Who I am is in many ways inseparable from my relationship with my family. I expected to be a bit sad at the airport...didn't expect to need a box of tissues though!! I find myself very thankful for the wonders of technology - we're skyping every day (sometimes while standing in front of retail stores and borrowing their wifi!) and just sharing the little things. I'm VERY thankful for the rest of the family who have gathered around Fiona and the boys...esp as they're sick at the moment. But the distance has me thinking a lot about how thankful I am for them and the way they shape me, and how much time and intentionality I give to them.
Generosity
There as some smells that can permeate a whole house and linger long after the event. For me, cooking with fennel comes to mind (our fennel, almond and salt toffee brittle is legendary!) but you might have another example...whatever works for you! It seems like each time I interact with Sovereign Grace ministries, the fragrance of generosity seems to permeate through everything. Its not that there was any specific content on generosity during the event. Its just seems to seep through everyone who I came across - through little interactions and conversations and acts. I really thank God for those who have modelled and nurtured this culture in the Sovereign Grace movement, and I really hope some of it continues to rub off onto me...and rub off me!
Identity
"But what about the talks?" you say! Craig Cabaniss spoke on the first night from John 4 on being "Faithful to receive". (You can find all the talks linked here) Its amazing how you can know a story or scripture so well - I've even preached a few times on this passage - and yet be so convicted by it again! Here's a few things that stuck with me...
The whole story is recorded to show us how the Father is seeking worshippers...in this case the woman and her village...and gender and religious and racial barriers are no barriers to that quest. Are we willing to cross barriers in our context to seek worshippers for God?
The DNA, or primary identity, of a Christian is one who receives...not one who does. I think we often understand that we're saved by receiving grace...but how much do we actually think and act like the rest of our life is centered around receiving from God as well?
We are not the originators of worship. God is. Worship is our response to his overflowing abundant love and generosity. But how often do we attempt to create worship...through picking the right songs, or through our passionate leading, or whatever it is for you??
How do we position ourselves - individually and as churches - to be receivers of God's love and blessing, and then let that overflow in acts of abundant worship?
After the drought comes the storm...in some ways appropriate sitting here in the dry Los Angeles heat! But in the blog sense - sorry for 6 months of silence...2 kids can do that to you sometimes...and my apologies in advance for a potential deluge as I reflect on stuff I've learned in the last few days. But keen to share the journey and the good stuff with you! Here it comes...
It's been a real privilege singing God's praises with everyone at Nextgen in the past week - the whole band has had such an encouraging time! Hopefully some of the songs we've introduced over the week can help the Word of God dwell richly among you and help you to stand firm and hold fast. Lots of people have been asking how they can get a hold of the new songs, so here's some links and details.
Holy Hands
What a great song this is! There's not many songs that help remind us that in Christ, we are not just forgiven of our sins, but we also 'wear His righteousness'. You can download the track and charts here...and if you take advantage of the freebie, make sure to return the favour by posting or tweeting about it.
This is a song I wrote with my good friend Tim Sheerman many years ago now...but it just fit so well with the theme of the week we thought we should bring it back! The charts and words are available at www.trevorhodgemusic.com and you can listen to yourself singing it yesterday at the conference here...
Reflect Your Heart
This one is about as fresh as it gets - I finished it off with Jimmy last week. The first time it was ever sung was this week at Nextgen. So that means there's no official recordings or charts yet! But if you're keen to get your hands on it, leave your details below, and we'll get it out to you ASAP! Overflow is a new initiative of Kirkplace Church through which we hope to share around the good stuff God is blessing us with - new songs, charts, training resources and events. So if you're keen to get in on some of that, sign up as well!
What a privilege it's been to serve at the International Teams leadership conference in Costa Rica over the last week - it has been amazing to worship together in song with people serving all over the planet! A big shout out has to go to Diego, David and Phil - its not often that I play with a band I've never met...let alone from another continent! But they have been so gracious with my terrible Spanish and multiple last minute changes (and wrong keys!!)
A few people have been asking where to find the songs we've learned over the week? Some have been mine, and you can download the audio and charts from my website. I still haven't finished a recording of "Born again" yet, but hopefully in the next few weeks it will be up on the website for download. You'll find the full song list google.doc here with links to YouTube clips of the songs. ILF song list If you are looking for words or sheet music, between www.ccli.com, www.worshiptogether.com and www.praisecharts.com you should be able to find everything else.
It's been great to meet so many new friends - please keep in touch, and let me know if there's any other way I can support your work through my music!
Sorry that the blog posts have been very light on of recent (ie non-existant!) The good news is I've been using that time to do lots of songwriting. Not that there's much to show as far as end results, but the input time has been great!
