Worship Musician! Magazine - NovemberDecember 2010

Songchart: More Than Amazing • A Few Moments With… [False] Humility

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010Volume 8, Issue 6

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Record ReviewsAaron Keyes • Bebo Norman • Charlie HallChris Tomlin • Jeremy Camp • Generation Unleashed

Product ReviewSchenk Ophirio Model

Acoustic Guitar

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I was hanging out in the Old Testament and came across a revealing scripture verse; paraphrased, it reads, “David led (shep-herded) his people with integrity of heart and skillfulness of hands.” These are two great directives for those who live and serve on worship teams, and inspiring words for those of us who want to grow in Him and improve on the musical gift we’ve been given, whether it’s with a guitar, trumpet or bongos (preferably not all at once, however).

I started thinking about how David most likely “wood-shedded” for many hours each day, on his stringed instrument of choice, while he was hanging out with the sheep at night; he may also very well have been honing his songwriting skills. What a concert those sheep got! We know David could play well from his time spent try-ing to calm down his troubled leader Saul with his beautiful music. Was it smooth jazz? Who knows? But one thing we can deduct was that for its time, and in whatever unique tuning it might have been in, it was excellent music played by skillful hands. I guess the fact that Saul once picked up a spear and hurled it at him while David was playing shows us that there were music critics even back then. Ha!

I do believe that David’s practice honored him back with a real level of musicianship. I like that a lot. Other folks’ excellence should spur us on and inspire us. Yes, I have heard many fellow guitarists after hearing Phil Keaggy or Doyle Dykes perform live say some-thing like, “That’s it, I am breaking my guitar in two.” Or utter the classic, “Why even pick up my guitar?” In a way, we certainly can be intimidated by another musician’s excellence. But the bottom line is that when you encounter music of such a high level of artistry, it is more of out of a sense of wonder and amazement that you state such things. When you come face to face with excellence, I believe that deep down in your heart you desire to emulate that gifting. You want to dig deeper into your own playing style and polish up your own gifting.

Personal integrity combined with the joy of being whatever type or level of musician you find yourself to be, will naturally propel you forward. Be yourselves, be grateful to the Giver of Life for your life (which includes your gift-ings) and play like all of heaven is listening!

Remember, we need to be genuine people and be who the Lord has called us to be. We may not be shepherds in the field at night, but we are shepherding someone, whether it be your family, workplace colleagues or local church body. Let’s wrap up the year purposefully doing it with integrity of heart and skillfulness of hands!

Merry Christmas!Bruce & Judy

4227 S. Meridian. Suite C PMB #275 Puyallup, Washington 98373-5963

Phone: 253.445.1973 Fax: 253.770.0659Email: [email protected]

Website: www.worshipmusicianmagazine.comPublisher/Editor: Bruce Adolph

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Worship Musician! is published bi-monthly by The Adolph Agency, Inc.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 VOl. 8, iSSUE 6

Features8 Product Review

By Bruce AdolphSchenk Ophirio Model Acoustic Guitar

10 From the Drummer’s PerspectiveBy Carl AlbrechtWorship Drumming Trends 2010

12 KeyboardBy Ed KerrThe Right Tempo, The Right Part

15 BassBy Gary LunnEarning a living Playing Bass-Part 2: Reading Music and Understanding intervals

16 VocalsBy Sheri GouldCreating an Effective Vocal Warm-Up/Work-Out Routine

32 Record ReviewsBy Heidi ToddAaron KeyesBebo NormanCharlie HallChris TomlinJeremy Camp Generation Unleashed

36 FOH EngineerBy John MillsRule #1 - Don’t Mess with it.

38 Ministry + Artistry = Profitability? Creating your MAP™

By Scott A. ShufordGod’s Growth Strategy

40 Authentic WorshipBy Michael GonzalesStage Presence may not be His Presence

42 Guitar Grab BagBy Doug DopplerPractice This

44 The BandBy Tom LaneUnder Pressure

48 Product ReviewBy Doug DopplerVB Amp and Speaker Enclosures – isolation Done Right

49 CameraBy Craig KellySo You Volunteered as a Camera Operator At Church – Uh Oh, Now What? Part 3

50 Tips for Tight TeamsBy Sandy HoffmanAre You lifting up EN-CO-Mi-UMS?

52 MandolinBy Martin Stillioni Wonder as i Wander

59 Lighter SideBy Manuel LuzChurch Shopping Exposed

60 A Few Moments With…By Brian Weaver[False] Humility - How to Shine Your light

62 LightingBy Greg SisleyElation E Spot lED

Editor’s CornerA Shepherd Practicing in the Fields?

InterviewsLincoln Brewster 20

The Real life

WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 7

I first heard about Rod Schenk back in 2008 when Acoustic Guitar magazine gave Schenk Guitars its coveted Players’ Choice Gold Award. I personally knew sev-eral of the other luthiers that had won that year and I knew that those folks made some wonderful handcrafted acoustics. At this point, I was intrigued and it turns out Rod Schenk lives and builds his guitars within an hours drive from my home. Now I was on a quest to meet him. I got the courage to call him and it resulted in an invitation for Judy and I to come over for dinner with his family. Our friendship started that evening and he gave us a tour of his quite impressive work-shop. It turns out he is also a believer and

his goal of excellence in building guitars is easily apparent. Now, two years later, he is offering a new Ophirio model to

his award winning line and I just had to play one. Am I ever glad I did!

What’s in a Name?This guitar is named after the ancient city

of Ophir. This was the famous city that sup-plied vast riches including gold, silver, ivory, precious stones and algumwood which was used to make harps and lyres for musicians. Ophir is most known for supplying King Solomon exotic materials during his reign. Ophirio is synonomous with luxury, beauty and quality. Well that is a pretty cool back-story. Therefore, the Ophirio concept was to provide a guitar that is clearly more luxuri-ous, higher quality and superior to anything else in its price range. Pretty lofty goals I might add.

Structurally Speaking: Rod is a professional licensed engineer. When he ap-

proached building guitars he looked at the basic design and saw that there were inherent weaknesses in the “doing it as usual” build

practices.

He realized that an ultra stiff neck would provide less

dampening and more string energy directed to-ward the soundboard. The problem was that traditional trussrods lacked sufficient stiff-ness capacity, so he designed his own. His

“Super-Rod” trussrod is proprietary and very much

to the other conventional trussrods out there. Schenk’s was more like a finely tuned machine with its rac-ing design and aerospace feel.

Next, for bracing he incorpo-rated more technology.

He used “Finite Element Analy-sis” computer modeling programs

for stress and deflection analysis. To quote Rod here, “The accuracy of this type of analysis was able to minimize bracing weight and provide a map of optimum brac-ing location for the most efficient structure for resisting the string forces; less guess and more facts”.

OK “smarty pants”. Lets look at the materi-als used. The guitar is built completely from all solid woods (not even plastic binding). The back and sides tone woods are Sapele and the top is Engelmann Spruce. More qual-ity ingredients placed in the mix are bone nut and saddles and custom Gotoh 510 machine tuners with an 18:1 ratio. Other available wood choices include Western Red Ce-dar, Adirondack Spruce, East Indian Rosewood and even Koa!

The Sound:The round tones and overall volume of

this instrument belie the fact that it is more close to a smaller OM size guitar than the larger dreadnaught size. It has the voice of a cannon when you jump on it and a pronounced articulation when you want to play softly. I was just floored by the Ophirio’s sound quality. I started strumming a rather robust tune and it got so loud I thought, “Oh my gosh, I wonder if my neighbors can hear me playing?” I asked Rod how is there such a large voice out of a smaller body shape? “This model has the most radical back-arch in the industry. The extreme dish shape helps project both sound waves and air move-ment through the sound hole. Flat backed guitars trap sound inside but a radical back-arch redirects the sound in a direction to expedite its exit before the sound energy is dissipated”.

You see why I like this guy? A simple “the arch back” would have been all I needed to hear, but now I actually learned something. Rod had more to say, “The tight and meticu-lous assembly and construction of a non-factory guitar is a contributing factor. Also re-member we are producing fewer than 100

guitars a year. This allows us to use the finest materials and the option to reject materials that are not up to our high standards - and don’t forget the trussrod.”

I was hitting some first position chords and when I hit an “A” chord with some force… there was so much air moving that it felt like I had plugged into an amp and hit an over-drive pedal. It rang from now until next Tuesday. Open chords up and down the fretboard are a blast on this guitar. Wow! I noticed that the nuanced dynamics allowed me to strum at different levels and that I had gotten a little sloppy playing guitars that don’t respond with such a wide bandwidth of touch. A guitar that makes me get better as a musician just to play it? By now I was really falling for this Ophirio.

Playability:Well Rod’s handcrafting abilities certainly

carry over to the ebony fretboard. Man, the neck is so stable with that advanced trussrod system that it feels sturdy as a rock. Great fretwork and a fine-art feel to the neck shap-ing (more thin than thick) makes this one re-ally comfortable and easy to play.

I like the ducktail volute on the back of the headstock too. Again, attention to detail and bringing in the best design elements do make a difference.

As for the smaller body shape, it fits very easily up against your body and the “Micro Bevel®” adds that ex-tra touch of class and playing comfort. What is a “Micro

Bevel®” you ask? Good ques-tion. On the top part of the body where your strumming/picking arm lays across the wood Rod has shaped a small bevel right where the top and side meets… this softens the edge.

The Look:The high-grade tone woods and their

grains are just gorgeous! Add to that a Ma-cassar Ebony headstock backplate and an understated Abalone inlay rosette and you have that touch of elegance Rod was aspir-ing towards.

Conclusion:I can truly say that in the $3,990.00 price

range, this Ophiro is one of the best guitars I have ever played. The fact that it is from the hands of a luthier and not a mass produced American factory, makes it that much more special. Schenk hits the mark on superior tonal quality and handcrafted beauty!

Schenk also offers several options includ-ing a cutaway version and pick-up systems. All models come with a very nice hardshell case.

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By Bruce Adolph

Schenk Ophirio Model Acoustic Guitar

PRODUCT REViEW

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8 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM

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There are NO new things on the ho-rizon for worship drummers. And there’s nothing you can do about it…….. OK, I’m kidding. I just wanted to get your at-tention.

Music and worship is ever changing! Probably because God is “covering the earth with HIS glory,” and worship is part of the plan. He is a very creative God. We just have to stay open to what the Lord is revealing about music, arts, and the worship that is unfolding in these times.

For drummers and other musicians the key is not to allow complacency to infect your creative life. That has happened to me before and I do everything I can to “push back” against that enemy. I do all I can to stay fresh and hungry for the Lord and for what He has called me to. This applies especially to my musical journey.

Sometimes it’s a matter of studying new worship songs or styles. Yes, studying! It’s foundational to experience the music for

the sake of worshipping, but it is also vital to analyze the technical side of songs. Lis-ten to music and take notes. How do the drums sound and feel? How do they fit into the mix with everything else on the recording? Is there a lot of percussion in the track? Are there drum loops and

s p e c i a l

technical tricks going on as well? Listen intensely to the music as if you could hear in 3-D.

Modern worship encompasses so many musical forms that you can virtually find God in any kind of music you like. From rock to jazz… from country to clas-sical it’s ALL there. And that is amazing! Now, for sure, the marketing of worship has only focused on the pop rock styles we are all familiar with… But, just so you know… I like it all! This is not about slamming the industry that has promoted contemporary Christian music and got-ten on the worship bandwagon. I know the industry gets wrapped up in working popular formulas, but the art still keeps evolving. Even if it does feel slow to some people.

For the sake of the art of drumming and all other musical expressions keep your ears and your mind open. If you feel stale and uninspired listen to some country gospel. Yep, that too! ;-) …Then listen to some big band worship and play along… work on your swing feel. Maybe also try some Latin-salsa worship. Definite-ly work on the modern worship stuff that is popular right now. But also work on that slammin’ urban gospel vibe too. And so it goes on, & on, & on, & on.

In the past couple of months I have re-corded drum and percussion tracks for a huge variety of worship styles. Classical, classic rock, jazz, and country just to list a few. If I wasn’t listening and working on these musical flavors I could not do the work. So drummers get back in the “woodshed” and sweat your way through some fresh music.

What are the trends? There is NOT only one! Many musical expressions are

exploding around the world. Some-times it’s just easy to get

trapped in a musical whirl-

pool where you can’t see what

else is h a p -

p e n i n g . Thanks to

digital musi-cal servers

it’s easier to find the obscure

artistic expressions. So dive in

and see what your God is doing in the earth. (*Note: I just jumped over to my “itunes store” and sampled Randy Travis singing a country version of Open the Eyes of My Heart. Very cool!)

When studying the trends of modern worship, be sure to listen to the flavor of the drum sounds. Are they big, fat, rock-in’ drums or do they sound tighter, higher pitched, and snappy?? The trend or chal-lenge for us as drummers is to be more of a “musical parrot.” (*Drummer wanna’ cracker? Awwk! J ) Absolutely listen to the latest from all the modern worship icons. Just don’t get stuck there. It’s OK to have your favorites, but be sure to work your other musical muscles.

A good way to challenge yourself is to change your drum set up each week. Play a stripped down kit for a week – Kick, snare, hi-hat, one tom, ride cymbal, and a crash cymbal. Next week, add one tom; next week move your cymbals around. Later even try setting up a huge drum set. And so on… Yes, I really do this. On this current tour I’m playing a ba-sic 5 piece kit right now, with and addi-tion of a brass piccolo snare to the left of the hi-hat because the music calls for it. (A ride, and 2 crashes are all the cymbals I’m using./ 22” kick, 10”, 12”, & 16” toms/ 14”x 5” Maple snare)

My studio kit uses four toms and tons more cymbals, but they’re set up in an unusual configuration. I keep mixing things up just so I have to think about what I’m doing. Yes, I am careful to keep everything placed comfortably so I can play smoothly, but there are many pos-sibilities.

