” is a relatively new song for our crowd. i think it’s still on the upswing in terms of how well people are owning it.

“salvation’s chorus” was brand new this week. we’ve been needing a new uptempo rocker worship song for awhile now. thanks todd fields! i hope that our community will grab onto the song and that it will be part of a great Easter celebration in a couple of months.

“sing salvation’s chorus now
our chains are gone, our victory won
death no longer holds us down
the Lord of love has overcome”

we wanted to round out the 3-song set with a tried and true song, so “let the praises ring” fit the bill nicely. our crowd really seems to dig lincoln brewster songs.

there are times, like anyone else, that i feel sort of stagnant in my job.

but then there are moments like at worship band rehearsal last night, where i felt squarely in my sweet spot. gave some musical direction that helped take a song from a C- to a solid A.

this is in no way to toot my own horn. honestly, i felt as though God was working through me and reminding me that He has me where He wants me.

those are good days.

now that i think about it, i’m reminded of the quote from eric liddell in chariots of fire…

“i believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. and when i run i feel his pleasure.”

pilfering through the pantry, as she is prone to do, darby discovered two tubes of cookie sprinkles. because she is a kid, and all kids are artistic and free, the cookie sprinkles apparently inspired darby to dance and sing.

check out my cute kid…..

well, i don’t think i’ve made it public yet, via the blog anyway….

we’re well underway with the process of adopting our second child from china.

today was our first of three home study visits. it was really a piece of cake. i think the fact that we’ve adopted before helped. our social worker observed us with darby, checked out our house, helped us go through some necessary paperwork, asked some questions about our parenting style, views on discipline, plan for communicating with darby and child #2 about adoption, etc. she’ll use all this information to write up a 15-or-so-page report about us that the CCAA will use to match us with a waiting child.

i promise i’m not bitter about it because i understand the need. but it’s odd to me that potential adoptive parents have to go through a fairly rigorous process to be deemed fit to be parents, whereas any two drunk idiots can jump in the sack and become parents with no scrutiny whatsoever. (did that sound bitter?)

anyway, with the wait times for chinese adoption referrals continuing to get longer and longer, we’re fully expecting it to be 2010 or 2011 before we bring child number 2 home. that’s a crazy long gestation period!

but, all i have to do is look into these beautiful eyes to remember again how well worth-it the wait is.

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education

—————————

solid rhythm continues to be one of the most important aspects of music that gets overlooked by developing players. it’s much more captivating and fun to figure out the cool guitar riffs, drum fills, keyboard patches, etc that we love on our musical heroes’ tracks. but solid time (and not just for drummers) is a MUST to graduate from garage band to viable musician.

if you’ve ever done any recording, you know it’s true….your rhythm is not as good as you think. i remember the first time i ever recorded myself playing a simple acoustic guitar strumming pattern. easy enough. but when i played it back, i couldn’t believe how “out of the pocket” my strumming was.

in fact, over time, the process of recording music has really helped me clean up my rhythmic approach to music.

a very high percentage of commercial music is recorded to a click track. it’s much easier to track, overdub, and edit songs this way. the result is that the general public (whether we are aware of it or not) has been trained to “feel” music in solid time. a steady bpm (beats-per-minute) just feels right to us.

i’m convinced that one of the best ways for a worship band to take a leap forward is to lock in the tempos of songs and find the groove. in fact, we now play to a metronome just about every song in our worship services. takes a bit of finesse and cooperation in the transitions, but it’s well worth it. we use in-ear monitors so that we can hear the click without inflicting it upon the crowd…

metronomes:
:: Boss DB-88
:: Tama Rhythm Watch RW-105

now, just a few thoughts and tips for different instruments….

piano/keyboard:
:: hanon excercises. practice these excercises with a metronome. this will help you lock in rhythmic control of all 10 fingers. start really slow, and touch the tempo up just a bit each time. don’t go any faster until the subdivisions are right on.

