Potential songs for our next chapel (Apr 27th)

At Your Name   Chord Chart   Key of E

I Found a Love   Chord Chart   Key of G

I Will Exalt   Chord Chart   Key of D

No Longer Slaves Chord Chart    Key of D

Good Good Father  Chord Chart  Key of E

Great are you Lord   Chord Chart    Key of E

March 9th Encounter Debrief and Song Thoughts

Hi everyone,

Great job today!  Our fast songs went quite well I thought.  I heard some good things about how the E. Guitar sounded - particularly in God's Not Dead.  I thought we probably could have shortened our arrangement of I Am Free a bit - essentially that was my fault thought I think.

Another impression I got was 'When You Walk Into the Room' was new for a lot of people, but that's ok.  Its a great song.  Unfortunately we had to cut 'Set a Fire' a bit short because of our time.  I don't really like being (or feeling) rushed in worship, and so we'll likely do 4 songs in our next set instead of 5.

We have two chapels left in the year this year!!!  April 27th and May 25th.  As far as I know, May 25th will be our all acoustic chapel, so our next chapel on April 27th will be the last one with the full band.  Here's a list of the songs we did this year (and some others).  We need to pick 4 for our next chapel.....

God's Not Dead
I Am Free
When You Walk into the Room
Rooftops
Set a Fire
The Happy Song
Happy Day
Everlasting God
Came to My Rescue
Cornerstone
Awake My Soul
I Surrender
Great Are You Lord
No Longer Slaves
Good Good Father
Deep Cries Out
I Will Exalt
Don't Ever Stop
Amazing Love
Let God Arise
You Are Good
Your Grace is Enough
Here I Am to Worship
I Found a Love

March 9th Encounter Agenda

Good practice today everyone.

Based on what we've been practicing, here's our agenda for next Wednesday:

I am Free   Key of D   (keys - piano and pad patches)

• Intro - Big band start with O.F. on the tambourine like we did in practice.  If you're not playing you need to move, relax and get everyone clapping  :-)
• Verse 1 - T.Z. singing.  As we practiced.  Keys, remember those little riffs like we've been working on.  Build up to chorus
• Chorus - Just singers in unison and bass drum.  Everyone clapping
• Instrumental - same as intro
• Verse 2 - T.Z. singing.  Just like we practiced.  Build into big chorus
• Chorus - 2 times - big.  Everyone singing, smiling, movin', groovin', and clappin' to the music
• Bridge
• Chorus - acapella with bass drum
• Chorus - Big, everyone in, full on.
• Outro - same as intro.  Drums remember to slow us down right at the end.

God's Not Dead   Key of E  (starts on C#m   - keys organ patch)

• Intro - Big band start just like we've been practicing.
• Verse 1 - C.M. sings.  Just like we've been practicing
• Chorus - Everyone sings in unison
• Instrumental - same as intro and as we've been practicing
• Verse 2 - C.M. sings.
• Chorus - 2 times.  Big everyone going for it full on.
• Bridge - 3 times -  C.M. be ready to go right into the bridge after the second chorus above
• Chorus - 2 times
• Instrumental - same as Intro to finish.

When you Walk into the Room  Key of A  (keys - piano and pad patches)

• Intro - Just keys.  A.V. starts singing when she's ready, just like we practiced.
• Verse 1 - Just A.V. and keys.
• Chorus - Just A.V., keys, a little bit of drums, and a little BG vocals
• Instrumental - as we practiced.  A little more drums and guitars here.  Keys, do that riff we practiced for this song.
• Verse 2 - J.L. sings.  Instruments are building gradually from the start.  Half way through we go bit and J.L. goes up and octave singing.
• Chorus - Big - everyone full on, worshiping
• Instrumental - Big band, freestyling worship like we've been doing in practice.
• Bridge - 3 times - Just keys, bass and J.L. first time.  Everyone building from there 2nd and 3rd times.
• Chorus - Big - huge!  
• Instrumental - big - Remember to end the song on the D!  Keys, hold the D chord until we start the next song.

Rooftops   Key of G  

• Big instrumental intro like we've been practicing.
• Verse 1 - T.Z. sings.  M.W.  do your cool stuff on E. Guitar like you were in practice.
• Chorus - acapella with bass drum
• Instrumental - just like intro like we practiced
• Verse 2 - T.Z. sings.  Same as we practiced
• Chorus - 2 times - everyone in big
• Bridge - 2 times - like we practiced big
• Bridge 2 - 3 times - quiet, but building.  Arms wide open....  Here I am..   Heart wide open
• Chorus
• Bridge - end on G.  Simple transition, J.L. will start us into

Set a Fire  Key of G

• J.L. will lead us entirely through this song.  We'll follow his lead.