Be creative and try new types of drum-heads; new sticks; new… ??? OK, you got the idea. Now run with it…

Send me an email and let me know what happens to your playing as you stretch your creative muscle. Keep those “cards & letters” comin’!

Blessings from Dr. Drum Trendsetter. JCarl

By Carl Albrecht

Worship Drumming Trends 2010

FROM THE DRUMMER’S PERSPECTiVE

Carl Albrecht has been a professional drummer & per-cussionist for over 25 years. He has played on over 70 Integrity Music projects; Maranatha Praise Band recordings & numerous other Christian, Pop, Country, Jazz & commercial projects. He currently lives in Nashville doing recording ses-sions, producing, writing and continuing to do various tours & seminar events. Visit his website: www.carlalbrecht.com or send an e-mail to: [email protected].


www.carlalbrecht.com

[email protected]

Time is an essential component of the music you and I make as we lead our congregations in worship. Have you ever had someone on your team give a count off for a song to begin and, once you’re singing it, realize that the tempo that was counted off was REALLY wrong? Either the crowd is trying to spit out words faster than humanly possible or every syllable seems to take three sec-onds because the tempo is just wrong. Not a good feeling. It’s unlikely you’ll look at your congregation and say, “Oops; Could we have a do over?”

Because all of us want to present our songs with as few musical prob-lems as possible, do what you can to make sure the songs you present are played at the right tempo. We’ll jump into some keyboard-specific concepts in a moment, but let me challenge you to think about how you can involve some sort of tempo reference in your worship teams. I’m enjoying using an app called “Tempo” on my iPad for this. Whether you use an iPad, a loop from your lap-top or have your drummer store tempi in a Yamaha ClickStation, ask yourself what’s keeping you from taking this step to guarantee you find the right tempo for your songs. I’m travelling with In-tegrity Music’s seminars4worship this fall, and Carl Albrecht, the drummer for the events, always plays along with a click. This brings great musical stability to what we’re playing as a band, and there’s no reason you can’t find a way to bring that stability to your teams as well.

On my website, kerrtunes.com, I’ll be listing some options you could consider for providing a click for your worship sets. Besides the various hardware op-tions, I’ll upload a few loops you could use as well. Once you incorporate a click into your worship times and feel the confidence it brings to everyone on the team, you’ll want to make it a con-sistent part of your ministry times.

So, you’ve got the right tempo go-ing for the song you’re playing. Here’s when each player on the team has a de-cision to make: how much activity will they play in a given section. A very im-portant consideration in what you and every other member of your rhythm sec-tion will play is what the part will do to delineate the sections of the song. Listen intently to a recording of your favorite

part of every chord in the verse above except for the E and E/G#. Why is this important? Because that A can be placed in the top voice of your pad part and lend a very nice element to what the rest of your band is playing. Try this yourself playing the chord chart above, starting with the 5th finger of your right hand on the A above middle C. Keep your finger on that note throughout the progression.

You might be wondering why I’m sug-gesting that you keep the note A on top, considering that the A is not part of the E or E/G#. This is a great example of letting our musicianship take us some-where the chart doesn’t spell out for us. One of the most popular voicings be-ing used on modern worship recordings is the add4 chord. It is most effective when the 5 chord in the key is being played. The 5 chord is built on the 5th note of the scale. In the key of A, that’s an E chord. So, you can play an Eadd4 when the E chord appears in the chart.

What you do with the other notes of the chord below the droning note is up to you. Keep in mind when creating your pad part that the pad police will not be monitoring your performance to be sure that you have a root, 3rd and 5th in every chord you play. Let your ear be the guide. For the first chord of the verse, for example, consider leaving out the 3rd, F#, and only play the D and the A. Remember that the A will be the top note you’re playing. Then, when the chart goes to A, keep the note A held down on top and move to an E below it. It’s right next door to the D you were playing. When the F#m7 chord follows, you can continue playing the A and E.

When you reach the E chord in mea-sure 4, think of it as the Eadd4 and add a G# to your voicing. You’ll play A, G# and E. This a beautiful voicing with lots of dissonant energy, giving great forward momentum to the musical mo-ment. For the D chord in bar 5, head back to your first voicing of the verse,

By Ed Kerr

The Right Tempo, The Right Part

KEYBOARD

Continued on page 56

worship song. Without exception, I am certain that something about the parts being played by each instrument will change as the various sections of the song are heard. There will be a certain level of activity for the intro, a change of some sort when the first verse or chorus is sung after it, and then further changes as the arrangement continues.

Of course every instrument might not play during the intro. Several may lay out until the first chorus or, perhaps, not enter until the reintro after the first chorus. The bottom line is that each instrument’s part evolves as the song is heard. Broadly stated, something is be-ing done within the rhythm section to set each section apart from the others.

Let’s say your team is playing “Mighty To Save”, one of the most popular wor-ship songs today. You’ve decided to use a pad sound. A pad sound is a great complement to the activity that are typi-cally played by acoustic and electric guitarists on your worship team. If you’re not exactly sure what I mean when I say “pad” sound, visit my website to hear some examples.

When using a pad, the sound you’ll play will not have much definition to its attack. So, to play rhythmic parts with lots of 16th or 8ths would not work well. Your main contribution to the arrange-ment will be playing long note values, mostly whole notes and half notes. A well-constructed pad part can contrib-ute significantly to the sense of “payoff” when you move from verse to chorus and other sections along the way.

Here are the chords for the verse:

One of the most important things you should try and do when playing a pad sound is to use droning notes. A droning note is a note that is heard over several changing chords. This note is often a part of the chords that are being played but sometimes is not. Without jumping too deeply into chord spellings and theory, I’ll point out that the note A is


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that you’ll find as they pertain to the kind of music that you

listen to. You can always find familiar parts of bass lines or melodies that re-mind you of certain

intervals. It’s all a part of the reading-music experience.

ShapesThe discovery of

intervals was ma-jor revelation in my trek of learning

music and reading nota-tion. Another connection that I have found is that many people, particularly stringed instrumentalists, often see

shapes in their fingering patterns and finger positions on the neck. I often see squares, vertical lines, and triangles in the patterns that I play. Understanding chord spelling and how intervals pertain to that has opened up a relationship between shapes of chords on the staff and how you might play them on the bass. I hope this information accelerates your learning to read music as it did for me. The sooner that you are on your way to broadening your qualifications as a musician the better! I hope this information will open up new opportunities for you and generate more work. Be continuously blessed for every note that you play!

Gary is a session player/producer/writer in Nash-ville, playing recording ses-sions and recording at his home studio. Find him on face book or at www.myspace.com/lunnbass.

At a fairly early age, I learned how to play the bass by ear, learned how to read chord charts by playing with the youth choir while also teaching myself how to play acoustic guitar. Through all of that I was never able to learn how to read music. I had tried to learn by playing in a church orchestra. I even tried to play in a jazz rehearsal band – that didn’t work out (they kicked me out). Later when I was a freshman in college there was an ear training class called “Sight Singing” that I signed up for. The concepts taught in that class were simple, but it opened up a locked portion of my brain that had need-ed to open up for years. I could immedi-ately identify notes as they were played, but what I didn’t understand was that it was the relationship between notes that would help me to understand so much more about reading music.

What’s an Interval?The number of half steps, or “semi-

tones” between two notes make up an in-terval. For example, starting from “C” on the bass (A-string, 3rd fret), if you played an “E” (D-string, 2nd fret) at the same time, you will have just played a major 3rd interval. Why? Because, in the key of C, E is the 3rd of the scale. So you have played the “1” and the “3” in the key of C, which is actually the first 2 notes in a C triad (we talked about triads a while back). You are probably asking yourself, “What’s the big deal?” The importance is that on a bass-clef staff, the first note you played is a C, which is the 2nd space from the bottom. The 2nd note is the E and it’s the 3rd space from the bottom. Therefore, whenever you see any 2 notes that are only separated by one line or space, it will always be a 3rd interval. This realization was of incredible impor-tance to me because I now understood that the relationship between the notes on the bass was directly related to the rela-tionship of the notes in the staff.

Another commonly used interval is the 5th. Play a G on the bass (E-string, 3rd fret). Now play a D (A-string, 5th fret). You’ve just played a “perfect” 5th (all 5th’s are perfect because there is no such thing as a major 5th or a minor 5th). You have also just played the “1” and the “5” in the key of G. On the staff, the G is the bottom line and the D is the middle line. All 5th intervals are line, skip a line, to line or space, and skip a space, to space.

BASS

To clarify things so that you can be-come familiar with all of the available inter vals, here’s a list for you. I will order them in half steps, (or in measurements of o n e fret increments) and all in the key of C.

Minor 2nd – 1 semi-tone – C to C#, M a j o r 2nd – 2 s e m i -tones - C to D, Minor 3rd – 3 semitones - C to Eb – Major 3rd – 4 semitones - C to E – Perfect 4th – 5 semitones – C to F.

RemindersWhile familiarizing yourself with inter-

vals, something that will definitely help is to find familiar melodies and/or bass lines that are the same as the interval that you are trying to memorize. For example, the thematic bass line that starts the old 60’s soul song; “My Girl” is a perfect 5th (C-C, G-C-C). The interval between the C and the G is the perfect 5th in this case. If you were to look at this line on the bass clef staff, the first 2 notes would be placed on the 2nd space, the 3rd on the 4th space, and last 2 on the 2nd space again (just like I said earlier, 5th’s are al-ways line, skip a line, to line or space, and skip a space, to space). Another ex-ample would be another 60’s song called “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” The first 4 notes of the bass line in the intro outlines a minor 3rd (D,D-F,D). The inter-val between the D and the F is the minor 3rd. If you were to see these notes on the bass clef staff, the first 2 notes would be written on the 2nd line, the 3rd note on the 3rd line, and the 4th note on the 2nd line (3rd’s are always written from a line to the next line or a space to the next space). There are many more examples

By Gary Lunn

Earning a living Playing Bass-Part 2:

Reading Music and Understanding Intervals


http://www.myspace.com/lunnbass

http://www.myspace.com/lunnbass

Sheri Gould has a BS in Music Education (Vocal/Choral) from the University of Illinois. A church music director (Choir/Worship Leader) since 1985, she also teaches vocal techniques at various workshops around the country. Send your questions to: [email protected]

VOCAlS

The most effective Warm-up/Work-out routine is one that you’ll actually DO. I’m going to try to help you to be creative in designing a routine for yourself that you’ll actually be able to do on a relatively regular basis, but first let’s clarify the dif-ference between a warm-up and a work out.

A warm up for the vocal cords serves the same purpose as warming up any oth-er muscle. It gets the blood flowing and helps the muscle to function properly and helps to avoid damage. You also achieve increased flexibility and strength. This is all great stuff for vocalists. Warming up has no downside to it, so why don’t we do it more?

TimeSo, let me offer a couple of suggestions

of ways to help you work in a warm up! I suggest to people t o try and add it to something you’re already doing n a regu-lar basis such as taking a shower, driving

on your cords so you’d do well to avoid that when possible. Always try to let the phlegm stay as long as you can stand it, then clear it as gently as possible—gently equals as little noise as possible.

Take care to do a couple of exercises then rest for minute. Don’t push to the outer reaches of your range right away, wait until the cords are warm before you start going to your higher note, and then go slowly and not too loudly. In this way you’ll help to avoid the sudden stretches that can cause stress to the cords. All of this can be done while you’re actually doing something else, as long as you’re careful. That something else could be cleaning up the breakfast dishes, taking a shower, driving to work or church. Wait-ing at the bus stop depending on how brave you are ;-)

Working Out Now working out the vocal cords is

entirely different. When you work out you need to have spe-cific goals in mind or your work-out is

working on your voice and you will reap many benefits. So put down

your instrument! (just for a little while…) After you have worked out for awhile, without your in-strument, try singing and playing again—in front of a mirror. This

will help you to see whether you are able to keep in place what you

have accomplished, even while playing.

Recording yourself during your work-out can help immeasurably by giving you real feedback as well. If you have no one to actually watch or listen to you, these two tools: the mirror and the record-ing will ultimately be the best friends you have…really. They always tell the truth!

Using a warm-up/work-out CD of some kind can be helpful, but be careful to go at your own pace and to always keep in mind what you‘re supposed to be learn-ing. Sometimes, try as they might, a stu-dent may end up misunderstanding what the instructor on the CD is actually trying to get them to do. I have seen cases where vocal damage has occurred as a result of trying to copy what a vocal instructor on a CD was doing, but just not quite getting it right. Without someone in the flesh to check on you—or tell YOU what to check for—this can be easy to do.

A DVD is usually a better fit—at least to get started with. That way you can not only hear the instructor but SEE the instructor demonstrate the technique as

well. After you’ve acquired the skill(s) then you can use your own accompaniment to go at your own speed and in your own range. This is the best way to do it but not always feasible for non-instrumentalists. That is

when those accompaniment CDs come in handy.

I am excited to be able to offer for the first time my own DVD featuring a com-plete “how-to” on warming up and work-ing out! It will be released by the time this article hits the press! The new DVD as well as my DVDs-“Basic Vocal Technique” and “How to Be an Effective Background Vocalist”, will all be available on my website sherigould.com. God bless and happy singing!!

By Sheri Gould

Creating an Effective Vocal Warm-Up/Work-Out Routine

to work (church), walking your dog…etc. There is absolutely no reason why you can’t incorporate warming up into some of the normal everyday life things you do. Warming up is different from working out and doesn’t require quite as much mental energy. Anytime you CAN devote your-self wholly to warming up can of course provide opportunity for a better focus and would be preferred, but in our world of the worshipping vocalist—we’ll take what we can get!

Take It EasyIt’s important to warm up slowly so as

not to cause the very damage you’re try-ing to avoid. If you put too much stress on the vocal cords before they’re warmed up, you can cause enough irritation to stimulate the production of phlegm. Once you have phlegm on the cords you’ll likely want to get rid of it-fast-and that usually re-sults in you clearing your throat. Clearing your throat can wreak some serious havoc

really nothing more than an extended warm-up. If you have in mind to increase your breath control for instance, than you need to do an exercise that is specifically designed with that in mind. Then you need to concentrate on what you’re do-ing so that you do it properly and gain the benefits. If you don’t do these exercis-es correctly, just like any other work-out, you can end up reinforcing bad habits and ultimately do more harm than good!