guitar:
:: practice 16th-note strums (down, up, down, up, or DUDU) starting at a slow tempo (less than 50 bpm)
:: concentrate on making each one even
:: on each different strumming pattern, practice keeping your right hand DUDU pattern going, just hit the strings only when you want them to sound. for example, see if this makes sense….capital letters indicate strumming the strings, lowercase indicate “missing” the strings. strum pattern: D u d u D u d U d U D u d U D U

bass players:
:: again, starting slowish (60 bpm) and gradually faster, practice the following…
:: 8th-notes with index finger
:: 8th-notes alternating between index and middle finger
:: 16th-notes alternating (start slower, 40 to 50 bpm)

drummers:
:: my friend john hogan was the first person that i heard of practicing to a metronome in headphones.
:: he sets the click, starts playing a basic groove, concentrating on playing on or just behind the beat.
:: after settling into the pocket, he starts adding in simple fills, or moving the groove to different hand and foot patterns
:: after 10-15 minutes of this, gradually dial up the tempo a few clicks at a time, every 16 bars
:: pay special attention to fills. it’s very common to speed up during a fill. teach yourself what it feels like to play a fill in time.

“sing to the king” by billy foote (arr. taken from 722)
“love the lord” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
—-connect—-
“endlessly” by desperation band (cd “from the rooftops”)
“hosanna” by hillsong united (cd “all of the above”)
—-prayer—-
video promo: financial peace university
—-message—-
—-prayer—-
“everything” by tim hughes (cd “holding nothing back)

kelsey stoner, one of our high school students from the turningpointe worship band, introduced “hosanna” as a new song in our adult service today. the first line of the second verse is “i see a generation / rising up to take their place / with selfless faith”. that’s exactly what’s happening with kelsey and others in our high school ministry. it’s so cool for our adults to be led and inspired in worship by our youth. kelsey has a beautiful gift as a singer! she did an awesome job with the song.

don smith and i are planning new worship songs that we want to introduce to our community between now and easter. we’ve got some great worship tunes coming up!

1:15 baby!

you?

parental rediscovery #1,057

when you’re a kid….

a dandelion isn’t a weed.

no, no, no!

a dandelion is a beautiful flower!

as i mentioned before, my wife is amazing.

c.c. is one of those people that, a few minutes after first meeting her, you feel like you’ve known forever. she doesn’t even realize that she’s doing it, but she makes just about everyone feel comfortable in just about any situation you put her in.

c.c. has the natural gift of active and empathetic listening. when you talk to c.c., you feel heard and understood.

c.c. is a friggin’ firecracker! she knows what she believes and loves to engage in conversation about it. it frustrates her that i don’t have an opinion about some issues. over time, we are each learning from each other. i’m starting to have more opinions about things (say…..politics), and she is starting to see the world a bit more gray. we’re meeting in the middle, and it’s beautiful.

speaking of beauty, c.c. is strikingly beautiful. besides the infamous brown jeans, c.c.’s beautiful green eyes and warm smile were the first things that attracted me to her over 15 years ago. (15….wow!!)

c.c. is an incredibly supportive wife. she has pulled up roots and moved across the country twice in order to support me and the latest inkling of God’s leading in my life/ministry/career. she has sacrificed, among other things, the blessing of living in close proximity to her mom and dad (who died in 2003) - a sacrifice which is felt more and more as time goes on.

my latest discovery is that c.c. is an awesome mom. it’s hard to describe the new depth of love i feel for her as i watch her love our daughter. she always seems to know what to do, even when she doesn’t feel like she does.

c.c. balances her many roles like a champ. she has her priorities straight. and when having to choose to cheat (like everyone has to do), she never chooses to cheat her husband or daughter. when faced with too many things to do, she consistently chooses the relational.

every once in awhile, c.c. gets discouraged about not being 100% on top of everything. the other night, she was frustrated about the house being less than neat. unfortunately, i don’t always have my head straight, and i occasionally communicate non-verbally that i’m frustrated by it.

what can i say? i’m sometimes a jerk. but, the reality is that i am blessed more than i can express by having c.c. as my wife and the mother of my child.

at the end of the day, i would much rather have my daughter cherished and engaged throughout the day by her mom than for the toys and dishes to be put in their places.

c.c. is one special human being. i love you, baby. thanks for choosing to share your life with me.