I don't know about you, but for me it seems like my songwriting times are often either drought or deluge...and not much in between! Usually I'll get an idea - a phrase or melody or "key idea" and work outwards from there...but without that initial inspiration, nothing seems to happen. But I've been trying a few different things to 'seed the clouds'... Starting with Structure This was inspired by Pat Pattison's great book "Writing Better Lyrics" - while its not written specifically for a church / worship music context, there's some stuff he points out which is right on the money. In his chapter "Productive Repetition" - he says...
"In most songs, you'll repeat a line (refrain) or section (chorus) two or three times. The danger is that once your listeners have heard something once, it will be less interesting the second and third time - like telling the same person the same joke three times in a row: Once you've heard it, it doesn't give you anything more the second or third time.
Your job as a songwriter is to make your repetition interesting and productive so that the same words deliver more each time....
...It might be helpful to think about a song as a stack of boxes that are connected to each other, each one getting progressively larger. Think of each one gaining more weight, the last being the heaviest of the lot." Pattison, P., Writing Better Lyrics (2009, Writers Digest Books, OH) p. 55
As much as this is relevant for listeners...how much more so when we're asking people to 'own' and sing choruses again. How can we use the verses to help people sing the refrain with new perspective or relevance?
So I've tried kicking off with this kind of structure in mind - here's how it looks...
This is how I started with 1 Peter 1. The box on the right is the chorus - I wanted to gather some ideas that are central to this passage, that other sections expand on...in this case vs 3...
In his great mercy New birth Living hope Resurrection of Christ from dead
Then the 1st block on the left is vs 1 ideas - primarily vs 6-7. We know they're linked to the central idea by the "In this..." that Paul starts with. I thought this would be a good 1st verse as it expands on the present implications of this living hope...
Rejoice Griefs and trials Suffering Faith proved genuine Of greater worth than gold
The second verse then focuses on the assurance of this living hope in the future - drawn from vs 4-5. Again, you can see how this section expands and 'fleshes' out what this living hope is.
Inheritance Never perish, spoil, fade Kept in heaven Sheilded by God's power until coming of salvation in final day
In my mind this vs 1 / vs 2 order makes most sense, helping the singer to entering into and engaging with the song from their present circumstances. But you could also argue for the other way around - as Paul has it - to firmly establish the hope before getting to the present relevance.
The bridge then takes a different angle - we actually articulate our joyous response to this hope - from verses 8-9.
Have not seen him => Love him Don't see him now => filled with glorious (inexpressible) joy Receiving goal of faith => salvation
The third verse ideas come back to the central idea - our living hope, and express the 'therefore' ideas...what do we do now as a consequence - coming from vs 13-16.
Ready for action Self controlled Set hope on future grace Do not conform to old ways Be holy as God is holy
So having this framework at the start of the songwriting process was really helpful! It ensured that the song made logical sense, and remained true to the argument and thinking of the passage. And it helped created productive repetition - that each time we sing the chorus, we sing it with fresh insight from the verses.
So here's how it ended up...at the moment - I didn't end up finishing a third verse...but looking back at my notes maybe I should!!
Born Again
Verse 1 Rejoice Rejoice Through trials and pains Take hope traveling through the darkest of days
Of greater worth than purest gold Your faith - tested and proved - will be for His praise
Chorus We’re born again into a living hope Jesus You rose again out of the grave We’re born again holy and radiant Jesus the blood you shed is mighty to save Mighty to save
Verse 2 In Heaven’s our inheritance New life - never to spoil never to fade
Protected by God's mighty power Until all is revealed when you come again
Bridge Though now our eyes can’t see We love you Saviour King Our lips cannot express this glorious joy And when at last revealed In glory You will bring salvation Bring salvation
Its been great to sing a bunch of new songs together at NTE that help us to focus on and rejoice in being "In Christ". Here's where you can find some of them...
"Overflowed" and "No Other Name" are off the EP "No Other Name" - you can download it for free here (and if you do, make sure to spread the love on FB and twitter!)
If you'd like the charts as well, you can download them here...you'll need to download the whole EP.
"Come Praise And Glorify" is a new Sovereign Grace song - you can download it here, inc the charts if you download the whole album.
A whole bunch of the other songs are collated in this Youtube playlist - as you'll hear, we've significantly changed some of the arrangements, but they should give you a good starting point.
If you're looking for sheet music for any of these songs, some good places to start looking are...
When I'm running church music workshops, one of the most helpful things time and time again is discussing the particular roles that the different members of a contemporary worship band play. Here is a quick summary...if you want to find out more, you'll have to come to a workshop!
So who's the most important person or role? God, of course! Yeah, I know it sounds like a Sunday school answer...but we can get so tied up working on the parts and lines and grooves, and forget who it is all for. It would be like working so hard on your harmonies for happy birthday, that you forget who's birthday it is! How are you preparing your hearts for leading worship? How are you practicing humility? Repentance? Dependence? Adoration? How do the songs your going to sing or play express your own worship to God? How are you preparing to make Him look great, not you?