ToolsSo make sure you are always in front

of a mirror when you work out. If you are an instrumentalist who also plays when you sing, you need to have some time devoted specifically to JUST SINGING so you can concentrate on your voice without having to be cognizant of your instrument as well. This will help you take your voice to the next level. You have like-ly spent countless hours honing your skill as a musician, now spend a few hours


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Lincoln BrewsterTHE REAl liFE

20 NOV/DEC 2010 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM

Worship Musician: The new record “Real Life” has real meaning to you. Tell us about that?

Lincoln Brewster: Well, over the course of making this project I started stumbling across a different side of my writing. I wrote with some good friends again… with Mia Fieldes, Paul Baloche and Jason Ingram. As the songs started to come out early on in the writing process, a song called “Made For More” emerged. It was a really introspective (almost kind of a Bruce Springsteen-esque) lyric, like I was singing my thoughts. I was driving down the road one day and had this kind of groove in mind, and the first thing that came out of my mouth was, “Don’t care about money, don’t care about fame.” That line really set the tone for the song. You know, it’s been weird in that I have had people say to me, “You’re famous,” and I still don’t believe them. It doesn’t feel that way to me. So this project sort of opened up this other side of my writing, and as we continued down the writing process, a lot of the songs were based on real things that have happened.

Mia and I wrote “Whom Shall I Fear” (featuring Kari Jobe) after I had a phone conversation with a friend of mine whose nephew was in intensive care after having almost been killed in an accident. I was trying to encourage my friend to not be afraid. She was being driven from a place of fear and I tried talking to her about God’s Word. I told Mia about the phone conversation and we started writing this song. It came from the perspective of, “What would we want to encourage her to say?” There is a line that says, “You won’t let me fall when all else is falling.” You know, “It is because I know you live, that I will put my faith in this, that you hear my call, you hear me calling.” Really expressing “faith statements” that get people to proclaim God’s truth.

Even the song “Best Days” was a lyrical result of years of my pastor looking at me and saying, “Your best days are

ahead of you, not behind you.” And my life verse is Philippians 1:6, which says that God is faithful to complete the work that He started in me. That lyric is in these songs, and they are laced with real things that are really applicable and relevant in my life. Probably the most obvious one of those is the title cut, “Real Life.”

That one was a complete shocker. After we had the whole album written I played all of the songs for my wife and said, “What do you think?” And she said, “I think you have one more in you.” “Real Life” came out of that. It is probably the most personal song I’ve ever written. It is different even in the way I produced it, and stylistically a little different too, but I just wanted to capture the essence of what that song was about. It talks about me growing up in Alaska and how basically I still feel like a little kid. I don’t know about you, but there are a lot of times when I don’t feel like a legit adult, you know? I feel like I’m a kid masquerading in an adult body. I look around and I have a beautiful wife I’ve been married to for almost 17 years and two kids, a house and a job (actually more like five jobs!), and this is real life but it still feels like playing house. Mia and I were having this conversation and the lyrics from that song came out of that.

Some people don’t know about my connection with the “Deadliest Catch” television show, but the “Time Bandit,” one of the boats on that Discovery Channel show, was my family’s boat

Lincoln Brewster is a lot of things to a lot of people. Husband, father, son, worship arts pastor, Christian recording artist and guitar hero. He has been maturing into these roles as the years go by while at the same time trying to keep it real. Let’s take a closer look into the real life of Lincoln Brewster.

photo: Jeremy Cowart

NOV/DEC 2010 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM 21

facets but it is just one picture.” It is my relationship with the Lord; it is my family; and then ministry. And when it comes to ministry, my priority is the church. I always need to make sure that is intact and going well. My pastor has been great about this; we really feel like my ministry outside of Bayside Church is just an extension of our church. My pastor likes the fact that I travel and get out to minister outside of Bayside. I have learned wonderful things that I have been able to apply at home and I’ve also been in an environment that has been so alive at my home church that I am able to take that out to other churches and be a blessing that way. So it is a very cool back and forth thing going on.

WM: Changing the subject here… your mini-melodic guitar riffs… you like to tuck them in left and right. Is that to keep things more interesting for you as a player?

LB: I like being creative and I can honestly come up with endless different guitar parts for every song. I just hear these little parts… it’s like decorating a Christmas tree you know? I can see it done a bunch of different ways. I like creating things that are interesting to listen to. A lot of my favorite guitar players growing up were real riff guys. They would have a hook in the chorus, a vocal hook or a melodic hook, and also a real cool guitar hook. And I still have a heart for guitar players. It’s almost like as I am making the record, when it comes to producing a song (once it is written), I’ll think to myself, “Alright, worship leaders, is this something you can grab onto in church?” And then I always think, “What about the guitar player? What would be cool for them?” Like the opening riff to “Reaching For You.” If I were in the praise band at my church and the worship leader came in

growing up. The Hillstrands are my ex-step brothers. Their dad was my step-dad. I grew up in an environment of domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse. I had been a victim of that myself and watched my mom go through it for 10 years, from the time I was really young until the time I was 12 years old. And so when I sing about the place where I grew up being awesome and that I kind of took it for granted – that was true. But then I also sing about the real pain and real tears, and it speaks of the tough times. When I took my family back up there last summer, it filled me with deep nostalgia, both good and bad. It was neat to watch my boys play on the same beach where I grew up, but it was also very painful to remember the things that I was living through every day at their age. So “Real Life” takes a stab at painting my past a little bit.

WM: Well that is the significance about it, Linc, because often times we gloss over the pain and put on the happy “church face.” So this is you pulling that mask off a little bit. I think that is healthy to discuss.

LB: Everybody has a past, everybody has a today, and everybody wonders about tomorrow—or hopefully has hope for tomorrow. So I try to take it in those three steps. “Real Life” is way more than just about my life, even though it starts off talking about my past. The hope is that the song gets to a place where

it is globally accessible, and the biggest message of encouragement

to give to other people is that even if you have had a messed

up past, that doesn’t mean God can’t use you to do

something awesome. I am living proof that

God can use your life even if your past is

messed up. There were a lot of

things about my past

that were

embarrassing and things that weren’t my fault. But being able to talk about them has been great and I’ve already had lots of people come up to me and say, “I had the same kind of upbringing and I’ve never talked about it or had the courage to talk about it.”

So there is a lot of life wrapped up in this record and it has things that are very real. We have known each other a long time and I think you know that I’m pretty big on just being an authentic person, so this wasn’t the album that I planned on making… it just kind of came out this way.

WM: You have a dual identity as a touring artist and as the worship arts pastor at Bayside Church in Sacramento. Both can be challenging lifestyles. I’m sure there are times were it seems like you are carrying a heavy load. What do you tend to do when it seems like both worlds are colliding and it isn’t a pretty sight?

LB: (Laughs) Well, you know I probably tend to react to them differently at different times but I’m learning that my best reaction is leaning into God, leaning into my wife, and leaning into friends that I can trust. Also getting Godly counsel; I am a verbal processor by nature. The main thing that helps me is to try and remind myself of my priorities and make sure that I have those straight first. I’m always trying to ask the question, “What is the wise thing to do?” I’m always trying to approach it from as wise a point of view as I can. And when those worlds are colliding I think that one of the fixes is to blend them. Rather than try and keep them separate I always trying to push them together because they need to work in tandem. I try not to have a dual identity. I try to be one person and say, “This is just one big picture; it has different


and said, “We’re going to learn this new song” and I heard that riff I would say, “Cool!” It gives me something to go home and get excited about. I know how that feels—I get to learn something new! When I was learning songs, even back with Steve Perry, it was fun to learn those guitar parts that I had grown up on. I like offering things musically on every level I can. That is why it is great having Norm Stockton on the record. He does great things on the bass. Mike Johns does a great job on drums. Steve does great things on the keys. There are a lot of interesting things for musicians to grab onto, to make the experience more fun for both the people doing it and for the people listening to it.

WM: What are you listening to lately that inspires you in the worship music field, and who is inspiring you as a guitarist?

LB: You know what’s funny, in the modern worship field, one of the things I have done in recent days is actually go back. I think sometimes to go forward it is good to go back a little bit first so you can look at where we have been. I like some older worship music. It’s almost like going back before worship was a hip thing to do. There was no thought about commercial viability. It was just songs to God. There was a neat aspect

The REAL LIFE of LINCOLN BREWSTER: continued

22 SEP/OCT 2010 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM

to it and when I listen to modern worship, because it is what I do, sometimes I’m listening to the production or song structure. It can be challenging because I have to purposely pull my mind out of it and just let my soul be ministered to. You know it is almost like if you do roofing for a living, you probably drive around and notice roofs on houses all the time. So not just being a worship songwriter and an artist but a producer as well – it is hard for me to disconnect. So the short answer is I like going back and listening to older stuff; it has been really nice. I feel less connected to it from a professional vantage point and it allows me to worship freely.

For the guitarist part of the question, the answer is Jeff Beck for sure. The “Live at Ronnie Scotts” album is terrific. He did a bunch of nights in a row at a club and recorded it… just unbelievable. He has Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Tal Wilkenfeld on bass and I can’t remember the keyboard guy at the moment. At the Summit we just did with you at Bayside, it was really neat getting to have Phil Keaggy with us. Watching him and watching his joy come through…he was fantastic! I love that acoustic stuff.

A strange thing happened to me recently when I was in Orlando playing at the Momentum Christian Radio Conference. It was late at night and I walked in into the convention center lobby. I really don’t like being away from my family and I walked in feeling that sense of loneliness and really missing my family. The schedule had been really hectic and I was feeling pretty bad and this is no joke – I walk in and I was in this huge lobby all alone. There was music playing over the speaker system really faintly. It was the most soothing acoustic guitar music, just by itself. It was amazing! So I put my iPhone up and did the Shazam thing and it worked! I couldn’t believe it. It barely caught any of the song and I thought it would be a lost cause. It was a song called “Larry’s World” by a guy named Russ Freeman, and it was beautiful. I don’t know anything about him as a person, but it inspired me. I would love to record an album of that kind of material. Phil Keaggy has done stuff like that and it made me want to go buy all of Phil’s albums. He is just a genius musician on so many levels, vocally and guitar-wise. I get inspired by watching people who are incredible at what they do. It’s like when I listen to

Jeff Beck play… I marvel at the gift that God gave him. He can play the electric guitar in a way that nobody on earth can, in my opinion. And when I heard this guy Russ Freeman play, I thought, “What a gift!” It soothes me. So I look at it this way… that is the gift that God gave him. If he is not using it for God, then that is his choice. But I find his music beautiful.

photo: Steve Batz


WM: Let’s talk about your quest for tone. Where has that led you lately?

LB: You know I’m always trying to get a great sound, trying to make sure that the tone is pleasant to listen to - a nice big, fat and sing-y tone that still has an attitude and all that. We are in a neat era of equipment for guitar players because there are a lot of great amplifiers available, boutique makers included. You’re not as limited as you used to be if you want to go that route. For amp-modeling too, it just keeps getting better and better. A lot of people know that I am into modeling and that has to do with the fact that I travel. When we travel we mainly fly and so my quest was to have tone that I don’t need excuses for and have it be the same all the time because I’m taking my rig with me. So I’ve been on a mission with modeling because that is the only way I can do it. I can’t take a big guitar rig on the plane. I’ve been diving into the tones in modeling and a lot of people know that I’ve used the Line 6 stuff for years and still love it. It’s funny, when I started using the

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Fractal Audio Axe FX there were many people saying, “Oh he’s jumping ship,” but I wasn’t jumping ship. I needed a couple more features that my POD didn’t have in a live situation. And so I switched and started using the Fractal, but I did use both the Line 6 POD Farm software and the Axe FX on this latest record. I still love the Line 6 stuff and both are great companies. Line 6 has got some fantastic new gear coming out. They’ve sent me some things to try out and they’ve definitely been doing their homework and aren’t resting on what they’ve accomplished. I know that Fractal Audio is doing the same thing. So it’s really nice seeing that there are people out there who are passionate about doing top-notch modeling of really top-notch vintage amps. So I’m a tube amp guy all the way, whether it be a modeled tube amp or a real one. I love those old tube amps.

WM: Now both you and I are die-hard Fender Stratocaster guys. Without distressing our friends who play other types of guitars, why is the Strat your

24 SEP/OCT 2010 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM


go-to electric guitar?

LB: There are a lot of reasons. One, I just like Strats. There is something that I have liked about them ever since I started playing guitar as a kid; something very classic. It’s funny being somebody who is into all of the modern technologies because the modeled amp I used the most on the Line 6 is a 1966 Plexi Marshall. All of the amps I use in modeling are all the ones that are “vintage.” The one I use on the Fractal is again an old Plexi Marshall with Greenback 25 speakers in it. So it’s the same with guitars. I just feel like that by 1957 Leo Fender got it right. And by 1959, I feel like Gibson got it right. I know we are talking specifically about Strats because that guitar has so much flexibility and variety.

If you see us play live I can go from a clean, glassy tone to a bluesy tone to a more of an ethereal tone to full on humbucker-esque (almost Les Paul-ish) rich tone - all on one guitar without having to do a bunch of pedal dancing.

The Strat is able to go so many places tone-wise and I think for worship music, for me at least, if I need to clean the guitar up, I can turn the volume knob down and pick with my fingers while I’m talking. If I need to go full-on blues in a Stevie Ray style, I can do that. If I want to go old Van Halen-esque, I can do that. I can keep rolling my tone pot backwards and get more of an Eric Johnson kind of thing or I can do the Jeff Beck thing. There are so many options right there at your finger’s control that you don’t have to constantly change presets on your pedal board. I just can’t get that kind of variety out of any other kind of electric guitar.

