Practice at My House Sunday, Jan. 3rd 2pm to 4pm?

Please check your email...  I'd like to have a practice at my house from 2:00 to 4:00 on Jan. 3rd.  Please let me know ASAP if you can make it or not - either way.  Thanks everyone.

Dec. 2nd Chapel Debrief and new songs

Great job in chapel today everyone.  Set up was fantastic.  You guys were Pros!  Amazing job with that.  I think probably the biggest hiccup was with me talking  :-)  That should give you all more impetus to find something to talk about instead of having me talk.  

I can hear us listening to the music as we go, and adjusting our singing/playing - that's great.  I thought our dynamics were fantastic.  Our transitions were really good (other than my talking).

Deep Cries Out was a lot of fun with everyone doing the actions.  I thought our vocals sounded really good in that song as well. 

I felt that we finished Good, Good Father at nice peak - it felt right in every way (at least from my perspective).  Well done everyone.

Our next chapel isn't until January (2nd week I think?).  Here's some song we'll be working on as we prepare for that.  

Awake My Soul   Key of C
(Chord Chart)

Let Your Glory Fall    Key of C
(Chord Chart)

I surrender    Key of Am (C major)
(Chord Chart)

Rooftops    Key of G
(Chord Chart)

Great are you Lord   Key of E   
(Chord Chart)

Dec. 2 Chapel Agenda

Hi Everyone,
Here's what I'm thinking for the Dec. 2nd chapel.  If you have any thoughts, or if I forgot who was singing what and when, let me know.  (because more than likely I really did forget)  :-)
Solos mean everyone still sings (please!!), only solo person sings with a mic.

Deep Cries Out      Key of E     (keys - organ patch)
(chord chart)

• Instrumental Intro - E. Guitar has solo.  
• Verse 1 - Was someone singing a solo here?  Drums, remember bass solid on every beat throughout the entire song.  First two lines just bass and bass drum.  Next two lines, keys and hihat join us.
• Prechorus - Drums - work on toms but be organized and stay in control  :-)  E.Guitar, help us build here
• Chorus - 1 time, everyone all in.
• Verse 1 (again) - Someone else was solo singing?  Drums, remember bass solid on every beat throughout the entire song.  First two lines just bass and bass drum.  Next two lines, keys and hihat join us.
• Prechorus - Drums - work on toms but be organized and stay in control  :-)  E.Guitar, help us build here
• Chorus - 2 times, everyone all in.
• Bridge 1 - Falling into deeper waters.  Drums, I like the way you've been doing this, just stay in control  :-)  
• Bridge 2 (breakdown) - 2 times all through.  Just bass drum first time through.  A.J. does a great job of singing this.  I think she should solo it first time.  We'll join her after that.  Building through 'Dance, dance' and 'shout, shout'
• Chorus - 2 times.  First acapella with bass drum and bass.  Second time all in going hard.
• Outro (same as intro with E. Guitar lead).  Drums, stay on the bass drum as discussed.

I Lay Me Down   Key of E  (keys - organ patch)
(chord chart)

• Drums start right from the end of the last song - just bass drum a tad slower but still every beat.
• We'll start right where this video starts below (its actually the bridge)  'It will be my joy to say....'
• Bridge first time - Bass drum and bass  I'll lead this
• Bridge second time - Organ and E.guitars chugging.  Vocals join us all melody
• Bridge third time - Everyone full on and singing harmonies
• Chorus - acapella 'I lay me down...'  bass drum and bass guitar
• Chorus - everyone all in
• Outro - E.Guitars going for it.  Tempo speeding up towards the end (if we can do that)

I Will Exalt   Key of D   (keys - piano layered with soft pad patches)
(chord chart)

• Intro - Keys, acoustic guitar, & Bass
• Verse 1 - T.Z. solos   Piano, acoustic guitar & Bass accompany with light cymbal work on drums
• Intro again - Keys, acoustic guitar, & bass
• Verse 2 - A.J. solos  J.L. harmonizes.  Piano, acoustic guitar & Bass accompany.  Drums, bass drum and hihat - no snare yet.  Building into chorus
• Chorus - Vocals all on melody.  Drums in with snare.  E. guitar in with chords.
• Verse 1 - O.F. Solos  J.L. harmonizes.  Drums full playing.  E.guitar full chords.  
• Chorus - 2 times  Singers harmonize on second time.  We're big.
• Instrumental into bridge - Keys and bass play bridge chords
• Bridge - This is it everyone.  This is where we shift into another gear and really worship.  Nno matter what has happened in our set to this point, this is where the rubber really hits the road.  We start lifting our hearts to God HERE.  T.Z. starts us off with the first time through.  
• Bridge 2nd time - J.L. joins T.Z. here with harmony.  Make no mistake, the rest of us aren't just watching - we need to be all in with our hearts, just not with mics yet.
• Bridge 3rd time - We're all in, all on melody.  Instruments all in.
• Bridge 4th time - Big build on drums - snare, floor tom, and bass all together.  Vocals harmonizing.... giving our all....
• Chorus - acapalla - no instruments.  All voices. 
• Chorus - instruments back in on 'exalt'
• Outro - Keys, acoustic guitar, and bass play intro chords.
• Resolve to E chord.   Stay on E for a while, we'll see what happens.

Good, Good Father.   Key of E  (keys, same patches as previous song)
(chord chart)

• Intro - acoustic guitar, keys, and bass 
• Verse 1 - J.L. solos.  acoustic guitar, keys, bass, and light drums.
• Chorus - J.L. accompanied by T.Z. on harmony.
• Verse 2 - A.J. solos.  Drums, do a full beat (you do this 6/8 so nicely)  E.guitar play full chords
• Chorus 2 times - Every one in vocally singing melody first time.  Harmonies second time.
• Bridge 1 - 'You're perfect...'  We're all in big.  Sing this bridge twice.
• Bridge 2 - 'It's love so undeniable...'  T.Z. sings first time through.  J.L. joins here's on harmony 2nd time through.   We're all in 3rd time through.  Build up to chorus for CUT.
• Chorus - instruments cut out.  Instruments come back in on 'Father'
• Chorus
• Bridge 1 - 'You're perfect...'
• Quiet out.

