Chapel Tuesday Dec. 3rd!

Hi everyone,

Our next chapel is this Tuesday!  We'll be doing the set we've been working on.  I bought santa hats for everyone.  You're going to love them, A!  Please remember to be at the school at 7:15 sharp Tuesday morning as we have to set up the system, do a sound check and a run through.

Some reminders and thoughts I had about our coming set after the last practice:

• Electric guitar - maybe listen to the videos (Joy, Unspeakable Joy in particular) a couple more times before Tuesday and see if you can nail those parts.  I could see you were still searching for the right frets last Tuesday.  Also remember in Undignified you are just doing single notes with the bass, not chords, during the intros and the versus.  
• Drums, excellent country beat in The Happy Song!  Remember in Undignified to play a straight, steady, driving beat in the chorus.  In the intro and versus I think in practice you were doing quarter notes on the high hat?  We'll try eighth notes on the high hat in the warm up Tuesday morning.
• Bass - great feel as well in The Happy Song.  For I Exalt Thee - ensure that in the first verse and first chorus you are providing us with a solid foundation by playing full (well plucked) notes on the chart and not playing any passing notes (notes that aren't written in the chart).  Once we get into the second verse and beyond, you can ad lib some more with the exception of the walk-ups in the verses (no bass walkups for 'for thou oh Lord...' and 'You are exalted for above...' )
• Everyone...
• Remember to smile, move, relax, have fun, and clap where you can in the first 2 songs!  
• Remember in The Happy Song we're doing that special ending with the chord shots  G,  A, and D - watching the drummer as we do them cleanly  :-)  
• Joy to the World - we're ending with the voices only on the 'chorus' - Joy, Unspeakable Joy
• I Exalt Thee we will also be ending with just the voices after our big build.

Prep for Dec 3 Chapel (After Nov. 7 practice)

Hi everyone,

After Thursday's practice I had a couple of thoughts... :-)  Also I'm switching out 'I found a love' for 'the Happy Song' (video and link to music posted below)

1. Everyone should be listening to their parts (in these videos) and practicing these pieces during the week.  I probably shouldn't be hearing things like 'I sort of know how the song goes - I watched the video in my spare today' or 'I don't know this song - haven't heard it before'.  That's not really fair to me or the others in the team that have been practicing.
   When I'm getting ready for a set at church, even when I know the song and I've played it in the past, I still listen to the video many times during the week before.  I will play with it, listen for my part and try and nail it exactly as it's done in the video - this really helps the group practice move along and (of course) makes it sound better.  It will make you a better musician as well.  So please (pretty please :-) ) listen to the songs this week and practice.
2. Perhaps an appropriate analogy for us singers to keep in mind is that we are sort of like 'cheerleaders'.  People are watching us.  We're helping them cheer for God, in a matter of speaking.  If we are smiling, clapping, and full of energy, that will reflect and transfer over to them.  If we aren't, that also reflects and transfers over to them.  So don't be afraid to smile, clap, move a bit, think of some simple actions, etc. 

So here's our revised song set for Dec. 3  I've copied the notes from last week with updates based on key changes and thoughts.

Undignified Remember we're playing this in A now.

Bass, Elec. Guitar - you two will follow each other in the intro and the musical interludes between verses.  The line goes like this: A A A A D D D D D D C# C# B B B B and repeat

Drums - try and emulate the drums exactly like they do in this arrangement.  

Keyboards - at 2:20 there is a cool part that one of you could try (its a guitar part, but you could do it on the keyboard - ask me about the patch to use)

The Happy Song  Link to music here

Drums - :-)  This is a country feel.  You'll be hitting the snare twice as much as normal.  Try and get the stops like they do it.  We won't have you play the snare through the verses.  I think you'll stop with the music (so essentially shots in the verses).  We'll see how it goes.  Same thing in the "everybody's singing now... "  part.  We'll want to make sure the tempo doesn't go too fast as we'll feel like auctioneers (there's lots of words coming at you fast)

Bass - This is a country feel.  I think you get it.

Rest of the musicians.  Pay attention to where they stop and start the music.  There's lots of fun shots in this song.

Joy to the World

Elec. Guitar - you've got the guitar lead on this - intro and then the part I should you for the 'joy unspeakable joy' part.

Drums (and everyone) - listen to how they build the 3rd verse.  Also drums - when we to the 'joy unspeakable joy' part - you should switch to a nice clean ride cymbal.

We will NOT be doing the key change.  We'll stay in C for the entire song.

I Exalt Thee

This is a way longer, more complicated version than we will do.  We'll keep it simple.  We'll play it in F.  Start listening around 4:15 - That's kind of what I'm going for.  The verse will be more subdued.

I'll bring sheet music for all of these next week.  Please listen to these (many times) and practice this week so we'll be in good shape for practice next week.
Thanks a bunch, gang!