WM: You have been blessed with several endorsements from equipment

companies. Can you list some of them for us?

LB: Oh boy, yes I have. Shure, Fender Guitars, DiMarzio, PreSonus, Grundorf, Line 6, Fractal Audio, Boss, D’Addario, Planet Waves, Yamaha Commercial Audio, McPherson Guitars (fantastic guitar), Avid, Universal Audio and ADK microphones. They make amazing mics – I did all of the lead vocals with their CS67J. For the money it can’t be touched.

WM: We know you are a committed family man with a lovely wife and two young sons. What do you do to safeguard those relationships as you try to strike that balance between relationship and career?

LB: You know what? I feel like God spoke this to me; “Use your creativity to find great moments with your family.” I’ve had to learn to get creative with my schedule. Sometimes time is about quantity; your kids need time. But I’ve also found that you can have a short amount of time that has a very high impact and those times are priceless as well. Sometimes I have to be creative in that.

As an example of that, the house that we moved into had a swimming pool already in the backyard. The folks before us had installed a heater for the pool. We typically never use the heater because it is really expensive. Laura was having her mom and dad and aunt and uncle come up so we heated up the pool. And then I went out of town and was gone for a week. Well, I left the pool heater on by accident. The temperature outside had heated up too while I was gone. I got back from the airport late at night and I hadn’t seen the boys yet. They were in their pajamas and they had to go to bed. I had a bunch of stuff I still needed to do and Laura said to me, “I think you left the pool heater on.” So I went outside and the whole pool felt like a hot tub. I was just going to turn the heater off and be done with it and I thought to myself, “Oh you just can’t let this go to waste.” So I went inside and purposely said, “I’ve got to go back outside and check the pool.” My boys said, “Hey Dad, can we come? Can we come?” And I was like, “No.” Then they said, “Please, please, please,” so I said, “Oh ok, I guess so.” We walked out by the pool and I got them right next to

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the edge (I was holding Liam because he couldn’t swim yet) and Levi was standing next to me. I said, “What’s that there in the bottom of the pool Levi?” He was like, “What? Where?” I said, “Look, look right down there in the middle.” And as he bent down to look, I pushed him in the pool, and in my full clothes, I jumped in the pool with Liam. They thought it was the craziest thing ever! Just because of the fact that we all jumped in the pool with our clothes on. You know what? We were only out in the pool for about 20 minutes and they thought it was the greatest. That was one of those short amounts of times that had high impact.

When we are in that “on the go” mode we have to find those special moments. Tomorrow the new album comes out and I’m going to take them out to lunch and do something special with them. And then other times when we vacation—and you know this about me—I turn my phone off! I really protect that time. And so when we have a vacation on the books and we are going through a busy season, both Laura and the boys know that they will get 110 percent

of my time. So I try to be good about that and I think if you asked my family they would unanimously say that they know they are the top priority in my life, outside of my relationship with God.

WM: Good stuff Linc. I have a question about your new album, Real Life. You have a piano ballad called “More Than Amazing” that showcases your singing voice. Can you tell us about that song?

LB: You know, what’s funny is that song wasn’t supposed to be a vocally-driven song on purpose. I had wanted to write a piano ballad for a long time. I’ve always wanted to write a song that felt a little throw back-ish, but had that classic piano hook to it. I can play enough piano to write some parts out and I was really excited when Mia Fieldes and I wrote that song. It is a neat change for me. We just led worship with that song at church the other weekend and man it just felt great - a special moment. I hope it is the kind of song that a lot of churches can use. We had the church choir come over to my house and we put them on the record. The choir was actually standing in my master bedroom when we were recording that song. It was pretty cool.

WM Right on. It’s interesting because you don’t even pull out a guitar part until the last third of the song.

LB: I tried to give it a little bit of a Journey-ish flavor. Obviously I’m no Steve Perry but I always liked that quality a song has when it is produced small and it grows as the song goes. It gets bigger and bigger and just goes “boom” at the end! It is a constant crescendo. So I was trying to accomplish that with this particular song.

WM: At our Christian Musician Summit conferences we always ask you to teach a workshop on the relationships between pastors, worship leaders and worship team members. It’s always a very popular class. Can you try to boil down for us the gist of your message in that workshop?

LB: You know, the fact that God sent His only Son to restore a broken relationship should tell us something about how God feels about relationships and how important they are.

Growing up in a dysfunctional home environment, and now today having

my own home and being able to actually do something about what my surrounding is like, I’ve just found myself increasingly less tolerant of settling for dysfunction and things that are not God-honoring in the way that they operate. So relationally that is just a big thing to me. I really believe that relational dysfunction is a very harmful thing that the enemy uses to keep God’s kingdom from expanding.

I can go into all kinds of “leadership this and that” about the ins and outs of how I’ve seen that happen. But at the end of the day, when we haven’t forgiven each other, when we are harboring bitterness and anger and when we don’t have the conversations that we really need to have or when we don’t have them in love... One of the first things that we teach in that class is that you have to be committed to conflict resolution! It’s not if you have conflict. You are going to have conflict. The question is, are you willing to stick it out and resolve it? Are you willing to admit that you are wrong? Are you willing to look at your own life and go, “Yea, I need to change this?”

You know, I don’t want to be critical of the church and just say, “Oh, it’s rampant in the church.” It is rampant in humanity; not just the church. But for me, I want to encourage people whenever I get a chance and do my part to say, “It’s not God’s plan for us to be in a dysfunctional relationship.” We should be God-honoring in the way that we function. And I am a really big proponent of honoring spiritual authority. I fear that some of this generation has lost that. I took a class when I first got into ministry called Leadership Principles. Laura and I both took it. It was like God branded that stuff on my heart and it never left me. Some of the things I was taught are hard and they go against worldly wisdom. But at the end of the day, I want to be in alignment with my pastor. I am loyal to him. I have his back and we have a great relationship - a great friendship - and that means that sometimes I have to say things that he doesn’t want to hear. But that is what you do with a friend. And so I get to be a part of the process figuring out what we do and how we do it. At the end of the day though, somebody has to say, “OK, I have heard all of the suggestions... now this is what we are doing.” Then it is my job to go out of those doors and execute


26 SEP/OCT 2010 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM continued on page 56

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A D2 E F#m7 D

Asus Asus/F# A/E Esus

120

More Than Amazing (1 of 2)

INTRO A D2 E F#m7 D2

VERSE 1 A D2 You're the One Who walked on water, and You calmed the raging seas F#m7 D2 You command the highest mountains to fall upon their knees A D2 You're the One Who welcomed sinners and You opened blinded eyes F#m7 D2 You re- stored the brokenhearted, and You brought the dead to life E F#m7 D E F#m7 D Forgetting all our sins, You remembered all Your prom- ises

CHORUS 1 Asus A Asus A You are amazing, Asus/F# F#m7 Asus/F# More than amazing F#m7 Esus D2 For- ever our God, You're more than enough A D2 E F#m7 D2 You are amazing

VERSE 2 A D2 With authority You've spoken, and You've set the captive free F#m7 D2 You're the King Who came to serve and You're the God Who washed our feet A D2 You're the One Who took our burdens and You bled upon the cross F#m7 D2 In Your kindness and Your mercy, You became the way for us E F#m7 D E F#m7 D Forgetting all our sins, You remembered all Your prom- ises

© 2010 Integrity's Praise! Music and Mia Fieldes/Shout! Publishing

Lincoln Brewster & Mia Fieldes


More Than Amazing (2 of 2)121

CHORUS 1 Asus A Asus A You are amazing, Asus/F# F#m7 Asus/F# More than amazing F#m7 Esus D2 For- ever our God, You're more than enough Asus A Asus A You are amazing, Asus/F# F#m7 Asus/F# More than amazing F#m7 Esus D For- ever our God, You're more than enough

CHORUS 2 A F#m7 Oh, how marvelous, Oh, how wonderful A/E D Oh, how glorious, You are amazing A F#m7 Oh, how marvelous, Oh, how wonderful A/E D Oh, how glorious You are (Repeat twice)

CHORUS 1 Asus A Asus A You are amazing, Asus/F# F#m7 Asus/F# More than amazing F#m7 Esus D2 For- ever our God, You're more than enough

More Than Amazing (2 of 2)121

CHORUS 1 Asus A Asus A You are amazing, Asus/F# F#m7 Asus/F# More than amazing F#m7 Esus D2 For- ever our God, You're more than enough Asus A Asus A You are amazing, Asus/F# F#m7 Asus/F# More than amazing F#m7 Esus D For- ever our God, You're more than enough

CHORUS 2 A F#m7 Oh, how marvelous, Oh, how wonderful A/E D Oh, how glorious, You are amazing A F#m7 Oh, how marvelous, Oh, how wonderful A/E D Oh, how glorious You are (Repeat twice)

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ing, repetitive, something you can imagine hundreds of joyous kids getting totally into. And they do (check out the DVD).

One of the tendencies in most wor-ship releases of late is to repeat,

repeat, repeat. I get this, to some degree in a live setting, which this album is so it’s un-derstandable to a point. But

even though I sound like a bro-ken record on this (pun intended)

it bears stating that repeating the same thing in a song too many times has di-

minishing returns and you can start to tune out words that are meant to impact and change your heart.

That aside, this group exudes quality in everything they do – especially where it counts the most – in their clear priority on worshiping and endeavoring to touch the Father’s heart. There are multiple writers and leaders on the album, which keeps the songs refreshing and not lacking variety. You can hear the nods to Cold Play and U2 by GU’s very capable guitar players. The band members and vocalists blend well

and you can tell this isn’t their first rodeo; they’ve released sev-eral CD’s before now.

Bebo NormanOcean

TRACKS (personal picks bolded)1 Everything I Hoped You’d Be2 Here Goes3 God Of My Everything4 Could You Ever Look At Me5 We Fall Apart6 Ocean7 Sing Over Me8 The Middle9 I Hope You See Jesus10 Remember Us11 God Of My Everything (Radio

Version)

The first time I saw Bebo Norman live was when he was opening for a well known Christian band in a very large ven-ue. Aside from his velvet voice the thing I remember most is how often he expressed how amazed and blessed he was to be there. He was nearly overwhelmed by the opportunity to share his heart and music with all of us in the audience. In his reflec-tions as a Christian, he’s always been a grateful son.

This is yet again, another great release by Bebo and if you’re already a fan, you’ll want to have it. Many of the songs would fit well in a worship service and some of them would be great to use in other venues. One of the things I notice in his music is the fact a band could utilize them as-is or have a lot of fun messing with the arrange-ments. They’re great on their own but if you

RECORD REViEWS By Heidi Todd

Overall impressionAverage person could learn/participate on the first hear

Can be learned/adapted by a band of average skillLyrical creativity and integrity

Aaron Keyes Not Guilty AnymoreGeneration Unleashed Saving PowerBebo Norman OceanJeremy Camp Jesus SavesCharlie Hall The RisingChris Tomlin And If Our God Is For Us

highest marks

Aaron KeyesNot Guilty Anymore

TRACKS (personal picks bolded)1 You Never Cease To Amaze Me2 Forever Worthy3 Psalm 624 Blessing And Honour5 I Am Yours6 Like Jesus7 Not Guilty Anymore8 Nothing Less Than Beautiful9 Help Me Lord10 Where Are You Now11 Not What My Hands

I first heard Aaron Keyes at this year’s Annual Foursquare Convention. He was a guest worship leader in a long line-up of gifted leaders and afterward I sought him out to inquire about reviewing his CD for WMM. One of the things that stands out about Aaron is his raw approachability (he’s a regular Joe) but surprises await. For instance, Track One is the first worship song I’ve ever heard with an accompaniment that would be right at home on that old show The Munsters. With a kind of border-line spooky bass line running throughout the song with weird digitized lead lines in the background, he manages to make it work! The title of the song “You Never Cease To Amaze Me” perfectly captures what you should expect out of this album.

That song doesn’t have him pegged though, because he drifts in and out of loose, melodic expressions toward the Lord with simple accompaniment and straight-forward lyrics. Then he digs his heals in creatively and produces a beautiful hymn, “Psalm 62”. Prepare to be impacted by the song “Not Guilty Anymore”, a song sung from the heart of God toward us that illustrates His redemptive love in a highly personal way. As a worship leader, I got to witness as this song ministered deeply as we sang this song over our congregation. They received God’s message for them in the way it was intended and there was a real sense of freedom that day in people as a result.

“Where Are You Now” is an honest plea for his need to perceive God in a time of distance. You can easily imagine David writing this as a psalm – acknowledging

God’s sovereignty in the middle of a plaintive cry. And Aaron’s writing lends great to his voice; he has a strength com-bined with a soft tone, much like an-other worship leader, Mike Hohnholz. They share a similar writing and singing style when it comes to the slower tunes, but as I said, Aaron has an approach unique to him on some of the faster songs.

Don’t wait – add this CD to your collection both for personal edification

as well as applicable songs for your congre-gation.

Generation UnleashedSaving Power

TRACKS (personal picks bolded)1 Intro2 Sing3 Standard4 Our God Reigns5 I Am Alive6 I Will Praise You7 By The Cross8 Never Looking Back9 He Lives10 Anthem11 Holding On12 Saving Power

As the Generation Unleashed road man-ager told me, this group is first and foremost a youth ministry. They’re based out of Port-land, Oregon and put on an annual youth conference as well as make visits to other churches and events. They are not a band, rather a youth group worship team sharing whenever and wherever possible. This is evidenced by their ability to relax on stage and settle into their roles as worship lead-ers, which I got to see very recently.

Their latest CD/DVD combo released this October and features songs that you may have already heard circulating in a youth group or adult church service near you. Anthems such as “He Lives” and ironi-cally “Anthem” are songs you should expect to hear soon if you haven’t yet. “He Lives” is pure youth worship genre; upbeat, driv-



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wanted to add a little nitro to them, many of them would work that way too.