Oct 28 Chapel Debrief & new songs

Well done in chapel today everyone.  I'll post more of my thoughts on my perspective on how things went later this evening.  However, I wanted to get these new songs out to you.  I'll post chord sheets for them hopefully this evening as well.  Our next chapel is Dec. 2 (or around there somewhere) and its our last one before Christmas, so I thought we'd have to include a Christmas song!

Chapel Thoughts:

• I thought our transitions between songs were fantastic.  Everything flowed nicely.    Good job K.S. for being on top of all the patch changes on the keyboard.
• Everyone who sang solos - you did great!  They all sounded good to me.
• There were certain parts where we had a couple of duets happening - T.Z. was singing harmony a couple of times, and then J.L. was singing harmony with T.Z. on 'You Are My King'.  All those sounded fantastic (even though not all of them were formally planned).
• I thought 'No Longer Slaves' went quite well.  We managed to keep the tempo from speeding up too much which was good, and we had a great build in the bridge.
• J.L. Nice work wrapping things up.  It was real.

All in all, while there were a couple of blips, our hearts were there and I think it went very well.

:-)  See you all tomorrow!

Joy Unspeakable Joy   Key of A    (Chord Chart)

Deep Cries Out     Key of E  (Chord Chart)

Wholly Yours   Key of E  (Chord Chart)

Good Good Father   Key of E  (Chord Chart)

I Will Exalt  Key of D  (Chord Chart)

Oct 28 Chapel Song Plan

In case you weren't aware, we have this week's practice and next week's practice to prepare for our chapel on Oct. 28th.  I believe Thursday Oct 22nd is a holiday at school....!!!   I may potentially arrange for a practice at my house that day.  We'll have to see how things go.

So... given that, I thought I'd go over some notes, thoughts and mappings for the songs to help you all get ready  :-)  Again, everything here is open for discussion and should be used as a guideline - its not set in stone by any means.  Also, a reminder for singers to memorize the words and instruments to memorize their chords.  As you work on the songs (singers AND musicians) think and meditate on the words.  They are really powerful!  Internalize them.  Let them live inside you.

Happy Day  in Key of G

• Intro - E.guitar to start  then all other instruments join in.  Keys - organ sound
• Verse 1  O.F solo?  E.guitar muted.  Organ whole notes following chords with right hand, joystick with left hand.  A.guitar strum like E.guitar.
• Chorus  Everyone sing, everyone play.  Singers should all have mic stands so they can clap and move and 'be happy'  :-)
• Verse 2  A.J. solo?  Instruments same as first verse.  
• Chorus 2 times  Everyone sing, everyone play.  Singers should all have mic stands so they can clap and move and 'be happy'  :-)
• Bridge  Drums you know what to do.  Instruments follow the drums.
• Chorus  Long held notes on G for whole chorus for instruments.  Singers belting it out and clapping.
• Chorus   This is where we get REALLY happy.  Everyone sing, everyone play.  
• Instrumental outro.  Everyone playing E.guitar solos out.

Don't Ever Stop  in Key of D

• Intro  Keys once through the 'solo' theme (like the video)    Synth sounds (Sweep Lead 260, and Oct Unison 252)
• Chorus  All instruments on D.  Drums just bass drum on every beat.  Singers should be clapping on every beat.
• Instrumental  Keys and E.guitar on 'solo' theme.  Drums - bass and cymbal crashes on every beat.  A.guitar and bass play D all the way through.
• Verse 1  C.M. solo?  Drums straight rock beat.  Guitars chugging.  Keys play D-A-D with right hand and follow the chord notes with left hand (I'll show you what I mean)
• Chorus  Keys - right hand plays D-D-A-A-G-F#-G-A, while left hand follows chord notes (again, I'll you what I mean)  Guitars follow chords.
• Verse 2   Everyone singing.  Same as verse 1 instrumentally
• Chorus 2 times.  Instruments same as first chorus
• Instrumental  Keys and E.guitar on 'solo' theme.  Drums - bass and cymbal crashes on every beat.  A.guitar and bass play D all the way through.  Singers clapping!!
• Bridge  3 times  All singers.  
• Chorus Instruments same as first chorus  Stop like video?

No Longer Slaves  in Key of  D

• Verse 1  J.L sings  Keys simple  D-A chord in right hand.  Follow chord notes with left using layered piano and soft pad sounds.  Guitars chugging on the beat.  Drums - cymbal work.
• Chorus  J.L. sings  T.Z  harmony.  Keys and guitars same as verse.  Drums - add bass drum on the off beat.
• Verse 2  Another singer?  Keys and guitars continue but slowly building.  Drums - keep bass on off beat, with high hat.
• Chorus 2 times  All singers.  Instruments continue strumming, but bigger and building.
• Instrumental  Keys only with the bridge chords.   Free worship until everyone is ready
• Bridge instrumental  all instruments strumming.  Singers doing ohh's
• Bridge singing at least 2 times.  Everyone singing and going for it.  Instruments continue building.  Everyone be ready to repeat the line 'I am a child of God' several times before coming out of the bridge
• Chorus  Everyone Big!!!
• Instrumental  Keys only with the bridge chords.   Free worship

Amazing Love  in key of D

• Chorus in D   T.Z. solo?   Keys, same sounds as previous song.  Guitars are holding back.
• Chorus  everyone singing.   Instrument all in, but restrained.
• Bridge  T.Z. solo?
• Bridge  again...   All singers  and instruments building to  key change to E!!!!
• Chorus in E  Everyone Big!!

