June 10 Chapel Debrief

And that's a wrap!  Our last chapel for this year is complete.  Good work everyone!  It was pretty fun playing on the altered stage.  Thanks again to all of you and your parents for getting to the school early so we could set everything up and get a good sound check in.  That really helps!  It was unfortunate that we didn't have time to play our last song.  Mr. D. said he would have gone ahead and played it anyway.  I'll remember that for next time.  :-)

I've really seen you all improve over the year.  You all have gotten a much better understanding of how to arrange a song, when to play, when not to play, and different little 'tweaks' - things to put into an arrangement give the song umph, finesse, and  make it easy to listen to.  Below I don't use names for privacy reasons, but you know who you are:

Electric guitar - This year you've gone from playing rhythm guitar to solo guitar.  The strides you made particularly in the last month with finding the little solo riffs on your own and putting them into songs in tasteful places was fantastic and great to see and hear!

Bass - I really enjoyed your input throughout the year - not just on bass progressions, but on song arrangements for the whole band.  You really have a musical gift.  Use it!  Not just in school, but find other places to use it as well.  It was fun to hear you add your personality to your playing and watch you help mentor other members of the band.

Drums - I got comments from several people about how you've improved over the year.  You're experimenting with tasteful tweaks to beats which is great practice and it sounds great to.  You also learned to restrain the beat when required and keep it very simple but driving - also very important.  And I think you started to realize how key the drummer is to the arrangement of the entire song - a missed shot or outro can be a disaster, yet little things like a roll on a rim or a high-hat can be just the right thing.

Keyboards & Synth - I feel like we're just starting to tap the potential of what you two could offer.  You learned about how different sound patches can really add flare and flavor to a song.  And how the left hand is a 'no-no' 90% of the time  :-)  Knowing the sound patches and different things you can do with them on the keyboard is pretty key (no pun intended lol).  With your playing, personal presence and examples, you both provided a musical polish that the band needed.

Acoustic Guitar - Great work with different strumming patterns and experimenting with the capo.  The band also took advantage of your musical opinions, enthusiasm and talents.

Singers - I've been impressed all year with how our voices blended.  One of the things we learned was to 'kiss the mike'.  Right?  :-)  Also we are being watched and what we do is contagious. 

As a band, I felt we started to learn to listen to each other and in playing songs in practice, actually enjoy them (instead of being stressed out about chords and words, etc.)  We had some fun times and some good spontaneous worship/music sessions in practice.  You were all very patient with me and flexible with song choices, changes, wrong turns (sometimes), power outages, and practice cancellations. 

Today was a fantastic end to the year.  The songs sounded great. Well done everyone.  I hope to work with you next year on my worship team.

June 10th Set List Possibilities

Here's some potential songs for our next Chapel.  Remember that a major part of learning a song is listening to it.  Please listen to these songs multiple times - over and over.  As you listen, focus on what your part it in the song and try and play it as they do in the videos.

Also, if we could try showing up on time to practice, that would help too.  :-)

Everyone - I think we might be able to pull this fast one together quickly.  Let me know if you do it a lot in chapels in the past.

Forever - We can easily include this one in the line up if we don't get board with it.  Perhaps we can move the key(s) up a bit?

Amazing Love  - This one is a definite go after practice last week.  I think it will come together well.

Healing is in Your Hands

Chapel May 6 Debrief

Well...  I guess we could say we've accomplished our acoustic chapel without really meaning to.  :-)  That's the first time I've ever been in that situation before.  You all handled it like pros.  It was great to see C.Z. and O.F. just givin'er on the percussion. 

I thought that was probably our most relaxed set up, sound check, and worship set to date.  Everyone chipped in and helped and did their part from what I could see in the set up.  We were able to almost run through the entire set in the sound check.  Pre-power-outage worship was good.  I felt like we all knew where we were going - even when I through in an extra chorus a couple of times - great job!  It hardly phased you at all.  That's listening and being prepared!  I thought our feel and dynamics in the songs was very good - frankly I felt I could have done a little more to help the dynamics with my guitar in Beautiful, but I wanted to help with the singing and I didn't want to make a mistake.  We were definitely headed in the direction we wanted to go with Here I Am to Worship.  Actually, scratch that.  We got to where we wanted to go with Here I Am to Worship.  Ending it acapella was part of our original plan. 

Great job everyone!  I'm proud of you all.  That will be an experience none of us will forget. 

As things currently stand, we play Chapel again on June 10th.  Here's a song I'd like to do in the set list for that Chapel.  Please think about other songs we could do (Forever maybe?  since we didn't get to do it today?)

 

 

Next Chapel May 6

Hi Everyone,
Good practice on Thursday.  I thought we worked through those songs pretty well.  We have 3 practices left before our next chapel date.  I think we're in pretty good shape.  Based on our practice last week, and an 'executive decision' on one more slow song, here's what our set list is going to look like:
- You Are Good
- Forever (with key change)
- Beautiful
- Here I am to Worship

I'll post the videos for these songs below.  I'll put my comments for them up here.

You Are Good - Key of G, as we practiced it.  Electric Guitar, please nail the solo part using different strings, not sliding through a bunch of frets on one string.   Keys - we'll probably use an organ and a piano sound (A. on organ, D. on piano)  For the piano, listen in particular to what they do in the bridge - it's very simple, but effective.  Singers, these fast songs are going to be about you smiling and clapping and being totally into it.  No excuses for not clapping and smiling anymore!  Instrumentalists - remember first verse just bass and drums.  Second verse we do the 2 chord shots with the drums (bass drum).