His song “God Of My Everything” which has already had some radio play is listed here as a favorite because of his expression of the Lordship of God over the elements of our lives. Being able to vocalize in an atmo-sphere of honoring God, our struggles, is something that is so reassuring. Bebo’s de-meanor is one of wonder and honor. With clean and simple accompaniment his lyrics have to bear up and they do.

I’ve appreciated Bebo for a long time for his ability to bring comfort and sooth-ing to a hurting heart. So while you won’t be rocking out to this, it has its place. Where it’s lacking in diversity and won’t

keep you on the edge of your seat, it compensates in sin-cerity.

Jeremy CampJesus Saves

TRACKS (personal picks bolded)1 Jesus Saves2 Not Ashamed3 The Way4 Mighty To Save5 We Cry Out

6 You Are The Lord7 Everlasting God8 Overcome9 You Never Let Go10 Unrestrained11 King Jesus

Okay, let’s face it, Jeremy Camp isn’t known for being edgy, so it’s not something that’s fair to expect. That’s why it’s such a welcome addition to a couple of these tracks. The backing vocals on “The Way” are reminiscent of the Delirious song “Our God Reigns”. For the most part, however, Jeremy Camp parks right in the middle of the road for reaching a wide audience. His music and style are right at home on any Christian radio station or in the average church in America. And this is the primary issue I have a hard time liking it more. It’s too clean, too note perfect, too dry.

While I enjoy every other aspect of hav-ing the opportunity to enjoy and review so many worship cd’s, the one thing that’s not enjoyable is to bring a critical tone to any artist. Jeremy Camp reaches count-less people with his music; he’s telling the Truth for goodness sake so who am I? Re-ally and truly it’s just a personal preference thing. And because this is a cd with many songs that have been released previously,

the new spin on older tunes just wasn’t there like I hoped.

All of that said, you have to appreciate and admire Jeremy; he is walking in the call on his life and giving his utmost for the Lord. His skills as a writer of songs that are congregational friendly and his skills as a vocalist and musician deserve high marks.

I extend my thanks to him for being so faith-ful to give us so many songs over the years.

Charlie HallThe Rising

TRACKS (personal picks bolded)1 The Rising (A Song Of Ascent)2 Let The Earth Awake3 Ransom4 Constant5 King Of Heaven6 God Ablaze7 Lamp8 Yesterday Is Gone9 Deeper In Love10 Breathe11 Make Me Alive12 Sleep And Dreams

Charlie Hall shows his years as a crafts-man in this latest endeavor. He has been a

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master at being inventive and exploratory for a long time and has taken some notable risks here as well. Because he is so commit-ted to being true to himself, he doesn’t nec-essarily fit into the usual molds of worship music. Even in the softest of songs Charlie always sounds like he’s leaning forward. I don’t know him personally but can picture that he can wear out a pair of shoes pretty fast; he doesn’t sounds like someone who sits around.

This album is in that same vein of stir-ring things up, like “Let The Earth Awake”. Throughout the album there is a theme of “hey you!” His instrumentation has an inten-sity and forcefulness that comes from confident, accomplished musicians. Even though the album is produced well and finished well, it maintains a raw quality like it’s the first time these songs have come shooting out of Charlie’s heart.

The reason I’m not sure a band of aver-age skill could adapt it with total ease is because the instrumentalists keep their parts interesting. They do that without playing over each other or leaving gaping holes, which a band of average skill can often struggle with.

Songs like “Deeper In Love” and “Sleep And Dreams” caught my attention because of the daring of the arrangements. They’re so personal and come from such a unique angle that you have to shake off your con-cept of the typical. He isn’t. The idea of this shaved-headed long-bearded ear-pierced man singing sweet lullaby is a juxtaposition that can catch you off guard.

It’s an interesting album with a big dose of intensity and yet you’ll be able to include most of these songs with your congrega-tion. This is very well done.

Chris TomlinAnd If Our God Is For Us

TRACKS (personal picks bolded)

1 Our God2 I Will Follow3 Majesty Of Heaven4 No Chains On Me5 I Lift My Hands6 Lovely7 The Name Of Jesus8 Faithful9 All To Us10 Jesus, My Redeemer11 Awakening12 Our God (Acoustic Version)13 I Will Follow (Acoustic Version)14 Majesty Of Heaven (Acoustic Version)15 Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is

(Acoustic Version)

Chris Tomlin is the bread and butter of modern worship music. He has released song after song that have been enjoyed the world over. This latest offering is bust-ing with songs that will make their way into just as many churches, homes and cars. You can’t help but feel encouraged and nudged toward the Lord when you hear songs Chris Tomlin writes. He is constant-ly pointing t o -

Heidi’s background is primarily in worship ministry, joining her first team at age twelve. She’s been a part of the Puyallup Foursquare staff since 2001, with an emphasis on team building and live production. She enjoys and makes time for the ongoing learning process as well as presenting and speaking. You can email her at [email protected].

pretty sure he doesn’t have a dark side (at least one we’re going to see any time soon). Ha ha.

If you’ve been a Christian for a long time, you’ve heard quite a few worship songs and likely a hymn here and there. The songs “Faithful” and “All To Us” take me back to years and years as a believer. A couple of the songs share a quality that is classic and timeless.

There’s so much to choose from on this album is you’re looking for new songs to add to your lineup of songs. The song that has to be my top pick, particularly in an age where the church is turning more toward a social Gospel, is “Awakening”. It’s an invitation for the Lord to charge His people to do what He would want done, which isn’t al-ways the thing on the top of our lists, let’s be honest. But God is good to receive us to Himself and stir us up to good works again.

Which brings me to sum everything up. I think a good reflection of this album can be found in the passage Hebrews 10:19-24. To me, this passage really says that if God has, by His grace, created a new way for us to live through Him and in Him, let’s get to it!

ward heaven and I’m



FOH ENGiNEER

So this month I offer a little encourage-ment with a dose of admonishment. It comes in the form of some do’s and don’ts for pre/post sound check. Some of this will be for the worship leader, band di-rector, and yes you too o’le sound engineer… everyone buckle up and let me rant for a minute.

On a recent date with Paul Baloche, he questioned me about how and why his mix often chang-es from sound check to perfor-mance. He said “with the advent of all this digital “save my mix” stuff you would think my monitor mix would be the same during the concert as it was in sound check.”

I hope to debunk a few thoughts here as well as offer some tips about how to keep your musi-cians happy and consistent with their monitor mixes. Because, at the end of the day, our most impor-tant job as sound engineers is amplify what is happening on the stage… and if our worship leader is frustrated at the tech or technol-ogy, we can make the music louder, but I really would rather amplify the worship leaders heart than his frustrated attitude,

I’ll speak a little more toward the lo-cal church worship band sound check, instead of a professional band coming in to your facility for a concert.

Let us start with what a sound check is. If you have ever heard me speak on the subject, you will know I’m passionate about getting to tune my instrument, the soundboard that is. It amazes me how often I walk into a situation where I see the sound engineer just starting with what ever the band decides to do when they walk in. Ladies and Gentlemen I say no. Worship leaders and band directors, you must give the sound engineer a few min-utes to check levels and eq BEFORE you start into a song. If we are going to be part of a team, and I mean a well-oiled machine that can function properly, we need to all act like a team. Much like the band director expects the guitar player to tune his guitar before they start the song, we cannot tune our instrument while the song is playing. We can make sure our strings are on our guitar by verifying all the inputs work and are plugged in correctly

when we did the “Line Check”, but if the band just starts a song, it’s likely

that the sound board is out of tune. Even from week to week things do change and we need to

double-check everything. I promise if the band gives the engineer 10 minutes of the hour long “rehearsal” slot, at the very beginning

of “Sound Check” to let the them hear and adjust just

a small sample of everything, we will all have a much more profitable

50 minute “Rehearsal.”

Did you notice those last few BOLD words? Line Check, Sound Check, and Rehearsal. They are 3 very distinct portions of our time together at what is often ge-

nerically called a Sound Check.

Line Check is when the engi-neer and a friend verify that all things are plugged in correctly and each wireless mic, personal monitor, monitor wedge, main

speaker, subwoofer, etc. is work-ing. Engineers, we should do this every Sunday, and we should be

done with it (as well as fixing any-thing we find wrong) BEFORE the band arrives. See my website www.TechTrain-in101.com for an article titled “Check/Re-Check” for a “preflight” checklist.

Sound Check, this is where it’s all about the engineer. Band we need you to play a small sample of what you are play-ing or singing that morning… no 50% vol-ume here, or timid “check 1, 2, check 1,2”… we really need a descent version of what you’ll be doing. This is where we set things like gain and eq… the two most important things you need as a musician. If you check too quietly, then most likely we will turn you up, but then when you give it your all in the service, we will have to turn you down… and there in lies the problem with most monitor mixes. If you give me quality input level checks at this time, it is highly likely that your mix will not change. Stay with me though there are other pitfalls to this issue. For instance a lot of times I will ask the drummer to just play all his drums for a minute. Most drummers will unconsciously play softer if you just ask for a kick, then a snare, etc. When it comes to vocalists, I will have al-ready checked the acoustic or keyboard and will have them start the chorus of an

easy song so the vocalists don’t feel so silly singing all alone.

Once we have made it through most of the inputs to my system, I will have the band play a short chorus of a song that includes everyone playing and singing. This is often the exact same song every week… once you find one that has every-one playing and harmonizing, it’s a good idea to just use it all the time because then everyone gets used to it. Keep in mind we have not really adjusted monitors yet. This section is to verify that I get a chance to see all inputs and make any quick final adjustments to gain levels.

I will then ask who needs what in their monitors if we are on wedges and make those adjustments. If your band is on per-sonal mixers, now is the time they should make any adjustments. Band guys… If you make adjustments to your mix before I have had a chance to settle in on gain structure, your mix will change. So FOH guys, let’s be clear about when we are finished with this portion and tell them you are set and ready for them to work on their mixes. FOH guys… when set-ting gain and rough eq during this Sound Check time, take no more than 10-15 seconds per input. Have this discussion, and expect they will give you a reason-able level, set the gain quickly, and grab a quick listen to the eq and then MOVE ON. The band loves it when we move fast. You can always come back during the next section and make more tweaks.

Rehersal. Tell the band “I’m finished adjusting major components, so does any-one need any adjustments to their mix?” If yes, make the adjustments and have them do another short chorus, ask again, and if everyone seems somewhat happy, say the following. “Thanks guys for this time, I’m now in tune and can confidently respond not only to the house mix, but any needs you may have.” What we just did by taking a few minutes (FOH guys, I mean a few minutes… like less than 10) is we have tuned our instrument and can confidently hit the first chord. Now there may still be a bunch of little adjustments to the mix, but for the most part you should be in the ballpark. Band guys, during re-hearsal, the sound engineer reserves the right to really mess with the house sound. Sound guys, please take the time to mute the mains and see how loud stage sound is, turn up the harmonies a little to loud so you can get the right blend and then set them back down in the mix. Turn the drums on and off, turn the subwoofers on and off. Take some time to see how your instrument is responding. But do this all very quickly too as it is messing with the “mix” on the stage and we want them to be able to rehearse. Also of note would

By John Mills

Rule #1 - Don’t Mess with It.



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http://www.TechTrainin101.com

FOCUS ONWHAT MATTERS

A GREAT MIX STARTS WITH SENNHEISER

“I’ve mixed at Buckhead Church for over seven years, and it’s my job to make sure the worship services are delivered to thousands with impressive sound clarity. That’s why I use the Sennheiser 2000 Series handheld transmitters in combination with Sennheiser dual pattern condenser e965 capsules for all of our vocals. These mics sound so great, you hardly need to EQ them at all.”

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“I’ve mixed at Buckhead Church for over seven years, and it’s my job to make sure the worship services are delivered to thousands with impressive sound clarity. That’s why I use the Sennheiser 2000 Series handheld transmitters in combination with Sennheiser dual pattern condenser hardly need to EQ them at all.”

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To learn more about the 2000 Series Wireless, Sennheiser RF Services or our Sound

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Scott has led classes for us at NAMM and the Christian Musician Summit. He has been featured in Adweek and is the CEO of FrontGate Media, the #1 culture-engage media group reaching the Christian audi-ence (www.FrontGateMedia.com) and is the co-founder of Creator Worship: online radio for worship leaders (www.CreatorWorship.com). Email your com-ments or questions to [email protected].

MiNiSTRY + ARTiSTRY = PROFiTABiliTY? CREATiNG YOUR MAP™

So…. I’m going to layout God’s growth strategy based on 20+ years of observing artists, ministries, the music industry, church-es, and life. Take it for what it is worth. Nothing that we say about God is always true, except when we re-say what God says about Himself. This is a Paul moment where I say this is not what God says, but here’s what I think.

God can do things any way He wants to do them. Who are we to argue with how

He decides to rollout our lifework? I guess we are Job or maybe

worse Jonah… two guys that I have more in

common with than I had hoped.

For many years, most a r t i s t s thought “If I could just get s i g n e d by a l a b e l , then I w o u l d be ‘fa-mous’ or successful

. I’d be on the radio

and touring the world, im-

pacting many, many people.”

This was just as true in worship as it

was in pop music.

That CAN happen, but are you really ready for that TO happen?

Are you ready to tour the world, most likely leaving your family behind at home? Are your songs truly good enough to be on the radio? Do you realize that you don’t have to do any of that to fulfill God’s mission for you?

To go from “zero to hero” can easily de-stroy just about anyone. Look at how the biggest secular pop sensations implode time after time with drug addictions, men-tal breakdowns, and suicides. That is often what happens when your world changes overnight from success. Even in the Christian world, it’s very tough. I think most people could not hold to the schedule Paul Baloche lives on.

God knows that most of us need to grow into what He has for us. God’s growth strat-egy is a set of concentric circles. The red dot in the middle is you. The circles are your expanding reach of influence and impact.