Sept 30 Chapel Debrief and New Songs

Well done, everyone!  That was (in my opinion) a great chapel and a great to start off the year for our team.  Genuinely, it real team effort by everyone.  Set up went quite well considering it was our first time on together as a team.  Thanks to everyone for pitching in.  Please don't forget about the session this Friday afternoon to get more practice doing that!

I was extremely pleased with how everyone covered their part today, instrumentally and vocally.  You all did great!!  Our two fast songs went well.  Great job ladies with the solos and E. Guitar with getting all those parts down.

Drums, you were solid throughout.  Keys - fantastic job giving us that foundation we needed through all the instrumental time and then with Great are You Lord.  I don't know about you, but I was rather surprised how the whole room really got into that song in the bridge.  It turned out great.  Super job everyone.  Now, on to our next set list... :-)

Don't Ever Stop   Key of D   (Chord Sheet)

Happy Day   Key of G (Chord Sheet)

No Longer Slaves  Key of D  (Chord Sheet)

Amazing Love (just Chorus & Bridge)  Key of D & E   (Chord Sheet)

Song Mappings for Sept. 30th Chapel

Hi Everyone,
I wanted to try and get these out to you as soon as I could.  Here's a guideline for how we'll be doing the songs in Chapel.  Let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or any other thoughts  :-)

Chapel Sound System Setup Checklist for Band

Chapel Stage Placement Mappings

Let God Arise     Key of E

• Musical intro  BIG instrumentally   C.S. please use the organ for this song.  You can hear it really well in the video.
• Verse 1    O.F Sings.  Guitars hold E.  M.W.  perhaps a metal Wawa patch for the verse?  Drums just high hat and bass drum like the video.  C.S., just hold a high E note on the organ and use the joystick for vibrato off until 'come and see' where you'd play 3-note chords (Em, D)
• Prechorus   Drums -double time on the snare like the video.  M.W. no more Wawa - just straight metal patch.  C.S. full 3 note organ chords.  We all play staccato (short) notes with the snare until the file 'saves' which we hold.
• Chorus 1 time  Vocals in unison.  instruments big.
• Short Instrumental with guitar solo
• Verse 2   C.M. Sings.  Guitars hold E.  Drums just high hat and bass drum like the video.  C.S., same as first verse - hold a high E note on the organ and use the joystick for vibrato off until 'He holds the keys) where you'd play 3-note chords (Em, D)
• Prechorus   Drums -double time on the snare like the video.  M.W. metal patch.  C.S. full 3 note organ chords.  We all play staccato (short) notes with the snare until the file 'saves' which we hold.
• Chorus 2 times  Vocals in harmony.  Instruments big.
• Instrumental into bridge - just full, held chords  A, E, B 2 times
• Bridge 4x start quiet with just voices in unison, high hat, and bass with short notes.  Building and adding instruments each time through the bridge.
• Chorus big cymbal shots and held chords until 'our God reigns' and then back into driving beats etc.
• Instrumental outro

You Are Good    in the Key of G    

• Instrumental intro  E. Guitar starts, then drums.  Bass, Keys (organ patch, right hand only playing high), and Acc. Guitar in big and do the intro again.  Remember the pause and guitar strum before we start the first verse!  :-)
• Verse 1  J.L. & P.M. sing.  Drums (just high hat (no 16ths) and bass drum), E guitar muted chug, and bass.  Build up to first chorus
• Chorus  All singing!  Drums (just high hat (no 16ths) and bass drum) & bass guitar.  No other instruments until build into instrumental.
• Instrumental  E.Guitar solo.  All other instruments big.  Singers clap and have fun!
• Verse 2  Girls sing.  All Instruments do shots (2 each time as we've done in practice)  Big build into chorus.
• Chorus  2 times.   Everyone full on.  
• Bridge  2 times  Quiet to start.  Gradually building all the way through.  
• Chorus  Instruments hold the chords.  Drums - keep beat and intensity with just bass drum
• Chorus  Everyone full on!
• Instrumental out

Speaker talks here!!!


Great Are You Lord   in the key of E

• Intro  Keys start (piano layered with soft pad)  Acc. Guitars picking a bit.
• Verse 1  2 times  T.Z. Sings verse 2 times  Drums - similar to cover video (cymbal work and quite snare and bass stuff)
• Chorus subdued  but everyone singing
• Play through A, C#, B chords 2 times before singing verse again.  (these are the same chords as the verse and chorus so it should be a no-brainer)
• Verse 1 again  Drums and guitars more solid.  Everyone singing.  We may do 'Great are you lord' several times before going into the chorus...  follow me - I'll give queues
• Chorus 2x  Big, but not as loud and big as we can go.  Leave some room for later.  Really worship - sing to God.
• Instrumental into bridge.  Keys and acoustic guitar.  
• Bridge (several times).  T.Z  Sing it solo the first time - breathy.  Second time we all join singing, and we're starting to build, but don't build too fast.  Third time,  Continue building.   Listen for queues to either do it again or go into the chorus
• Chorus  FULL ON BIG!  2 times. 
• Bridge instrumental.  We may hang out here for a while.  Free worship etc.

Name above All Names/How Great is our God  key of E

• If we have time to do this one, I'll give the queue on the guitar to go into 'name above all names' (don't worry about the queue on the keys, C.S. - its just as easy for me to do it on the guitar)  I'll lead us through this one with vocal queues.

Welcome to Our 2015-2016 Worship Team!