Chapel debrief and New Songs

Great job today everybody!!

As I thought later how everything went, I kind of chuckled to myself...  The song I thought we'd nail (The Happy Song) was actually rather flat, and the song I was most concerned about (Came to My Rescue) turned out quite well.  I thought our dynamics were really good - particularly in the slow songs.  Solo singers did great and you instrumentalists did awesome as well.  It was great to hear the acoustic guitar a lot more, and that E. Guitar patch rocks.  We need to figure out a way to make your pedal a volume pedal rather than a gain pedal on that patch and it will be even better (I think).  Drums were solid - you and I were locked in on the slow songs and the tempo stayed pretty consistent - excellent.  Keys, you provided a great foundation for us in the slow songs as always :-)  Great closing prayer (benediction?) J.L!

I'm going to add some more comments later, but I wanted to publish this now so you could take a look at some possible new songs.

New Songs for us to try...  I'll post chord charts for the new ones Wednesday evening (I hope)

God's Not Dead (Newsboys)  Chord Chart  Key of E

I am Free   Chord Chart  Key of D

Rooftops    Chord Chart   Key of G

When You Walk into the Room   Chord Chart  Key of A

Set a Fire   Chord Chart   Key of G

Feb. 10th Encounter Song Agenda

Hi everyone,

Welcome to 2nd semester!  We're scheduled to play for next week's Encounter so we have one practice to get everything wrapped up and ready.  (That's this week's practice)

Here's what I'm thinking for a song agenda for that Encounter.... It's not written in stone, but it will give us something to practice towards for next week.  I uploaded a new chord chard for Cornerstone in the key of A

The Happy Song   Chord Chart   Key of D

• Intro - full band
• Verse 1 - all instruments do ONLY shots (including drums).  Everyone sings exuberantly in unison
• Chorus - in unison
• Verse 1 - drums play this like you normally do.  Everyone sing harmonies
• Chorus 2x - harmonies
• Bridge - drums - bass drum and shuffle beat on snare
• Instrumental - singers, feel free to sing your hearts out with whatever here
• Chorus - big band and everyone singing
• Big Ending

Happy Day   Chord Chart  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.

Everlasting God   Chord Chart   Key of  G

• Intro - guitars alone first time through, then full band
• Verse 1 -  C.M solo    E.Guitar chugging following the bass line (like you know how)
• Pre-chorus - 'Our God...'  Everyone sings in unison
• Chorus - Everyone sings in unison
• Verse 1 - Everyone sings harmonies (we really had this sounded good last practice)
• Chorus 2x
• PRE-CHORUS 2x - first time quieter, second time really big
• Chorus - bass drum (on off-beat) and bass only.  Singers belting it out.  Other instruments build back in on '...don't grow weary..'
• Chorus
• End.

Came to My Rescue   Chord Chart  Key of G

• Intro - acoustic guitar and keys - drums on high-hat to help with time
• Verse 1 - T.Z. solo - drums - high-hat and bass drum
• Chorus - Held notes - everyone sings in unison
• Instrumental - once through the chord progression - drums stronger
• Verse 2 - O.F. solo - drums with a beat.  E.Guitar chugging
• Chorus 2x
• Instrumental - Big Band with Bridge chords
• Bridge 3x - quiet first time everyone sings unison.  2nd time building instrumentally and vocal harmonies.  3rd time really big.  Hold the last note on '...high' a long time.
• Chorus - quiet

Cornerstone    Key of A  Chord Chart  J.L leads this song  Remember to do the instrumental every every chorus

• Intro - Keys - nice and slow
• Verse 1 - J.L. solo.  Drums - bass drum and toms.  Keys and acoustic playing.
• Chorus - held notes - everyone sings in unison
• Verse 2 - J.L. solo  Instrument bigger.  Repeat 'my anchor holds' and make it BIG
• Chorus - BIG everyone singing harmonies
• Bridge - 'He is lord...'  BIG
• Chorus - BIG 
• Verse 3 - J.L. solo.  Quiet.
• Instrumental with chorus chords  quiet but building... building.... building
• Chorus
• End

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