Forever - Start in the key of D.  Key change into E after the bridge.  Remember the stops coming out of the verses into the chorus.  Key's - we'll use a piano and either strings or a nice keyboard sound for this one.  Again with the verses, its mostly bass and drums with some keys.  Intro and choruses we're full on playing our parts.  In the bridge its bass drums and keys for 4 'you love endures forever's, than a snare drum snap, and only bass drum until the key change.

Beautiful - Key of A.  Just drums, a little bass, and acoustic guitar to start this song.  The more we can pull back on our instruments and only play what really fits, the better.  Singers, please learn the words and practice parts.  Drums, listen to the song a lot to hear how the drums change and build through each verse and chorus.  They really control the dynamic of this song, so it's important to know how all the different beats change.

Here I am to Worship - Key of E.  We needed another slow song.  I wanted one everyone knew and that was relatively simple to play.  In the verse it's mostly acoustic, bass, and drums, with a little keys.

Musically, one of the main themes for this set is pull back if you can.  It will be better to play less than play more, particularly in the slow songs.  Vocally, I really want to see you smiling, you clapping, you lifting your hands and your hearts, totally engaged in praise and worship.  Remember, we're leading worship in chapel :-)

Here's the videos:

You Are Good

Forever

Beautiful

Here I Am to Worship

New Songs for Spring

Welcome back!  Hope you all are having a good spring break.  I trust the Grade 11's had a great trip!  While you were gone the rest of us went over several new songs - just feeling them out.  I'll post them here along with another idea or two.  We can decide what to do for our next chapel in our first practice after spring break is over.

Also remember, I want to try and step back from being the 'obvious leader' during chapels.  It would be best if I wasn't up at the front at all.  I want to facilitate you all moving into leading the worship, so prayerfully keep that in mind and take ownership.  Each of you, come 'to the front' and take your stand - lead with your suggestions, your stories and devotions, your prayers and scriptures, and your songs, your playing and singing.  :-)

Here are the songs (still open to other suggestions as well):

You Are Good

We did this one in practice before spring break and it came together pretty well.  Its fast and its fun and it has great words.  Please get familiar with it and learn your parts cold  :-)

I Will Go

T. suggested this one.  Apparently it is often done after spring break when the Grade 11's get back.  We had fun playing this one in practice before spring break.  It seemed to come together fairly quickly.


You Are Everything (Matthew West)

If we can get into the feel of this song - not just the musical feel, but also the emotion and 'live and breathe' the words, this could be a very effective worship song.  Obviously is a bit different for drums (6/8 time) and the piano part is right out front.  Listen to it, think and pray about it and let me know what you think

You Are Beautiful

Drums - once this one gets going, it would be good if you could hit the snare through the chorus as he does - so if you count through the chorus in sets of 8, he hits the snare on beats 4 and 7 (and sometimes 1)  The bass drum is a steady beat landing on 1,3,5, and 7.

March 11 Chapel Debrief

Good work everyone!  I guess you all will have to forgive me for instigating that 'train wreck' we had. Sometimes these circumstances serve to bolster our humility - and they also serve to remind us to improve and work things out better next time.  I actually think our response to my blunder was pretty good.  I think Jesus would have laughed right along with us.

Be encouraged!  Shake it off, just like Paul when he got bitten by the serpent when he was on his way to Rome.  God is growing good things on our team and in each of you.  Its a learning process.  Thanks for sharing that word before we started, A.T.  Also, thanks to everyone for helping with the set up and tear down.  I think that was the fastest setup/tear-down I've seen it so far. I appreciate your smiles, your good attitudes, and your willingness to serve God and the school on this team. 

We don't have the stage at school this week Thursday because of the play, so I think we'll cancel this week's practice.   

Next Chapel - March 11!

Hi everyone,
Our next chapel date is March 11!  As you already probably know, the theme of chapels for this month is Forgiveness.  As we discussed in our last practice, our order of songs will be:
- Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)  E
- I Found a Love   G
our country medley...
- God is Good    D
- I Saw the Light   D
- I'll Fly Away   D
- The Happy Song    D
Somewhere in this first couple songs, one of us can talk about the prodigal son.  Also we may potentially feel led to do some free worship.

To revisit our experience and discussion regarding free worship, here's some thoughts:

• Free worship works better when it happens naturally - like it began for us in practice that first time.  We need to continue trying it when we practice as that will make everyone more comfortable with it. 
• For the singers, there is no need to feel like you must sing.  However, you should continue to have an attitude of worship, listening with an open heart.  Looking around at what everyone else is doing doesn't quite work.  Worship is about participating - not observing  :-)  If you want to sing, but don't know what to sing, just relax and repeat a single line from a song you know.  When you do that, I personally think its better to sing to God, rather than about God. What I mean here is it makes more sense (to me) to sing 'God, you're good' instead of 'God it good' or 'God, you've ransomed me!' instead of 'God has ransomed me'  Make it personal.  Actually sing to God. 
• For the instruments, similar to the singers, don't feel like you need to play.  Relax, wait, and listen.  We will always be rocking between the I and the IV chords (so if we're playing in the key of C, that would be C (I) and F(IV)).  When you decide to play, ease into it.  Be sensitive of the atmosphere.  Start simple and gradually add more volume and notes, being sensitive to how the music sounds as a whole.  Worship from your instrument.  Whatever note or chord you play, fill it with life and meaning for God (and try and make sure it fits within the rest of the music that is happening).  Usually free worship ebbs and flows, like a gentle wind or wave. Try to attune yourself to hearing those 'curves' and play your notes to fit in. 

That's all for now.  See you all on Thursday!