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to a new year of worship at BCS!  If there's one feeling I have for our band this year, it's that all of us - each and every one - should expect God to do great things in us and through us this year.  If there was a verse that I felt like went with this, it would be Ephesians 3:20 (The Message):

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Our first chapel is Wednesday, Sept. 30.  The information I have now is that we will be doing a split set - some music at the beginning, and some music at the end.  We will have 3 practices to get ready for this chapel.  I think we'll do two fast songs and two slow songs.  Here they are:

Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin    Key of E   PDF Chord Chart

You Are Good - Bethel  Key of G    PDF Chord Chart

Great Are You Lord - Bethel   Key of E (its just the first song in this video below)  Word Doc Chord Chart

How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin  Key of E  (second song in this video above - they go right into the bridge... I think we will too)   Word Doc Chord Chart

May 13th Chapel Debrief

Great job today in Chapel everyone.  Setup went quite well I think.  I was very happy with our first 4 songs today.  M.W - guitar was excellent in Let God Arise.  You had a great patch for that song and they turned you up nicely  :-)   A.W.  you sounded great on keys in I Am Free.   C.Z. drums were great in those first two songs.  Solid.  K.M. - your acoustic playing sounded great in the second verse of I Am Free.  I did hear the congas a couple of times and they sounded very tastefully done, J.N.  Vocals were also great on the first two songs.  I'm not sure which song it was, but I heard G.F. doing some ad-lib in a part where we don't usually sing and it sounded quite good - well done!

I was happy with how Our God Is Love turned out.  I kinda wish the bass was turned up a bit more, I'm sure you were totally jamming out, O.F.  Vocally I felt a bit tentative in that song as I know we didn't have all our melody 'lilts' together, but overall, I think we pulled it together fairly well in 3 weeks.  J.N. you rocked it.  

God Is Able was great.  I am very comfortable playing that song with you all.  Great solo work M.W. and nice job on the tambourine C.Z - you have no idea how much of a different that one simple instrument makes.  

Unfortunately, right at the end of God is Able I broke a string that I really needed to cover my guitar part in Made Me Glad.  That also put my guitar out of tune somewhat.  Given that situation and the time it was (which I didn't realize until later), perhaps we should have nixed that song.  As they say though, hindsight is 20/20, and I'm glad we were able to give it a shot.  

It's been great working, worshipping, sharing, and playing with all of you this year.  I have some great memories of our times together in practice and in chapel.  I hope you all had a good experience this year as well and grew musically and spiritually over the course of our times together.   Thanks for your patience with me  :-)

Songs we did this year (almost 2 dozen!):

- You are Good (Bethel)

- You Are Good (I. H.)

- You Are Good (Planetshakers)

- Everyone Praises

- Amazing Love (You are my king)

- I Found a Love

- Healing is in Your Hands

- Your Grace is Enough

- Angels We Have Heard on High

- Joy Unspeakable Joy

- Here I Am to Worship

- This is Amazing Grace

- God is Able

- Forever Reign

- I Called, You Answered (In My Life, be Lifted High)

- How Great is Our God

- Sing, Sing, Sing

- Open the Eyes of My Heart

- Beautiful

- Let God Arise

- I Am Free

- He Reigns (we didn't do this one, but we could have)

- Our God is Love

- Made Me Glad

May 13th song mappings

Great practice today everyone!  I'm looking forward to this chapel.  Please remember to arrive at the school at 7:15 and be mentally prepared to help set up the sound system and get ready for our sound check.  If anyone has anything they'd like to share during our set, please let me know  :-)

Here are the songs and the mappings (with some notes)

Let God Arise     Key of E

• Musical intro  BIG instrumentally like we've been practicing.   A.W.  organ for this song.  You can hear it really well in the video.
• Verse 1    Guitars hold E.  Drums just high hat and bass drum like the video.  Bass, do the D->E thing in the verses.
• Prechorus   Drums -double time on the snare like the video.  M.W. Try and get the E Guitar part for this
• Chorus 1 time  Vocals in unison.  instruments big.
• Short Instrumental with guitar solo
• Verse 2   Guitars hold E.  Drums just high hat and bass drum like the video.  Bass, do the D->E thing in the verses.
• Prechorus   Drums -double time on the snare like the video.  M.W. Try and get the E Guitar part for this
• Chorus 2 times  Vocals in harmony.  Instruments big.
• Instrumental into bridge - just chords  A, E, B 2x
• Bridge 4x start quiet with just voices in unison, high hat, and bass with short notes.  Building and adding instruments each time through the bridge.  Bass remember the first couple times through the bridge do those short sets of notes.
• Chorus big cymbal shots and held chords until 'our God reigns' and then back into driving beats etc.
• Instrumental outro

I Am Free     Key of E   This song went really well in practice today.  Lets do it like that next week!

• Musical intro BIG   A.W, Please do the patches and keyboard parts we used in practice today - they sounded awesome!
• Verse 1    Bass, Drums, and keys for the most part.  Vocals in unison. 
• Verse 1 again :-)    Vocals in unison. 
• Chorus  All instruments, big.  Vocals in unison - we DON'T sing the echo part.  Everyone else will do that
• Verse 2 (through You the Kingdom comes...)  Bass, Drums, and keys similar to first verse.  We'll add M.W. on guitar with a single note on a phaser or a flange.  Vocals in unison.
• Chorus  All instrument, big.  Vocals harmonized - again we DON'T sing the echo part.  Everyone else will do that
• Bridge (who the Son sets free)  4 times building to peak finishing on a E chord and then just bass drum (like we practiced)
• Chorus just vocals, drums, and a bit of bass, letting the crowd echo.
• Chorus full and big to end.

Our God is Love    Key of C

• Musical Intro  Drums start, the rest of the instruments will join right away.
• Verse 1  Like we practiced
• Chorus Like we practiced
• Verse 2 Like we practiced
• Chorus Like we practiced
• Bridge Like we practiced
• Chorus Like we practiced
• Outro Our God is Love repeated singing.  Last two time just with drums and singers - no other instruments.