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education

—————————

the ability to read chord charts and sheet music is a very valuable tool, especially in situations where there’s new music thrown your way that you haven’t had a bunch of time to do private woodshedding.

but…especially in a worship context….you don’t want to get buried in the chart. and you don’t want to get attached to a particular arrangement or “scan”. by this i mean the order of verses, choruses, bridges, etc. it’s much more beneficial to learn the sections of the song in chunks. this way, the worship leader has some freedom to repeat or skip sections without the fear of the band getting lost.

also, the more you can “get off the page” the easier it will be to listen to the other musicians and pick up on cues for where the song is headed next. if i’m following the chord chart too closely, i can become disconnected with what’s going on around me. look away for a second, come back to the wrong place. next chord says G. oops. it’s not a G. where am i? what song is this again?

guitars/keys - here’s a trick. if you’re ever in doubt about “where we’re going next”, you can always play the root and the 5th of whatever key you’re in and be safe, as long as you play it in the mid- to upper-register. you can hold those notes over just about any chord in the key. this doesn’t work so well for bass guitar….

drummers - watch the leaders non-verbal cues. typically bouncing up and down or stomping feet on the beat towards the end of a section/beginning of a new one indicates a build in dynamics. you’re pretty safe to build into the next section. however, if you start hearing footballs (whole notes) from the leader’s instrument, it’s pretty safe to break it down. bass drum on 2 and 4, eighths or quarters on hi-hat is a pretty versatile breakdown pattern.

i feel as though i have not fully explained this. what can you add?

“your grace is enough” by chris tomlin (cd “arriving”)
“all over the world” by matt redman (cd “passion 05: how great is our god”)
“the highest and the greatest” by tim hughes (cd “holding nothing back”)
“glorious one” by steve fee (cd “burn for you”)
—-connect—-
“i won’t back down” by tom petty
—-message—- jBow

mike soper made his vocal debut today with the tom petty song. he rocked it. AND, what you don’t know is that mike jumped in with very short notice. i called him on thursday morning to see if he could take a crack at it at rehearsal thursday night. way to go, mike!

we didn’t have a keyboard player today. i missed having keys.

jonathan’s message was really good. largely inspired by an andy stanley message that jonathan had each of our staff watch last year. we’ve been praying for each other and our “big asks” ever since.

let me use this opportunity to say that i love working with the staff at crosspointe. we have really good chemistry, and a great balance of work and fun. it’s really nice to look forward to going into the office (most days).

okay, i’m still a long way from the world records in speedcubing (yes, there’s a name for it.)

but i just set a personal best time record:

1 min 27 sec

how fast are you?

today was just an ordinary day. friday is a day off from work. a day with my family.

c.c. is sick today, so she spent most of the day in bed. this gave me and darby a chance to have what we like to call a “daddy-darby day”.

i’ve just put her to bed and i’m reflecting on our day. we had nothing planned, we just went with the flow. it was a very ordinary day, but this is the stuff that strengthens bonds between a dad and daughter.

i wanted to recount the events of the day, if for no other reason to remind myself in the future that just spending time with my daughter is so meaningful. i know it is for me. and i trust that when it’s all said and done, daddy-darby days will do more to make darby secure in her dad’s love than anything money can buy.

8:45 - up
9:00 - cuddling on couch drinking milk
9:15 - breakfast with momma
10:00 - playing with darby’s play kitchen
10:45 - trip to the grocery for cold medicine for momma
11:30 - walked to nearby park and ran around on soccer field
12:30 - lunch
1:00 - drumming on high chair tray (never too early to start teaching rhythm)
1:30 - naptime
3:30 - up, snacktime
4:00 - rough-housing, throwing darby on the couch, lots of laughter
5:00 - darby helped me unpack our new dishwasher, start to take out the old one*
6:00 - momma got up, darby and i went to pick up a pizza for dinner
6:30 - dinner, more drumming, more laughter
7:00 - darby helped me “solve” the rubik’s cube, played with momma on the couch
8:00 - pajamas, milk, bedtime story in the rocking chair
8:15 - goodnight

*as handy as i am, i couldn’t figure out how to get the old one out. this affected my confidence that i would know how to install the new one even if i ever did figure it out. my friend nate is coming over tomorrow to help a brother out.

