Jan. 6th Chapel Debrief and New Songs

Well done in chapel today, everyone!  You all really rose to the occasion.  Our vocals sounded really strong and instrumentally it sounded quite good as well.  All things considered (like we hadn't practiced in 3 weeks minus a day), we did great!

Those of you who sang solos did great.  Mr. D. said the vocals sounded really good and Mr. S thought the drums sounded fantastic.  You didn't miss a beat (literally and figuratively) from my perspective - Well done!  K.S. nice work on the keyboard - it sounded super and solid.  M.W., like I said after chapel the patch you used sounded great and that guitar in 'I Surrender' and your dynamics were very good as well.

Please come prepared to practice tomorrow with your thoughts on how the set went.  :-)

Here's some songs for us to work on going forward:

Majestic   Key of C   Chord Chart

The Happy Song   Key of D   Chord Chart

Everlasting God   Key of G   Chord Chart

Came to My Rescue   Key of G   Chord Chart

Cornerstone   Key of A   Chord Chart

Jan. 6th Chapel Song Agenda

Hi everyone,

I'm going to cancel the practice at my house tomorrow as only 3 of you can make it (as far as I know).  No worries.  I strongly feel that God is still going to use us in a big way on Wednesday in the Encounter.  The words we sing, our worship, and how we worship will have a positive impact.

Looking at the words of the songs we're doing, I believe God is saying two major things to us and the student body - particularly on this first Encounter of the year:

1. He wants to breathe new life into us.  God doesn't have morning breath.  When He breathes on us, we aren't going to keel over and faint.  :-)  It was God's breath that made Adam come alive.  It was God's breath that turned the field of dry bones into the living, breathing army that Ezekiel saw.  Its the breath of his Holy Spirit that draws us and gives us inspiration, encouragement, and power today.   
2. Surrender.  We all need to 'let go and let God' into our lives.  He's knocking at the door of our hearts.  Going to church doesn't make us Christians any more than going to MacDonald's makes us hamburgers.  Going to a Christian School isn't going to make us true Christians any more than singing in a band is going to turn us into Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez.  We won't get to heaven on our parents connection with God.  We won't get to heaven on our BFF's or our teacher's relationship with God.  He wants a connection, an encounter with YOU an ME directly.   We need to surrender to Him and let him breathe and speak to us.

Here's our song agenda.  Its abbreviated because of our lack of practices and because of what I believe God can do with just these songs.  Please let me know if I forgot something or got something mixed up.  The soloists are as I want them below....

Awake My Soul   Key of Am (C)   Keys - organ patch is probably best.

• Intro - All instruments in and playing big.
• Verse 1 - A.V. please sing this solo.  Everyone else sings, but without a mic.  Guitars, we're all muted chugging the chords.  Keys, single note on the organ patch (c)
• Chorus - All singers in singing in unison (no harmony)  Band is big.  Guitars playing full chords not muted anymore.   Hold the G chord coming out of the chorus.
• Verse 2 - C.M. please sing this solo - don't worry about playing the acoustic when you sing this verse.  Guitars, we're all muted chugging chords again.  Keys, play full organ chords.  Don't forget about the joystick and vibrato.  :-)
• Chorus 2 times - All singers in singing harmonies.  Band is big.  Guitars playing full chords.
• Speaking with chorus chords - I'll do the speaking part.  Band plays chorus chords.  Guitars are muted to begin with, but become less muted and more full towards the end of the monologue.  Everyone stops DEAD when I say 'BREATHE' on this line:  'Come from the four winds, oh breath, and BREATHE!'
• Long Pause..........  longer than 4 beats.  Just let it hang with nothing.
• I'll talk about those two things above I believe God is saying to us (God wanting to breathe new life into us, and surrender)
• A.V. sings verse 1 again at my signal.  Instrumentally we'll build this from almost nothing back into a full chorus.
• Chorus - Everyone singing big - band is full.   End on 'awake my SOUL!'   G...   A

I Surrender   Key of Bm  (D)    Chord chard in D   Keys - piano/pad layered.  I will play keys on this one as well as we did in the last practice (doing that intro guitar part and the big instrumental in the middle)

• Intro - me on keys
• Verse 1 - J.L. sings solo.  Everyone else sings but without a mic.  Drums - cymbal work to keep us in time.  No guitars here.
• Intro instrumental for 4 bars
• Verse 2 - J.L. sings solo.  Everyone else sings but without a mic.  Drums - light tom work (like you did in practice - it sounded great) with bass drum.  
• Chorus - Everyone sings in unison.  Light guitars chugging on chords.
• Instrumental with Bridge chords.  E. Guitar soloing.  
• Bridge 2x.  First time quiet, but building.  J.L. sings first time through with T.Z. doing harmony.  Second time everyone in singing full.  Band is big and getting bigger.
• Instrumental - CONTINUE WITH BRIDGE CHORDS.   I'll let on keys like in practice.  I'll let the last note hang to back down into a....
• Quiet Chorus
• J.L. lead us from there, chorus or bridge - your call.

Great are you Lord  Key of E   Keys - piano/pad layered.

• Intro - keys
• Verse 1 - T.Z. sings first verse solo.  Have only the girls sing with you.  "girls, sing with me"  Keys, bass and drums only.
• Verse 1 - J.L.  sings first verse again, solo.  Have only the guys sing with your "guys, sing with me"   Guitars join playing muted chords
• Chorus - Everyone singing in unison - no harmonies.  Band is all in, but not 'all on full' yet.  
• Verse 1 - everyone sings in unison.  Repeat 'Great are you Lord'  Big build into Chorus
• Chorus 2x - everyone singing, harmonies too.   End on E chord to go into bridge....
• Bridge - many times.  Big build.  Keys - you give us the foundation to start here.  Big long build for the instruments.  Finally go back into the chorus.
• Chorus