God is Able     Key of E

• Instrumental intro (like we've practiced and played it)
• Verse 1   Driving Bass, acoustic guitar, keys and drums.  G.F. solo?
• Chorus  Instruments held chords.  We'll need a high hat and bass drum on the off-beat.
• Instrumental again 1 time through
• Verse 2  All vocals in unison.  All instruments playing, but not full on.
• Chorus  Full instruments, vocals harmonized.
• Guitar solo/instrumental
• Bridge 'God is with us....'  Big!  Instruments and vocals
• Chorus - just vocals with high hat and bass drum off-beat.
• Chorus BIG!  Tag 'For the Lord...' a couple of time before finishing

Made Me Glad    Key of A  

• Intro  like we practiced
• Verse 1   
• Prechorus  All vocals, drums in strong, all other instruments building into chorus 
• Chorus   All instruments,  all vocals in unison.  
• Verse 2   
• Prechorus  All vocals, all instruments building into chorus
• Chorus 2x  All instruments,  all vocals harmonized
• Bridge instrumental.  BIG.  Chords:    Bm   A/C#    F#m   E
• Prechorus quiet.  Vocal in unison
• Chorus quiet but building.
• Chorus to finish.

May 13th Chapel and May 22nd Worship Night

Guess what, everyone?  We're doing chapel next week!
We also have a worship night on Friday, May 22, 7-8:30pm where all the worship teams will do a set.

For next week, since we have 20 minutes in chapel plan on our set list being (in order):

• Let God Arise in the key of E.   C.Z. on drums.
• I Am Free in the key of E (was in the key of A, but to make it easier for everyone to play and sing and give us more flow, we'll to it in E)  C.Z. on drums.  We will also do the second verse
  Through your the Kingdom is comes....  the battle is won..... I'm not afraid....  the price is paid.... we have victory.... my heart screams I am free
• Our God is Love in the key of C   J.N. on drums.
• God is Able in the key of E   J.N. on drums.
• Made Me Glad in the key of A    J.N. on drums.  Drums and bass are absolutely key to nailing this song.  You two need to learn your parts as close as you can to the Hillsong arrangement (in the video below).  

We will work on transitions and nailing down the arrangements and solo parts tomorrow.  We will also try and put focus on the following songs:  I Am Free, Our God is Love, and Made Me Glad. 

Please show up promptly to practice so we have lots of practice time.

New Song Mappings Etc.

Hi Everyone,

Here's our new songs, with accompanying videos and mappings.  There's a couple extras added here as they were requested by a couple of grade 12 students.  We'll see how they go and decide on our final set list for our next chapel in the next couple of weeks.  Tentatively, based on the current information I have, our next chapel will likely be May 13th or 20th - 4 to 5 weeks away.

Let God Arise     Key of E

• Musical intro  BIG instrumentally   A.W.  organ for this song.  You can hear it really well in the video.
• Verse 1    Guitars hold E.  Drums just high hat and bass drum like the video.  Bass, do the D->E thing in the verses.
• Prechorus   Drums -double time on the snare like the video.  M.W. Try and get the E Guitar part for this
• Chorus 1 time  Vocals in unison.  instruments big.
• Short Instrumental with guitar solo
• Verse 2   Guitars hold E.  Drums just high hat and bass drum like the video.  Bass, do the D->E thing in the verses.
• Prechorus   Drums -double time on the snare like the video.  M.W. Try and get the E Guitar part for this
• Chorus 2 times  Vocals in harmony.  Instruments big.
• Instrumental into bridge - just chords  A, E, B 2x
• Bridge 4x start quiet with just voices in unison, high hat, and bass with short notes.  Building and adding instruments each time through the bridge.
• Chorus big cymbal shots and held chords until 'our God reigns' and then back into driving beats etc.
• Instrumental outro

I Am Free     Key of A

• Musical intro BIG  M.W trying and get the timing on that guitar part down - its crucial.  A.W, see if you can figure out the keyboard parts in this sone - they are pretty cool.
• Verse 1    Bass, Drums, and keys only.  Vocals in unison.  E.S.  solo?
• Chorus  All instruments, big.  Vocals in unison - we DON'T sing the echo part.  Everyone else will do that
• Verse 2 (through You the Kingdom comes...)  Bass, Drums, and keys similar to first verse.  We'll add M.W. on guitar with a single note on a phaser or a flange.  Vocals in unison.
• Chorus  All instrument, big.  Vocals harmonized - again we DON'T sing the echo part.  Everyone else will do that
• Bridge (who the Son sets free)  Open chords on guitars.  Drums just hit cymbals on chord changes.
• Chorus just vocals, drums, and bass, letting the crowd echo.
• Chorus full and big to end.

He Reigns     Key of D

• Intro  Start just guitar and high hat like the video, play through the chord progression a couple of times and then right into...
• Verse 1   K.M. solo?  Just guitar (like the video) and high hat for instruments.  
• Chorus All instruments in.  Vocals in unison.  Whoever isn't drumming, we need that off-beat tambourine (hear it in the video?)
• Verse 2   O.F. solo?  Guitar (like the video), drums, keys and bass (short notes on bass)
• Chorus  All instruments in.  Vocals with harmonies.  Again, whoever isn't drumming, we need that off-beat tambourine (hear it in the video?)
• Bridge  2x  Held chords first time.  Second time building big and fast.
• Chorus 2-3 times to finish.   Instruments will drop out and we'll have just the vocals left.

God is Able     Key of E

• Instrumental intro (like we've practiced and played it)
• Verse 1   Driving Bass, acoustic guitar, keys and drums.  G.F. solo?
• Chorus  Instruments held chords.  We'll need a high hat and bass drum on the off-beat.
• Instrumental again 1 time through
• Verse 2  All vocals in unison.  All instruments playing, but not full on.
• Chorus  Full instruments, vocals harmonized.
• Guitar solo/instrumental
• Bridge 'God is with us....'  Big!  Instruments and vocals
• Chorus - just vocals with high hat and bass drum off-beat.
• Chorus BIG!  Tag 'For the Lord...' a couple of time before finishing

Made Me Glad    Key of A  Recommended by O.F.