The first area of influence and impact is your local church. If you are called to wor-ship ministry, is your local church, the church to which you belong as an active member, using you in worship ministry? BTW - if you are not plugged in at a local church, you are not ready for worship ministry. If your own church is not using you, why in the world would someone in Peoria want to bring you into their church? Start at home: volunteer and serve. When you’ve grown in a season there, get a letter of endorsement from your pastor, then move to the next circle: your city. Be sure you do data capture of your fan base in your church! Get emails and tell people how to find you on Twitter and Face-book. The experience you gain with the very understanding people at your church in terms of stage time, technological issues, rapport with audiences, coordinating with teams, and more, will be invaluable as you move further out in the circle rings.

So you are consistently serving in your home church, now let’s move into your city. Are you playing at city events like Indepen-dence Day or Concerts in the Park? Are you playing at other local churches? Tim Tim-mons from Mariners Church plays at least a few times a year at Saddleback. Good idea! It’s easy to move into your city, par-ticularly if your church body and your pas-tor are behind you. It’s also close to home! With a couple of cars, you can probably load up all your gear and be there in 10-20 minutes. No van or trailer rental. No mas-sive gas expense. No hotel stays. That sure beats trying to figure out the logistics of fly-ing or driving two states away for a gig. It takes less time out of your life. As you move to your city, you also get to expand your fan base with more data capture. These new fans are easy for you to stay in contact with. They may even end up coming to your church! All the while, you are gaining that personal experience and letting God mold you and your team, band, family, etc.

So your church and your city are using you, now let’s move to the two surrounding cities or the county. Nailed the county, then move wider into the state. Nailed the state, then what about the 3 state region?

As you spend the time to gain the experi-ence of going through all this growth, all the

By Scott A. Shuford

God’s Growth Strategybenefits continue to build in you. Every-thing you are learning and everyone with whom you are connecting can lead to an increasingly deeper im-pact and influence, and set you up for deeper impact in the future.

In contrast, you could be doing a gig three states over with great success, but what if you get invited to another church there? What does that mean to your family time, your logistics and your peace of mind? Well, if it’s Joel Osteen’s church, then GO! I’m not saying to avoid great opportunities. What I am saying is to plan a growth strat-egy that is not based on faraway places or that runs ahead of your experience. If God decides He wants to, He can scatter you among the nations at any time.

So far in the MAP, we’ve talked about your Mission, Fan Development, the Non-Profit option, and God’s Growth Strategy. Next time we’ll cover Marketing 101: The Four P’s. Until then… J

Tune in Creator Worship Online Radio:

Teaching & Training Hear it today… Use it tomorrow.

Programming includes:

WorshipTeamTraining.com Tom Jackson

News from HearItFirst.com Rick Muchow (Saddleback Church)

Richie Fike (Indie Extreme) Tech Talk with Wade Odum NewReleaseTuesday.com

and more… Twitter: @CLNetwork

Facebook.com/CLNetwork

Tune in now atwww.CreatorWorship.com




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MAY13 & 14 2011

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Michael Gonzales, Ph.D. Professor, Biola University [email protected]

Remind the people at the sound board, the video board, and the person operating the slides for the computer, we are all on the same worship team and God requires our best. Be alert. There are plenty of times to relax a little but not when it requires all hands on deck during worship.

Band members don’t start talking amongst yourselves between songs. If the worship leader likes to share be-tween songs don’t ask, “Hey, is that a new amp?” Not appropriate.

Don’t be jealous if you are a volunteer and others are paid musicians. I know some churches have a policy like that. You volunteered so consider that your t i t h e of time and talent.

You don’t know what other

people’s n e e d s

a re .

S o w h e n

you are on-stage don’t

wear that bitter mood on your face. Do you think God is saying, “Look at my servant, what a great player and great at-titude he

has.” If you ARE a great

player and have a bad disposi-tion on stage, I’d

rather take a B+ player with a great attitude and a servant’s heart any day.

Finally, what if there was a Worship Musician’s Creed, something that we could mem-orize or at least look at before service starts each Sunday. If I were commissioned to write it, it would look something like this:

Worship Musician’s CreedAs a worship leader representing God’s kingdom

on earth until He returns, I promise to serve others as ifmy hands and heart were fashioned

from The Father,delivered by the Son, and manifested

through meby His Holy Spirit.I recognize that I am engaged in a

battle for people’s livesand my weapon is not only the Word

of Godbut the time and talents given to me.So whether on stage, or in my personal

life,my purpose is to help change the

worldone concert at a time, one praise song at a time, and one note at a time.And whatever I do with what I have, I do it with great joy

And what I represent is for something unseen from now and

throughout eternity.

Even as I write this, I am struck by the great challenge and responsibility

I have as a worship leader. When my son was growing up, I told him, “I don’t have a lot of money to give you, but I

have a good name, so don’t mess it up!”

Instead of thinking about ourselves, or the one who messed up on stage, or the parts that we missed, I think about God’s good name. He’s all we have and we should represent His kingdom and righ-teousness in all we do.

By Michael Gonzales

Stage Presence may not be His Presence

AUTHENTiC WORSHiP

“Keys, pads, pads!” You hear the talk-back mic from the musical director. The song starts. Verse, chorus, verse, verse. Oops! What happened to the second chorus. The worship leader took a diver-sion. The inexperienced musician gets lost. He isn’t feeling the tune. He is look-ing on his sheet music for a new starting point. “Where is everybody at?” At the same time, the lead singers are doing the first cardinal sin—looking at each other. That look can be a tell tale sign and speak louder then words, “He missed the chorus!” Sometimes that look can say, “He missed the chorus, that bonehead!”

The second cardinal sin is sticking to the sheet music hoping it will force the worship leader back to the chorus. That seldom happens.

The third cardinal sin is gossiping about it. Now talking about it as a group is one thing but if there is one sure way to start to build up bullet points against some-one it is to keep talking about that person’s lack of musical-ity behind their back.

If I could call this a real-ity show I’d call it, “When Worship Goes Bad.” Be-lieve me, I am an expert at this subject. I even broke my leg after leading wor-ship from the stage once. It was a portable stage and someone forgot to lash down the rear side steps. My body went forward but when I looked down my foot was fac-ing the opposite direction! Honestly! What was worse is the paramedics worked on me near the front of the stage—while the next worship team continued with their set.

So here’s some things I’d recom-mend should things go wrong. If the person doing the slides is asleep and one step behind you, don’t yell out, “Wake up, O sleeper, arise from the dead.” But I know of a worship leader who uses thumb signals, thumb up for advance the slide to locked fist when to stop. Thumb sticking out left to go back one slide, clenched fist to stop. I’m not sure this is the right answer for every-body but I do know people in the audi-ence who are lost get frustrated.



http://www.audioethics.com

Software like Planning Center Online has become an invaluable tool in my preparation process. Once the MP3s and charts have posted I download them ASAP. I usually go to iTunes to pick up MP3s for songs that only had charts.

Living with ItOnce I’ve printed the charts I attach

them to my ever-present clipboard. I also create a new playlist with the Church name and date on iTunes which I burn to CD and export to my iPod. The CD lives in the car, while my iPod and clipboard make their way with me to the gym. Both environments are great for getting to know songs by ear - huge if your team is working on getting music stands {a.k.a. “black curtains”} off the worship platform. I also use my time on the treadmill to write the form of each song across the top of the chart.

Tones and PartsI spend a couple of hours before Thurs-

day night rehearsal working on parts and tones. Multi-effects units like the Boss GT-10 and the Line 6 POD really shine

when it comes to stamping out tones for an entire service. A great way

to start this process is to create a bank of four presets for the most common tones you use (dirty rhythm, dirty rhythm with beat-synched delay, compressed clean, solo with boost and de-

lay etc.), assigning one bank to each song. Once you’ve got the

first bank set up, simply copy each preset over into the

same slot in the next bank. In this fashion each

bank will feature the same kind of sound on the same preset number. With the charts in order of the set list, I play through each

song fine-tuning presets and parts

as I go, making sure to program each bank

to the tempo on the corre-sponding chart. This takes the user

error out of beat synched delay parts.

RehearsalHaving the CD in the car on the way to

rehearsal allows me to hit the refresh but-ton on the entire set, and better prepares me to listen for vocal and dynamic cues

once the team starts playing. I make sure to bring my clipboard and pencil so I can document dynamics, hits, and any chang-es in the arrangements. Before rehearsal ends our sound team records the entire set to CD, which promptly replaces the one in my car. The ride home is the perfect place to see how well my parts and tones translated to the full band environment in the framework of the front of house mix.

Fine TuningOn Friday morning I import the re-

hearsal CD into iTunes and create a new playlist on my iPod. Our Church has mul-tiple services; one on Saturday night and two on Sunday morning, all with identi-cal sets. Prior to Saturday rehearsal I like to spend an hour or so fine tuning parts that didn’t work, adjusting patch levels, and then running the set in order without breaks.

Dress Rehearsal Arriving early to rehearsal gives me

time to work with the sound team to in-sure that any patch changes I’ve made are working FOH. I’ve started using the Line 6 G50 wireless reviewed in this is-sue, and that has been a huge help in terms of knowing how my guitar actually sounds front of house. During rehearsal I keep a music stand on the platform with me, but retire it before the service starts. If I don’t know the songs a music stand only confirms that for all the congregation to see. I try to assemble a checklist of things to remember about each song before I start playing it, and this rehearsal I make sure that I’ve got that list dialed in.

RecapOn the way home I listen to the rehears-

al CD and recap any mistakes I made to add them to my mental checklist for the next service. Even if you don’t do multiple services a recap is a great tool for find-ing common problems you can root out in your prep time.

Rinse and RepeatAs I mentioned at the top of this article,

this is a process I’ve fallen into as a series of measures to insure that I’m as prepared as I can reasonably be for each rehearsal and service. The more prepared I can be, the more prepared I can be to serve God and the rest of the team. God Bless – [email protected].

Doug Doppler is signed to Steve Vai’s Favored Na-tions label and is currently in production on the Get Killer Tone DVD series. He and his wife Melissa live to serve the Kingdom and are members of Cornerstone Fellow-ship in the San Francisco Bay Area.

By Doug Doppler

Practice This

GUiTAR GRAB BAG

Hello friends – welcome back to the Guitar Grab

Bag! This issue’s topic is inspired by an eMail I received from my Worship Pastor about prepping parts and tones for rehearsals and ser-vices. Not every-thing may apply to you and your

team, but this approach has

de l i ve red consistent-

ly ex-c e l -

lent results, and may expose a few “white elephants”!

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Nashville, TN is home for Tom Lane though he is involved in ministry and mu-sic around the world. As a singer, songwriter and guitar player, Tom has been teamed with many worship leaders and artists. He continues to record his own work, lead worship, and writes regularly for various worship publications worldwide.

microscopic: adjective- so small as to be visible only with a microscope : micro-scopic algae.• informal extremely small • concerned with minute detail: such a vision is as microscopic as his is panoramic.

Most of us are trying hard just to “get free” enough to worship as it is and don’t need to feel judged or under the micro scope, yet many of our leaders feel that way-under pres-sure! The environment in some Churches is not too much different than that of many corpora-tions. There’s an expectation (in the name of excellence usually) to perform the program as scripted (normally by a select few!) without variance. That makes freedom hard to come by for both leaders and parishioners. I realize we can’t parse out all the problems of church life here nor do I think I have all the solutions. It’s full of humans so it’s messy like everything else. But to be and grow with God, we have to start being honest and admit when we have it wrong.

Part of the problem we’re up against in the Church stems from building on and perpetuat-ing an autocratic versus Jesus model. Read this definition of Autocratic!

autocratic: adjective - of or relating to a ruler who has absolute power: the constitu-tional reforms threatened his autocratic power.• taking no account of other people’s wishes or opinions; domineering: an autocratic management style.

(Though it may describe someone you know or work with, please resist the urge to run call them an Autocrat! Won’t make many friends that way for sure.)

I’m honored to hear from some of you at events/conferences/seminars etc. about what you’re struggling with in your churches and don’t take lightly expressing any thoughts and opinions. I hope only to help remind us all; why we do what we do! I try to look at these issues from both sides, something I’ve learned from being married a while. There’s never only one side to a relationship or prob-lem.

So let’s bring it down to the foundation, re-lationship. Worship is connecting! If we don’t connect and commune with God when we gather then what’s the point? For us to con-nect with God we have to, at the very least, feel free to be who we are. If we’re trying to be who we are but keep bumping into man made traditions and styles that don’t allow it, we’ll only do it for so long before we either blow up or move on. Hence, most church growth is transfer growth not new life.

Freedom is hindered when a spirit of con-trol is at the helm of any ship. That manage-ment style sends a message that ministry can only be accomplished if “I” do it, If “I’m” in charge, etc. The Church is not a kingdom to be ruled by anyone other than The Lord; who loves, keeps, guards, and leads her with complete and total authority! So the rest of us are what? Just servants, and we either serve or we get in the way! A Leader is not a bad or wrong thing, it’s God’s idea without a ? I do however question some leaders under-standing of Godly leadership. There is a vast difference between leaders who lead with “absolute power and authority, taking no ac-count of other people’s wishes or opinions,” and ones who build up and serve. Domineer-ing in my mind is the antithesis of serving and I don’t meet many happy people under that type of leadership. Unfortunately it’s one of the reasons we have a wake of former church goers who’ve decided they’d rather not be subject to it-so they just don’t go period any-more.

I hear the same things over and over. On one side from Church Leadership; they’re working hard to steward their posts faithfully because they feel responsible (good shep-herds do!), they’re trying to meet the needs of many not just a few, they get all the scathing emails, and they’re annoyed or uncomfort-able with too much space in in a service. On the other side the Creative Leadership; are bored with the routine, feel stifled and un-trusted to really lead people anywhere, and fear being watched constantly from the pow-ers that be.

So let’s look at what we can effectively change. Each of us bears the responsibility of stewardship. Unity is not agreement on every issue-it’s proceeding together in love as one family, undivided. If we want the blessing of God then we have to prioritize and strive for unity as we come to worship. Whatever the chasm or conflict in our particular case, the way forward starts with being focused on get-ting it right ourselves not pointing out where everyone else is wrong.

