Rest in Peace, Maestro

Powerful Message

I saw this for the first time tonight.

I cried.

Learning New Tunes

I’m really looking forward to an upcoming worship set and the introduction of a new song. We bring in new songs all the time, but there’s something about this particular new song that excites me. Here’s my favorite line from the song, and if you know the song and artist, make sure to respond to this post with the answer:

I’m finding everything I’ll ever need by giving up gaining everything

Now then, it’s time to rewind the CD to the 15 second mark. I have lost count of how many times I have listened to the same 7 second, 4 bar phrase, but I really want to nail this intro. I hope the artist’s original intro doesn’t get cut in favor of a less difficult intro that all the musicians will be able to easily handle. When a song is this good, artistic integrity is important. However, this is for worship, and I will happily submit to the headship of the worship leader.

 

I’ve listened to the song at least 50 times in the past few days. I have yet to sit down behind the kit and work out any parts. I’m not really interested in that right now. I just want to absorb as much of the song into my soul as possible. The nice thing is that I have plenty of time to learn the song—a rare luxury indeed. I have a good handle on the structure. I’m starting to instinctively bang-out the kick and snare pattern on the steering wheel. Some of the finer rhythmic nuances are starting to seem less intricate. I can’t stress the importance of just listening to the song, especially for the drummer.

 

Preparing for the Train Wreck

So there we were ten minutes before the worship set praying for grace, praying to have fun, and praying for God to be in our midst. We practiced for something like three hours last night. There was a lot of new material—mostly United stuff. We had all played each of the five songs in the set, just not within the same worship band. What I’m saying is that the songs were challenging but not too hard. It was now time to go on stage and have some church.

Cue the smoke, dim the lights, and cut to camera four: I started the click at 148 beats per minute for the first song and made a slight adjustment to my in ear monitor. I spun a Pro Mark 2B in my right hand as I looked out at the crowd of about 2,500. They were eagerly anticipating the start of praise and worship and we planned on rocking the house like we do every Wednesday night.