• Intro  Keys, acoustic guitar, and cymbals  chords:  A/D  D  A/D  D   E/A   A   E/A  A
• Verse 1   G.F. solo?   Same chord progression as intro.  Can we do a rimshot on the snare?
• Prechorus  All vocals, drums in strong, all other instruments building into chorus  Chords:  D  Bm  Esus  E
• Chorus   All instruments,  all vocals in unison.  Chords:   A   A/C#   D    E 
• Verse 2   O.F. solo?   Same chord progression as intro.  Can we do a rimshot on the snare?
• Prechorus  All vocals, all instruments building into chorus
• Chorus 2x  All instruments,  all vocals harmonized
• Bridge instrumental.  BIG.  Chords:    Bm   A/C#    F#m   E
• Prechorus quiet.  Vocal in unison
• Chorus quiet but building.
• Chorus to finish.

Our God is Love    Key of C    Recommended by J.N.    I'm still learning this song....

April 15 Chapel Debrief and new Songs

Great job, everyone!  That was a lot of fun.  I have to say that I was a bit skeptical about doing an acoustic, all worship chapel.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out...  But God can take our willing hearts and do some pretty cool things.  We just have to be willing to serve.  Thank you to all of you for being willing to serve and follow even when you aren't sure of the outcome.

I put several of you on the spot (I'm thinking specifically of A.W. on keys, E.S. for reading, and G.F. for singing) and I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.  Thanks for you patience and grace - A.W. in particular.  I should have give you a chord sheet for that song 'Lord My Desire' we did right at the beginning of the set.

From my perspective, God used our willing hearts to do 'abundantly above what we could have asked for or thought.'  I felt really good about how chapel went.  Agreed, it wasn't perfect.  But I felt like our hearts were there and engaged, along with the hearts of most everyone else in the room.  I probably gave you all a bit of a start with the way we began 'This is Amazing Grace'.  Thanks for being flexible.  :-)  I should have given you all a heads up about that as well.  I apologize.

A.W. - while I did put you in a tight spot at the beginning, you played brilliantly for the rest of chapel.  You backed us all up with either a nice organ or pad sound and gave us that filler that we needed.  M.W. and O.F - you two did great as well, feeling the groove out in the songs and the interludes between the songs.  J.N. and C.Z - you two were great at being sensitive with playing percussion.  I know that wasn't easy and likely wouldn't be the first choice of what you'd play in a band, but you both stepped up and did great.  Singers - I loved watching you relaxing and getting into the songs.  That was special.  Thanks for paying attention to the queue calls and being willing to step out and 'naturally' harmonize and free worship.  F.B. - thanks for reading for us!

I hope you all had as good a time as I had today.  I'll remember today's chapel for a long while.


New Songs for our next Chapel will include:

Let God Arise              Key of E

I Am Free                    Key of A

He Reigns                    Key of D

God is Able                 Key of E

Came to My Rescue    Key of G

April 15th All Worship Chapel

We're scheduled for an all worship chapel on April 18th.  This is an all acoustic set.  We'll be doing songs we're already familiar with so we can work them up quickly.  We all need your 'A' game  :-)  I know we can do it and do it good.  Let's have fun with this....


This is Amazing Grace    in the Key of D     keyboard - zephix organ
    - Instrumental intro
    - Verse 1
    - Chorus
    - Verse 2
    - Chorus
    - Bridge
    - Chorus
    - Instrumental outro

Your Grace is Enough   key of E     keys, remember you have that cool organ part in the chorus
    - Instrumental intro on guitar
    - Verse 1
    - Prechorus 'remember...'
    - Chorus 1
    - Verse 2
    - Prechorus 'remember... '
    - Chorus 2x
    - Prechorus 'remember... '
    - Chorus 3x
    - Instrument outro

Sing, Sing, Sing   in the Key of E       keyboard - zephix organ
    - Instrumental intro on E
    - Chorus
    - Verse 1
    - Chorus
    - Instrumental 4 bar (E, D, A, A, ...E)
    - Verse 2
    - Chorus 2x
    - Instrument outra (E, D, A, A, ...  E)


Open the Eyes of My Heart  in the Key of E      keyboard - zephix organ
    - Start with just keys and 'Open the eyes of my heart'
    - Verse Open the Eyes.... 2-3 times
    - Chorus 'See you..'
    - Verse 2x
    - Chorus 2x
    - Holy, Holy, Holy - just the girls 2x
    - Girls keep sing 'Holy, holy'  Guys sing 'Open the eyes'  2x
    - Tag 'I want to see you' 3x

How Great is Our God   in the Key of G
    - keyboard - piano and pad start
    - Verse 1
    - Chorus
    - Verse 2 all sing
    - Chorus 2x
    - Bridge  BIG
    - Chorus acapella

Beautiful    in the Key of A
    - keyboard - piano and pad
    - Acoustic and bass intro
    - Verse 1 O.F. sings out strong
    - Chorus
    - Verse 2 G.F sings
    - Chorus 2x
    - Verse 3 all together
    - Chorus 2x
    - Verse 4  BIG
    - Chorus 2x
    - Instrumental
    - Quiet bridge

You Are Good    in the Key of G     Keyboard - zephix organ
   - Instrumental intro
   - Verse 1
   - Chorus acapella
   - Instrumental
   - Verse 2
   - Chorus 2x
   - Bridge
   - Chorus
   - Instrumental outro

Forever   in the key of E   Keyboard - zephix organ  (if we have time to do this song)
   - Big instrumental start with all instruments
   - Verse 1
   - Prechorus 'sing praise..'
   - Verse 2
   - Prechorus 'sing praise..'
   - Chorus
   - Verse 3
   - Prechorus 'sing praise..'
   - Chorus 2x
   - Bridge
   - Chorus 2x
   - Instrument outro

New Songs for Acoustic Chapel

I've changed the song on the bottom since Lord I Need You doesn't quite work for us.  Please listen to it!  Girls have a different part that guys in the chorus and its really good.  We probably won't do it quite that fast.