A good leader doesn’t have to dictate! Ever been in a band (or ministry) with a Diva or control freak? Their own insecurities and issues make them blind to healthy relation-ship, maybe relating in general; so it’s only good when they’re happy. Dealing with our own unreal expectations, sins, and issues is something we do have control over and can change. Just like a marriage, two people bring stuff into the union and the healthier they are from the start, the better chance they stand of sticking together through the certain and impending conflict and struggle. God meets and helps the sincerely humble and teachable too.

Here are some questions I ask teams:

1. How much time do you spend aside from the practical music and technical part of the worship ser-vice? I know not every team has the benefit

of time together off stage but to a large de-gree, you’re only as strong and healthy as your relationships are.

2. When’s the last time you took the person you have a problem with for coffee to find out what’s really happening in their life? If you don’t know, then what you don’t know may have much to do with why they do the things that drive you crazy. Mercy always wins!

3. How important is for you to be in the team and on the stage and does it matter (a lot) when you’re not asked, overlooked, or even left out? We’re human so of course it matters but it really shouldn’t affect our attitude and desire to engage with God and His people. And we should be able to get over it without becoming bitter people.

4. Can you worship in spite of who’s leading or not, on the team or not, if it’s your style or not? You should be able to and if you’re taking things too personally it’s likely a sign that you have your own problems to deal with.

5. Can we lay it down as easily as we pick it up? If you find yourself guarding and protecting your spot and need-ing it in order to feel good about yourself, you may want to take a season of rest just to keep from becoming too attached to position.

Good stewardship is honoring our leaders even if they do stifle somewhat. We’re not responsible for what they do or don’t do well! If we’ve said YES to a position of leadership and are sure God led us there to begin with then we’re there for a reason. Guess what, it comes with the beautiful-painful reality of iron sharpening iron just like any other relation-ship. So if we fail our tests we may have to take them over another time and season.

The point of worship is not to get through a program without derailing or allowing a lull to occur. God’s not impressed with perfor-mances, proud of His kids but not impressed. He connects with hearts longing and will-ing to connect with Him honestly. All we do should serve to facilitate the real purpose of gathering, if it doesn’t we need to part with it. Sometimes feeling under pressure is our own deal but it’s also reflective of the need for Air in The Church, that would be The Spirit of The Living God-let’s make room!

By Tom Lane

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Removing amps and cabinets from the worship platform is great for taming sound wars, and has the arguable benefit of be-ing more visually pleasing. But if you’ve

invested hundreds if not thousands of dollars into an amp that loves to be

turned up, a VB Amp Enclosure may be the solution your Church (or studio) has been looking for.

VocalBooth has been designing and manufacturing isolation enclo-

sures for over a decade. As the name implies the company got its start building vocal booths, initially for home studios like that of founder Calvin Mann.

In addition to a robust line of modular vocal and drum isolation booths (including the 53’ VB Mobile Studio), VocalBooth has four sizes available for amps or cabi-nets. VocalBooth can build custom sized amp enclosures as well that can handle various size Leslie speaker cabinets for ex-ample. The VB Amp Enclosure is available with or without ventilation, something one may need to consider for combo amps. All enclosures include VB’s proprietary Iso Pad to help prevent cabinets from cou-pling with stages, and to keep mics vibra-tion-free from outside disturbances. The in-terior is lined with acoustic treatment that

reduces noise and helps prevent stand-ing waves.

Although the “Large VB AMP Box” sent for testing arrived in a mas-sive crate, it took less than a half hour to set up. With exterior dimen-sions of 49”H x 48”W x 48”D I had more than enough room to stack a 1x12 combo on top of a 2x12 cab, along with two mic stands. All VB units feature a cable port so you can get ca-bling and power in and out of the booth without compromising isolation. Not a big issue for most services, but if you’re doing any live record-ings isolating your amp or cabinet from exterior noise is nearly as impor-tant as isolating other sounds sources from blaring guitars.

In addition to worship services, VB Amp Enclosures are particularly useful in home

or project stu-dios, which are rarely equipped with a separate tracking room. Isolating your amp from play-back monitors and click tracks is but one of the many luxu-ries afforded. The biggest challenge most home studios face is bad acoustics in rooms that were never designed to track much less monitor in. Not the least of these issues are

By Doug Doppler

VB Amp and Speaker Enclosures – Isolation Done Right

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“standing waves” bouncing off of parallel reflective surfaces like floors and ceilings.

Just like at Church, keeping your speak-ers isolated from the listening environment

makes mixing much easier – with the added benefit of being able to easily use your mains to

test mic placement. The unit VB sent sports a front facing door, which

makes for super easy mic adjustments. I set the enclosure up 180 degrees behind my control surface so I could easily listen to the sound with the door off and then flip around to compare it with what was coming out of the mains once the door was closed. If you’ve got a really loud amp in the room, it can easily overpower headphones and will trash your ears as you try to find some sort of balance.

If you’ve been looking to get some speaker volume back into your mix, visit VocalBooth.com.


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Television director Craig Kelly’s career has included over 3,500 live shows, events and concerts in broadcasting, corporate television, events and sports production since 1977. He is also involved in min-istry based events and concerts, and has produced or directed internationally dis-tributed DVDs.

With a background as an international free-lance cameraman, he has shot na-tional and local level sports and corpo-rate video for over twenty years. These days he is often involved in speaking, workshops, writing and talking about Television camera operators and di-recting. He recently launched the blog ZoomIT.cam at craigjkelly.wordpress.com for new camera operators and has a training DVD in the works. You can reach Craig at [email protected]

By Craig Kelly

So You Volunteered as a Camera Operator At Church – Uh Oh, Now What? Part 3

CAMERA

show any laundry at all. A large segment of the audience believes that the crew is di-rectly connected with the presenter, artist or performer. And it would be a bad thing if we adversely affect someone’s worship experi-ence. Remember, the Technical aspect of the service is to support the presentation – not to command the attention of and it would be a bad thing if we adversely affect someone’s worship experience.

Previously we gave you some insider’s tips for better camera operating, here’s some more – some may be repeated;

Here are 25 bonus tips;Show up on-time and ready to workWork hard for the director – events are usu-

ally pretty shortLet the director know about your experience

levelBe on headsets before the required time -

Getting on camera early has benefits, such as;• lets audience know what they’re in for

– be their best friend and they might even help you

• gets your cable puller ready• lets director see shots• lets house crew know where you are• lets production manager / stage

manager know where you are• Hand Held – your shoulder will start to

relax the longer you have the camera on

Always let TD or director know where you are. Sometimes there are problems or pre-recordings that need to be done

Set up your camera for comfort and visibilityYour left arm/hand has all the control for

panning and tiltingHardware / Cable – should look good/

neatHand Held - Confirm you have enough

cableHand Held - Work with your cable puller –

you’re a teamHand Held - Get your cable readyHand Held - Cable routing – plan your

escape path for when you need to moveHand Held – Never sell a shot that you

can’t hold on to steadily for a long timeCable strain relief – protect those connec-

torsWhen you zoom, know what your final

frame will look likeWhat to do when your tally is off;

• Look for shots / Know what your next shot will be

• Sell shot ideas to the director by show-ing them

• Get into position for the next shot

In the previous two articles we’ve taken a look at some fundamental aspects of running a camera on your chrurch’s Technical Arts Team. Here are a few more tips and things to think about.

A few Television truisms that always ap-ply to any show, event, service, program, project, etc and to any position on the crew;

The Show Must Go On We are in show business – even when it’s

for the glory of God. Not often with smoke and mirrors, but with good, quality produc-tion values that are important and necessary in communicating the Message and to en-hance everyone’s attending experience. Do what you gotta do.

Never show your dirty laundry Video should never impact the event in

an adverse way or disrupt or cause any at-tention to be diverted from the featured pre-senter or performance - and nobody outside of the TV crew should know about any prob-lems with the presentation during the event. Never show your dirty laundry. In fact, never

• Always know what the other camera shots are. Listen and know what their duties are too

Practice; Practice drills for cameraStudio camera motion relief – Use 2

platforms. One for the camera and one for the operator to stand on

Dissolves/tally – make sure you’re clear before you change shots – unless your director is into the whip-pan look

If your tally light flashes that mean somebody’s calling you. Check your headsets.

Watch return video to see how your shot fits into the program – as long as it doesn’t interfere with your assignment

Be careful about talking around headsets and open mics. Many people have been embarrassed by this.

Assume you’re always on – somewhere. Even if you’re not on the screen you might be isolated in a record machine or being sent out via the web

Assume there are outsiders watching – from the control room, or a monitor or in a tape machine/recorder or across the world or behind you in a pew.

Never let anyone lean on or set anything on your camera platform. It’s perfectly OK to ask them politely to move.

Next we’ll give you a list of some com-mon position titles so you know who the players are.

Remember, keep practicing.


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Sandy Hoffman serves The Grace Community Church in Santa Fe, NM, where he is the Minister of Worship Arts. Check out his new instrumental acoustic guitar CD, “Sereno,” at: www.EssentialWorship.com

By Sandy Hoffman

Are You Lifting up EN-CO-MI-UMS?

TiPS FOR TiGHT TEAMS

1 Is it possible to lift up encomiums without ever singing or saying a word?

2 Is it possible to lift up encomiums just by playing your instrument, hum-ming, dancing or even strumming a rhythm on the venetian blinds in the dining room?

(Dust first!)

3 Is it possible that you have NO earthly idea what encomiums are?!

From the TopAlrighty then, from the top. Encomiums

are limitless. They span space and time. They can exist in any state, any medium and probably even in a vacuum. They are always in fashion (and never need ironing!). They can be sung, hummed or pounded out on the most primitive of per-cussion. They will exist forever.

To better understand their nature, let’s begin by reading selections from 2 Sam-uel 6, starting with verse 5. Here’s the scene: David and the “choice men“ of Israel have just brought the ark out of the house of Abinadab. Apparently, a spon-taneous praise-jam session erupts among them (how cool is that?).

Then David and all the house of Is-rael played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tam-bourines, on sistrums [metal shakers], and on cymbals. (NKJV)

They were probably just “gettin’ their groove on” when in a moment of fatal reaction, poor Uzzah put out his hand and touched the ark. God was greatly angered by this and zap: EXIT UZZAH! Needless to say, David was quite shak-en with the sudden unexpected turn of events, but on the rebound, the ark was eventually brought to the City. That’s when the King himself was inspired to “bust a move!” He “danced before the Lord with all his might,” and it says that he was “leaping and whirling before the Lord!” (vv 14 & 16) This has EVERYTHING to do with encomiums!

EncomiumsSo what ARE encomiums? Encomiums

are high praises offered and expressed

to the Lord. They are “glowing” and “warmly enthusiastic” according to Merriam-Webster. They are ac-colades, commendations, hom-ages and tributes in all sizes, shapes, forms, configurations, intensities and eccentricities. Throughout our lives they can come from the valleys or the mountain tops, the skies over L.A. or from the depths of the sea. Encomiums are ALWAYS appropriate: any time, any place and from anyone. They express our deepest, least inhibited heartfelt desire to bring glory to God.

Praising God With Bubbles I love to scuba dive. Underwater caves,

peaceful and awe inspiring, have often been my dive destinations! Imagine div-ing to 60 feet, swimming into a gaping, pitch black hole, and with only the nar-row beam of your dive light, making your way into the flooded bowels of the earth. There, you turn out all the lights (absolute darkness surrounds), set your bouancy vest to neutral bouancy, and like an un-born baby still safe in his mother’s womb, you hang weightless in inner space. You rise slightly with each inhale and move in the opposite direction as you breathe it out. Ahhhh, sweet peace and total immer-sion in the presence of God! You’re in His arms now, and as He gently rocks you in this mysterious subterranean version of Sea World, you spontaneously begin to hum His praises. With every breath you take you can hear the hiss of compressed air passing from your second stage regu-lator into your lungs. But the worship-pay-off comes as you exhale. You become acutely aware of the sound of your own humming-bubbles lifting up encomiums to the Lord in the most unlikely place on earth! You’re offering glowing, warmly enthusiastic “scuba diving praise!”

The Jonah Factor Scuba-praise? Sound a bit far fetched

or unbelievable? “No Biblical precedent,” you say? Think again. “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple. (Jonah 2:7 NKJV) These words from Jonah weren’t exactly offered from the comfort of his favorite easy chair in front of the wide-screen at the “Jonah household.” On the contrary, as we say in scuba lingo, he was “at depth.” Way under water, and to complicate matters, in-side the belly of a very large fish! And yet his thoughts and prayers were of and to the Lord. Anywhere, any time, from anyone!

Encomiumatic ResponsesOK, I admit it. I made up the term “en-

comiumatic responses.” But I think you get where I’m coming from when I make the reference. Worship, led by team or other-wise, is more than what we “do” on Sun-

day AM for 30 to 45 minutes at the be-ginning of each service. It’s a lifestyle,

a response to spiritual stimuli, and just like our musical skills, re-quires practice. Encomiums need to become an almost involuntary response in ALL our life situations. But how do we program our-

selves for the kind of responses we saw in King David or Jonah?

Three Ways To Instant Praise Just what does it take to become an

“I.E.L.” (instant encomium lifter)? How do we develop the habit of high praises? As in the acquiring of any other worthwhile trait, we practice, practice, practice!

1-Practice meditating on the scrip-tures. This one’s from David himself, as in-spired by the Holy Spirit. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2, NKJV) What a beautiful picture. Just imag-ine “chewing on” the Word all day and all night. Spontaneous praises in multiple forms most certainly begin to flow from your lips and life when you do!