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education

————————–

playing in tune might seem like a no-brainer, but in my experience it remains a big one. musicians playing/singing out of tune is one of the quickest indicators of an amateur, uncaring, or lazy band.

especially for bands given the privilege and responsibility to lead people into worship of God, this is inexcusable.

guitar players:
:: use a tuner (A440) before every worship time and at every “break” in the service
:: invest in the best quality instruments you can. a cheap guitar is less likely to stay in tune.
:: find a good luthier in your area and have your guitar setup and maintained on a regular basis. even if you tune individual strings with an electronic tuner, the intonation at different spots on the neck can be off if not set-up properly.
:: new strings as often as you can afford. i know it’s not fair, but hey, you chose the guitar. as a worship pastor, i have included in my volunteer appreciation budget a small amount to occasionally buy a set of strings for my volunteer players. can’t foot the whole thing, but it’s a nice way to say thanks occasionally.
:: kapo as near the fret as you can. take good care in placing the kapo cleanly on the neck.
:: your touch on the fretboard can affect your tuning. if you press your fretting fingers too hard, you will push the string sharp. chords sound bad this way.
:: string bends take lots of practice to lock in the muscle memory for half-step and whole-step bends. some of my favorite guitar players rarely do string bends even in solos. i’m wondering if it’s because it’s not a strength of theirs.
:: record yourself every opportunity you get and listen back. in your individual practice at home if possible. definitely listen to recordings of the band in context. even a board mix can help you.

string players:
:: you must be able to hear yourself. don’t settle!
:: tasteful, stylistic vibrato is your friend, but shouldn’t become your crutch.
:: use the piano/keyboard or acoustic guitar as your pitch reference. tune each note or phrase to it.

singers:
:: you must be able to hear yourself. don’t settle! however don’t drown everyone else out either, you need the tonal context.
:: plenty of breath support.
:: when in doubt, it’s always better to cut a note off sooner than later.
:: record yourself and listen back. NO ONE likes to do this, but it’s so helpful. you have to learn what it feels like to sing in tune.

bass players:
:: it’s easy to get lazy with tuning. don’t do that.

acoustic piano:
:: if you use an acoustic piano at your church, please budget enough to have it professionally tuned at least once a month. more often if possible….

drums:
:: i don’t know anything about this, but i always see my favorite drummers tuning and retuning their drums in between “sets”. do some research about drum tuning or ask a drummer who sounds better than you.

finally, no one gets this perfect. there is plenty of grace. we just need to always strive for excellence.

any other thoughts?

these kinds of stories are why i’m excited to be a father of a girl!

“beautiful one” by tim hughes (cd “when silence falls”)
“majestic” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
connect
“everything” by tim hughes (cd “holding nothing back”)
“jesus paid it all” by kristian stanfill (cd “passion 06: everything glorious”)
“how great thou art” by charlie hall (cd “passion hymns: ancient and modern”)
message - steve d
prayer

great new song, “everything” by tim hughes. his new cd, “holding nothing back,” is really growing on me. my first impression was that there weren’t as many good corporate worship-type songs on it as his previous cd, “when silence falls” (which, incidentally, is one of my all-time favorite worship cd’s.) but the more i listen to this one, the more i love the songs. it’s been really good for personal worship times in my car and such….

two remade hymns in a row today. i gotta say, that was very satisfying. i always get thanked by several people every time we sing a hymn in our church. we have a lot of people who grew up in church, but left at some point and are just coming back. i think the hymns connect them to their young faith, and they are an encouraging reminder that it wasn’t God that they left, but rather out-of-touch religion. the hymns (a lot of them, not all) are rich with lyrical depth and good theology (certainly not all of them).

i had a good time in worship today.

“helping others, helps you. that’s the heart of volunteerism.”

really? that’s the heart?

i read this statement today on the website for a major US corporation. the website is publicity for the company’s involvement in various social/charitable programs.

is it so tough to motivate people to get involved in helping others, that you have to resort to this kind of sales tactic?

(ht: dale)

i’m going to expound on these in more detail, one each for the next 10 tuesdays. i’ll be drawing from my experiences both as a musician and as a worship leader. i’ll do my best to give some application ideas to different instruments as well as singers. my goal is to give some tidbits that help us all to improve the quality of our individual contributions to our worship ministries. please feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments. i certainly don’t profess to have the corner on the market.

ladies and gentlemen, i give you…

10 commandments for worship bands

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education