Here's a list (and youtube videos) of songs for our acoustic chapel.  We may not do all of them, but since I want us to be prepared, we should practice all of them.  :-)  We will discuss and document song mappings in the next practice.

This is Amazing Grace - Lauren Daigle cover - Key of D up to E

Open the Eyes of my Heart - Paul Baloche     Key of E

How Can I Keep from Singing - Chris Tomlin   Key of E

Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin    Key of A

You're Beautiful - Phil Wickam    Key of A

Light the Fire     Key of G

Feb. 25 Chapel Debrief

Great chapel everyone!

I thought set up went really good today.  Thanks to all of you for helping and being flexible with changing mics, etc. to make it easier to set up.  The stage was even relatively clean (the cables were the most organized I've seen them).  Thanks to Mr. D and Mr. S for their help too.  It sure was fun to do a set of 4 fast songs.... and then Forever Reign was a great way to wrap things up.

Overall, I thought the set went quite well.  The was a lot of audience participation in both the fast songs and the slower song.  For the most part we all knew what we were doing and where we were going with the songs.  The tempos in all of the songs were spot-on.

Keys, your transition from 'I am a Friend of God' to 'Forever Reign' was perfect.  That's exactly what we needed there and I got a lot of positive comments about it.

E. Guitar, good work.  You nailed your solos and you were doing some nice filler licks in some of the songs - very tasteful.  Well done.

Singers, I thought things sounded pretty good.  We sounded strong an confident, I thought, and it was good to see some of you clapping and moving around a bit (when I had a chance).  It was great to hear some of you call out queues and ad lib.

Percussion and bass - well done with the tempos and the fills.  I heard the bass up and down the fret board a couple of times :-)   The drums were solid.  You all provided a great foundation for us.

We'll talk more in our practice tomorrow.  Here's some new songs I'm thinking of....

Let God Arise   Key of E

How Can I Keep From Singing    Key of E

Feb 25th Chapel Plan

Good practice everyone!  To reiterate what Mr. D and Mr. S were saying, it would be super to be set up and ready to practice (with everyone present) at 3:30.  I don't feel comfortable chasing people around the school reminding them about practice now with the new security measures in place, so I have to rely on all of you to be responsible high school seniors.  :-)

As discussed in practice, our set for Wednesday will be:

• Undignified     Key of D.  CZ on drums - keep tempo up and very simple drum roles only on transitions!   Keys, use the Zepix organ sound.  Singers - CLAP, MOVE, SHOUT, and SMILE  :-)
• Start with instruments doing verse chords
• 1st verse - keep it very simple.  No snare on drums - just high hat and bass drum.
• Back to intro for 2 bars
• 2nd verse with more guitars.  Add the snare.  Build into chorus
• Na na na... HEY!
• 3rd verse again
• Chorus 2x
• Na na na... Hey!     End.
• You Are Good      Key of G   CZ on drums - again, keep your tempo up and very simple drum roles only on transitions.  Singers - CLAP, MOVE and SMILE  :-)
• Guitar  and instrument intro like we do this regularly
• 1st verse - drums and bass guitar only.  
• Chorus - like we practice - bass drum and high hat only
• Instrumental
• 2nd verse with instrumental shots
• Chorus 2x
• Bridge - Drums remember don't build too soon.  We're going through the bridge 2x.
• Chorus
• Instrumental outro
• Someone needs to talk briefly here so drummers can switch.
• Happy Day     Key of G   JN on drums.  Again, its a happy fast song, so we need to keep our tempo up.  Singers - CLAP, MOVE and SMILE  :-)
• Instrumental intro like we've been practicing.
• 1st verse - again drums and bass guitar only.  Everyone builds into chorusEveryone else should be clapping
• Chorus
• Instrumental
• 2nd verse - steady bass drum.  All instruments doing shots
• Chorus 2x
• Bridge as we practiced
• Chorus with a shot, then all come back in on 2nd 'oh happy day'
• Instrumental outro, right into Intro of the next song....
• Friend of God    Key of A   JN on drums.  
• Instrumental with pushed shots of A, B, C, D into 1st verse
• 1st verse only drums and bass guitar on first verse with 1 'its amazing' then back into
• 2nd verse with instruments chugging and 3 'its amazing'
• Chorus 2x remember end on D to go into bridge
• Bridge with a slow build
• Chorus with drum rolls into shots as we practiced with JN.
• Chorus again 
• Instrumental outro with pushed shots of A, B, C, D.
• Keys will keep A chord ringing for us to transition to Forever Reign
• Forever Reign    Key of A   We need to choose a drummer.  Whoever doesn't drum should play cymbals and the tambourine.
• Instrumental 
• 1st and 2nd verses as we practiced
• Chorus as we practiced.  Drummer needs to keep tempo going with a cymbal or bass kick on the offbeat
• 3rd verse big
• Chorus big - remember land on D to go into bridge
• Bridge
• Chorus 2x and end as we have been - long D chord resolving to an A chord.

Jan. 21st Chapel Debrief and New Songs!

Hi Everyone,

Well done, today!  I think you did a great job of being flexible and sensitive to the mood, plan, and what was going on.   I actually found it a little hard to hear everything today, so it's hard for me to give an opinion on how it think things sounded overall.  Other than a missed intro (like the start of the first song) and perhaps some forgotten words in places, I thought overall things went great.

There's always a new wrinkle - today it was a different location for our set up.  We handled it well, and managed to do a sound check on most of our set list for 'go-live' time.   Its funny, I think the parts that we didn't practice turned out really well - like the playing and singing in the background.  Instrumentalists did a great job of following along and adding in harmonies and melodies to complement the atmosphere.

Looking to our next chapel, I've got several new song suggestions for us (see below).  There was a slow one that a couple of you were suggesting last week, but I don't remember what it was.  Send me an email and I can post it as well.