Who's next? Well, let me tell you, they never show up for rehearsals or workshops. They probably never practice. They are a real bunch of amateurs. Its the congregation. Your role as skilled and experienced singers, musicians and leaders is to equip and encourage (generally) unskilled and inexperienced singers to sing and worship with passion and abandon. Some things to think about...
Are your song choices easy to learn and 'own'?
What keys work best for them? This is both an issue of vocal range (a general guide is to try and keep it between A at the bottom and D/E at the top) and finding out what works best for the song - ie is the chorus in a good register to 'belt out'?
Is the structure and leading clear for them to follow? Do you lead them into the chorus, or do they unwittingly find themselves in it a few bars in?!
Do your musical arrangements lift their voices and hearts?
Are you leaving room in the musical 'mix' for their voices to fit in?
Next we come to those standing at the front - the song leaders / worship leaders / worship servants / lead worshippers... In the end, they are the ones charged with the responsibility to lead the congregation, and keep thinking about all these issues above - so as musicians, we need to serve them and make their job as easy as possible. We can do this by...
Making rehearsals great! Prepare in advance, come knowing all the songs, don't noodle when they're trying to direct things, respect and follow their decisions about arrangements.
Filling them with confidence. Mostly this comes down to you being confident - knowing the songs and structures...but then following their lead if they choose to do something else!
Now to the drummers. You have so much influence. A consistent tempo and groove, and clear structural signposts make it really comfortable and intuitive for the congregation to join in singing. On the flipside, if the tempo is shakey and the structure is unclear, people will feel really uncomfortable...even if they can't articulate it as such! Here's some basic things to be aware of...
Keep it simple - play what is appropriate for the song, not what shows off your amazing chops.
Own the tempo. Use a metronome / click if you need to.
Dynamics and orchestration. This is not just a volume thing - for example, the amount of high frequencies you bring in through the cymbals make a big contribution to the energy of the arrangement.
Play in the pocket. If tempo is all about bar by bar rhythmic consistency, playing in the pocket is all about rhythmic consistency within the bar or groove.
Signpost the structure. You, probably more than any other instrument, give aural cues to the structure and where things are going. So make sure you know where you're going! For example, if you open the hats in the last two bars of a verse, everyone's going to the chorus, whether the song leader wants to or not!
Bass players
Keep it simple!
Like a tree with shallow roots will fall over, a band without strong root notes will feel precarious. Make sure you're confident and consistent with the chord changes.
People often talk about 'locking in' with the drummer - but that sounds a bit lifeless and regimented. I prefer talking about 'dancing' with the drummer (if that's not too weird!). You need to operate and move as one unit. Don't just think about the kick drum either. How can you bring life to the snare drum by when you choose to lift your notes?
You own the low frequencies - you can create dramatic variations in the arrangement by when you choose to add - or subtract - the low frequencies from the mix.
Following from above - try thinking about spaces as much as notes - like the musical equivalent of a Henry Moore sculpture!
Now to guitars and keys. Up until now, we have form, but not much colour - this is where you guys step in, adding tones and timbres to the framework set up by the rhythm section. But there's one big thing to watch out for in common for keys and guitars. When you learn piano or guitar, you generally learn it as a 'solo' instrument. Having such a wide frequency range, and the ability to easily play big chords, you can hold it all down yourself - the melody, the bass line, the rhythmic energy and the chords to fill it out. But this is probably the opposite of what you want to do in a band context! Here's some things to be aware of...
Frequency clashes. This is particularly important in the lower frequencies - two notes a semitone apart can sound OK up high, but the same notes can bring on convulsions in the lower registers...so the basic rule is let the bass player play the bass! Also, be aware of getting too full in the mid frequencies - where the vocal ranges usually fit. This can be a big issue for electric guitars - distorted sounds can quickly become dense and impenetrable Try and avoid close chords - ie stacked thirds...play with how you can spread them out a bit.
Rhythm clashes. Again, this is a matter of letting the drums own this, and work around what they are doing, rather than trying to duplicate (and muddying) the rhythm. In particular, pianos can try and force the rhythm by heavily emphasising the 2's and 4's - the snare drums role. Also, be aware how the acoustic guitar can sit in the same frequency range, and play a similar percussive role, as the hi hats. One common clash is when the drummer is playing a straight rhythm on the hats, and the guitarists is shuffling it...it can get really messy!
In general, think about how you can strip things back in order to have more impact. Rather than throw your weight around, chose your notes and moments to cut through. Fight like a ninja, not a sumo! Look out for opportunities to add melodic hooks and riffs. Use your colour to really give life and shape to the arrangements. Its getting late, and my illustrations sketchier, but I think you know what I mean!
So there you go - there's a few of my thoughts for what its worth. But I'd love to hear your tips and suggestions as well...what do you think?