I Am A Friend of God       Key of A

Happy Day     Key of G

Salvation is Here    Key of G

Prepare Jan. 21st!

I spoke with Mrs. F yesterday afternoon, and here's what this Wednesday will look like...
We will be playing on the stage!  Mrs. F's team will be setting up some 'ambience' for the Encounter (special lamps on the stage with us, and other things)  I think there will be a nice atmosphere.

We (our team) have the talent and ability to do a fantastic job this Wednesday.  We just need to remember a couple of things:

• Practice for it  :-)
• Keep it simple.  Drums, bass, and E. Guitar in particular.
• Be sensitive to what is happening.  Keep your eyes and ears open.
• Keys - play an octave higher in your right hand  :-)

Here's the plan (these times are approximate and subject to change):

8:30  G.F. or K.M. to talk about the focus of the chapel

8:31  This is Amazing Grace.  (key of D)  F leads us.

• Drums - straight, driving beat for whole song except the bridge (where we need cymbals)
• Verse 1 - F leads us and sings solo.  At 'Who shakes...'  everyone join her singing in unison. Only drums, bass, and Acc. guitar play to first chorus
• Chorus is vocally in unison (no harmonies).  All instruments play
• Verse 2 - everyone sing (in unison), and all instruments play.
• Chorus - vocals in harmony.  Instruments, hold the 'D' chord on '...all that you've done for ME' 
• Bridge - vocals strong and in unison first 2 times though, then into harmonies.  Instruments start with solid chords (drums on cymbals) and we gradually build in intensity.
• 2 Choruses and instrumental out to end the song.

8:35  God is Able.  (key of E)  G.F. leads us.

• E. Guitar starts us.   Keys in the background.  
• Verse 1 - G.F. sings solo to chorus.  Instrument build to chorus
• Chorus - Vocals in unison.  Drums on bass drums offbeat and a cymbal or highhat.  
• Instrumental with guitar
• Verse 2 - everyone sing in unison (no harmonies).  
• Chorus - vocals in harmony.  Instruments BIG.  
• Instrumental - E Guitar solo
• Bridge - Big instrumentally and vocally (E. Guitar, please play chords)
• Chorus - a cappella then build into another BIG chorus
• Tag - 'For the Lord, our God is able' several times.

8:39  Mrs. F talks about praying for missionaries.  

There will be boxes of paper airplanes on the stage with us.  When Mrs. F gives us the 'signal', we will throw the paper airplanes into the crowd.  Kids will catch them and pray.  Everyone will pray for several minutes - we will provide background music.  I'll transition us on the keyboard to the key of A

8:40  Forever Reign (key of A)  E.S. leads us.

• Drums, guitars and bass chugging to start.  
• Verse 1 - E.S. leads us and sings solo (this is good because its low  :-)  )
• Verse 2 - Everyone sings in unison
• Chorus - Everyone sings in unison.  
• Verse 3 - Everyone sings and instruments BIG
• Chorus - BIG, but remember, end on a D chord to head into the bridge.
• Bridge - Everyone sing in unison. Vocal and instruments subdued, but building.  Last time end Jesus higher and go right into chorus BIG.  
• Chorus - BIG.  End the song quieter.

8:45  Phil (Mr. M) talks us into Themed Prayer.  

Again, we will provide background music while this is happening.  I'll transition us on the keyboard to the key of G.

8:55  Be Lifted High / I called, You Answered  (key of G)  O.F. leads us.

• Keys will play the melody to start.  The E. Guitar will play it (nicely)  :-).  Then O.F. will lead us (In my life) singing solo 2 times.  
• Everyone joins O.F. singing (In My Life....) in unison  2 times.  Instruments building, building...
• O.F. cues us to go into "I called, you answered.."  Sing it 2 times.
• Quietly end with singing In my life, be lifted high.

8:59 Perry (other Mr. M) talks about the name on the card everyone received on their way in.  

Intro into everyone praying for the person on their card and committing to praying for them for the month.  We will play background music through this.

9:05  How Great is Our God (key of G)  K.M. leads

• Chorus - K.M. plays acoustic and and sings first chorus solo.
• Chorus 2 - Everyone joins her in unison vocally.  All instruments join gradually, but building.
• Name above all names - everyone BIG and harmonies.  Sing this bridge 2 times.
• Chorus - a cappella  (no instruments, just voices)

9:10  Conclusion.

Our Next Chapel - Jan. 21st

Hi everyone,
Our next chapel is Jan. 21st.  It's a prayer chapel so we'll be on our instruments for the whole 40 minutes.  The direction I got was:

"Worship - 40 minutes. This is a more reflective chapel and will require the worship team to be in the background at times. Please prepare some instrumental songs as well."

We only have one practice left before this chapel.  Please, please, please practice these songs and know them well.  There are 2 songs below that are new to us as a band, but they are easy.  Here's the plan:

• We will do the songs we've been practicing:  
• This is Amazing Grace (see the youtube video in the post below)
• God is Able  (see the youtube video in the post below)
• Forever Reign  (see the youtube video in the post below)
• We will add to that:
• In My Life Be Lifted High (I Called You Answered) in G    This is an easy song we all know.  We can sing it and do it instrumentally.  Please see the chord sheet I attached to the email for how we will do it.
  
  
• My Heart is Yours (All to Jesus I Surrender)  in G   This song is on the radio right now done by Passion/Kristian Stanfill.   Again, please see the chord sheet attached to my email as to how we will do it
  
  
  
  
  
• How Great is Our God in G.  You should have the sheet music for this.
• Vocal practice on Tuesday at lunch with Mr. D in his classroom.
• All Singers - memorize all the words!!  
• All Musicians - memorize and know the songs!!!  Be prepared to vamp!  

We will likely repeat choruses and bridges of some songs in different places.  We will also potentially be doing some of these choruses and bridges slower so be prepared to be attentive sensitive to what is happening.