2-Practice being thankful for every-thing that comes your way. One of my all time favorite worship songs (“Come Fall On Us” by Ben & Robin Pasley, 100 Portraits) has a bridge which begins with “A thankful heart prepares the way for You, my God.” Only the Lord Himself could have said it better. And when He did, He coupled it with “always rejoice,” and “don’t stop praying.” We are then instructed to “give thanks in everything because it’s God’s will for US!”

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

3-Practice being a living sacrifice to the Lord, which Romans 12:1 says is our “reasonable act of worship.” We praise Him then, lifting up encomiums, for every chance to decrease so that He may in-crease. (In everything give thanks.)

Today you’ve learned a new word, and it’s many, many expressions. It’s my prayer that this new word, encomiums, will inspire you now to new acts of wor-ship never even dreamed of!! As believ-ers, worship is our forever-life, and the worship life is all about—you guessed it!

Practicing praise!Sandy


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Multi-instrumentalist Mar-tin Stillion, a 15-year vet-eran of worship bands, plays at Seattle’s Bethany Presbyterian Church. In his other lives he’s a husband, father, writer, editor, Webmaster, composer, and mu-sician. Learn more than you wanted to know about Martin at www.stillion.com/martin or www.emando.com.

MANDOliN

By Martin Stillion

I Wonder as I Wander

I freely admit I’m a sucker for Christmas music. I’ve been working on arrange-ments for a Christmas gig with my band, the Coolerheads, when I wasn’t busy helping to plan the annual Classical Man-dolin Society of America convention (which was tons of fun, by the way). Out of those efforts came this solo “chord melody” bluesified version of a folk carol by John Jacob Niles, based on materi-al he collected in 1933 in North Carolina.

I’ve reharmonized the tune and changed one of the notes: the D# in bar 16 is a D

natural in Niles’ com-position, but because this is the blues I want-

ed a dominant seven chord in there some-where. I also changed the meter, at least in the first part. The customary 6/8 meter returns at the key change in bar 24, although the other altera-tions remain.

Chord melody style is one way of playing lead and backup at the same time. The bigger note-heads are the melody throughout the piece; you should try to “pop” these notes out of the chords and de-emphasize the smaller notes. The “x” noteheads indicate where I’m muting the chord with my left hand.

You can practice this slowly, of course, but it won’t make a lot of musi-cal sense until you’re able to play it at the marked tempo. Make sure you establish the rhythm and keep it going throughout part 1—that’s more im-portant than hitting all of the smaller notes. Have fun, and I’ll look forward to seeing you at the Chris-tian Musician Summit at Overlake.

P.S. There are several collections of Christmas tunes for mandolin; one of the better ones I’ve seen is Roland White’s Mandolin Christmas, available at www.rolandwhite.com.


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be to always finish rehearsals with the house sound on. Many of their moni-tor mix adjustments will be very different if they do not hear the house sound blending with their wedge or ear monitor sound.

Now back to Paul’s topic. Once you get gain structure set do not change it, especially after sound check and especially not after rehearsal. Unless something is about to explode, do not mix with the gain knobs; doing so will adjust everything down stream including the bands monitors. Let me say it again. Unless a signal is about to pop the top off the little red clip LED, then leave it alone. This is why it is so important that we got the gain right, and that they gave us real world test signals, back in sound check. If you constantly adjust the gain during the service you are changing their mix, espe-cially if they are on ear monitors. There are these little slider things closer to your hands that we should be using now to balance the mix. (Sorry for the sarcasm, but some of us need to be reminded.)

What else can change a musician’s mix? The room and the audience. Sound check is always different than the service

Continued from page 36

John is an 20-year vet-eran of the road and has been blessed to work for many of the top level Christian worship leaders including Chris Tomlin, Lincoln Brew-ster, Shane and Shane, Paul Baloche, and many more, Check out www.Tech-Training101.com for more about what John is up to.

or show. I recommend always running sound check a little louder than you will

run the service. It will honestly seem just a little louder with out bodies in the room even with no chang-es to any faders or gain knobs. This is because the human body

is made up mostly of water… and one of the best sound absorb-

ing materials is big bags of water. So know that it is normal for sound-check / rehearsal to sound louder naturally. It is for this reason that I encourage you to make it just a tad louder than you think, be-cause most likely you will turn it up a little anyway. Making it a bit louder will also help you establish any feedback issues that may flare up in the service. When the people come in they suck up some of the sound so if you have audience mics that the ear monitor folks are relying on or if you band is mostly on wedges, then the change in sound when an audience fills the room will change the performers perspective on their mix.

Now that you have ran sound-check / rehearsal a bit loud, back that main fader back where it belongs. You have estab-lished a max volume as well as know you are stable feedback wise. Do not “gain up” any inputs, or push the main fader

above this point. You run the risk of not only feedback, but also splash back on the stage that will overtake the bands monitors. You know you hit this mark if your band is on wedges and they all start asking for monitor changes.

And last but not least. If you have had (and especially if you have not had) a good rehearsal, never make any changes based on what you remember you want-ed to change. Meaning if the band has left the stage, do not think, “Oh, I needed some gain on the acoustic guitar and I didn’t want to mess him up in rehears-al…. I’ll add it now.” Stop right there… back to rule 1.

Till next time.John

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my pastor’s plan as if it is my own idea. I can’t walk out to the team with a long face and go, “You’re not going to believe what he’s going to make us do,” but really go out and be honest and say, “Hey, I’m excited because the guy who is supposed to hear from God in this church, heard from God and this is what we are doing.”

That is a hard concept for some people but I really respect and believe that

The REAL LIFE of LINCOLN BREWSTER: continued from page 26

when God has placed a guy in a role, He has placed him in that role. You can choose to honor that or you can choose to dishonor that. To me, before I would want to dishonor that I would rather just go on to a different place where I could get in alignment with the vision.

WM: Well people really like that workshop because you are so transparent in your presentation. That is what they respond to. In that class and in your new album, folks can see that you do have real problems and that is the real life that you sing about.

LB: I feel passionate about it, I really do. I’m passionate about doing ministry in a healthy fashion. I want to be doing ministry 20 years from now. But I know

with the way that I’m wired, if it isn’t about relationships, I won’t be able to sustain it. I think a lot of people forget that in ministry. They think it is a sprint and they forget that it is about finishing the race. To me, so much effective ministry happens over the long term and it is about healthy sustainability. I try to be mindful about that and that is why relationships are at the core of the way that I choose to lead our team. I don’t always do a good job. But I can say that I never forget that. I never forget the core of it. I never forget that it is about relationships. So when I make mistakes and when I don’t do a good job, it is fixable, because I haven’t forgotten what we’re about at the core or let dysfunctional relationships destroy people along the way. We serve a God who is all about relationship. That is the point of Christ coming. Remembering to always be about relationship - that’s the key.

visit www.lincolnbrewster.com


As a songwriter Ed has written over 100 songs with Integrity Music. He has a Masters Degree in piano performance. Ed and his family live in Washington State. Ed plays a Yamaha’s Motif XS8. www.kerrtunes.com

the droning A on top with a D below. Continue creating your part with these concepts in mind. If you’re practicing this alone, with only your pad sound, you may think it’s way too sparse a part for the song. Don’t chisel that conclusion in stone, though, until you’re able to play your pad part with your full rhythm section.

As I suggested earlier, each member of a rhythm section can play some-thing that sets a new section apart from what’s just been heard. When the cho-rus of “Mighty To Save” comes around, you could do this by no longer droning on the A as the top of your voicing. You could certainly go to a higher note, per-haps the E, above the A you’d played, as a new droning note for the chorus, but I might suggest that you take a differ-

chorus feel like a payoff? Does the en-ergy diminish a bit when a later verse is heard? Does the return of the chorus feel significant?

Listen to a recording of your worship team playing a well-known worship song. If what you hear is music played with the same instrumental activity and dynamic level throughout, step back a bit. Compare the recording of your team to popular recordings of the song you’re playing. How were sections set apart in the more well-known record-ing? See if you don’t agree that creating clearly delineated song sections merits your attention. Do your homework here, and you’ll be more musically engaged as you play and your congregation will engage more intently as you worship together.

Continued from page 12 ent approach to creating your pad part for the chorus. Rather than play a dron-ing note that doesn’t change for several measures, why not create some melodic movement within your part? This move-ment is a strong contrast to that droning A heard so long in the verse.

Here’s a chord chart for the chorus showing a possible melody for you to use on top and some voicing sugges-

tions for the notes below that mel-ody.

There are as many possibilities for the pad part you choose here and the voicings you might use as

there are keyboard players. You might opt for the verse’s droning top note to continue; you might use a new keyboard sound for the section; or, you might choose some other option. The most important thing for you (and everyone else on your worship team) to consider is how the part your playing contributes to the linear flow of your song. Does the verse establish the energy and mood of the lyric that will be sung? Does the


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liGHTER SiDE

Note: This is code for: “I listen to a lot of Christian talk radio, and I want my sermons to sound just like my favorite Christian radio personality.”

Pastor: Well, you’ll find that we just preach from “The Word” here.

Note: This is the typical response that pastors have to these kinds of questions. I think there’s a seminary class that coaches them on these answers.

Joe: Do your sermons always run that long though?

Note: This is code for: “It will be foot-ball season soon, and I don’t want the sermon to eat into the pre-game show.”

Pastor: Well, you’ll find that we just preach from “The Word” here.

Jill: I take it that you have a children’s ministry?

Pastor: Yes, we have an excellent chil-dren’s ministry. We have programs up to sixth grade on Sundays.

Note: Jill is secretly relieved at this state-ment, since she goes to church in part to get away from her kids.

Jill: Do they have an indoor jungle gym? Because First Baptist down the street has one and the kids just love it.

Pastor: No, sorry, we don’t have one.

Note: Wrong answer. The pastor makes a mental note to talk to the facilities director about installing that zip line and climbing wall next to the snack bar.

Jill: Oh. That’s really too bad. How about your youth program? Is it very big? Do they play loud rock music there?

Note: At this point, the pastor must make a critical decision. On one hand, they could be the kind of

couple who don’t want rock music influencing their teenage

children. Or they could be a couple who

We’re here this Sunday morn-ing in the lobby of What’s Happening Community Church, located in the sub-urbs of Caucasian Falls, USA. A couple new to the church has just exited the service and approached the pastor. Let’s listen in…

Pastor: Good morning! You’re new, right?

Joe: Hi. Yes, I’m Joe and this is my wife, Jill.

Jill: Yes, first time here. Really loved the service.

Pastor: Well, great to have you here!

Joe: Do you have a moment? We were just wondering if we could ask a few questions.

Pastor: Sure. Fire away.

Joe: How many services do you have here?

Note: This is code for: “I like to sleep in late on Sundays.”

Pastor: Oh, we have three services on Sunday mornings.

Joe: Great. I really liked the sermon to-day. It is so good to hear a sermon

with meat, not the kind that’s, well,

you know, milk.

Manuel Luz is a creative arts pastor in Folsom, Cali-fornia. Which means he always misses the morning NFL games. We highly recommend his book, Imagine That: Dis-covering Your Unique Role as a Christian Artist from Moody Publishers, imaginethat-luz.com.

have teenagers who desire a more cutting-edge program. It’s a coin toss, really.

Pastor: Uh, the answer is…Yes?

Joe: Oh good.

Pastor: Yeah! In your face, First Baptist!

Jill: Excuse me?

Pastor: Uh, I said, lovely place, First Baptist.

Jill: Oh.

Pastor: Do you have any other ques-tions?

Joe: No, I think that’s it. Thanks so much for your time.

Pastor: So, will we be seeing you next week?

Jill: Yes, we think so. Thanks so much.

Pastor: Well that’s great! Just wonderful! Make sure you visit our coffee bar on the way out. Tell them the mocha frappuccinos are on me!

Jill: Oh, golly. You know, Joe is lactose intolerant.

Joe: Yeah, well, I’m afraid we won’t be coming back after all.

Note: Joe and Jill leave, disappointed, but ready to go shopping again next Sun-day. The pastor chases after them…

Pastor: But…but…did I tell you about our free gym membership?


http://www.imaginethatluz.com

http://www.imaginethatluz.com

By Brian Weaver

[False] Humility - How to Shine Your Light

A FEW MOMENTS WiTH…

I remember the first time I realized God had given me a gift of discernment with musicians, of knowing where their heart was with their music, and where God was among that. I was helping lead worship for an event with another individual back in 2004, and something just didn’t feel right about this person. Instead of using my discernment to love on this person, I used it to judge. And when the story came out of what was really going on in this person’s life, I said to myself, “I knew it!” This hap-pened a number of times in the next few years, until I heard God tell me that He had given me this gift not to judge, but to help build people up and work with them through their weaknesses.

As I have continued on in my journey of leading worship, performing my own songs, and meeting fellow musicians who do the same, I’ve noticed that the topic of humility and false humility has been the number one thing to arise. Why is it that pride seems to be the biggest downfall for musicians and worship leaders? How do we get on stage, play music, and allow God to be seen through that and not us? Well, as my pastor likes to say, “The se-crets of God are hidden for us, not from us.” What does that mean, exactly? That means that if we want to get the answers, we need to draw close to God (James 4:8), and He’ll draw close to us and re-veal things to us.

I think the first place to start is the issue of pride amongst musicians. Where did this all start? Simply put – with Lucifer. In Ezekiel 28, we find a detailed description of who Lucifer was and what he was in charge of.

“Son of man, take up a lament concern-ing the king of Tyre...”

Ezekiel 28:12 - NIV

In this verse, God is telling the prophet Ezekiel to speak to the demon, the chief spirit, that is influencing the king of Tyre; God is talking directly to Lucifer/Satan, who is controlling the king.

“You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you...”

Ezekiel 28:13 - NIV

God is saying that Lucifer was the “model of perfection”; that he was “perfect

in beauty.” This must have been the most beautiful, sparkling angel!

(cont.) “...the workmanship of thy tabrets (tambourines) and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.”

Ezekiel 28:13 - KJV

God continues to describe Lucifer, ex-plaining that he had tambourines and pipes built into him. He didn’t just lead the music, he was music. This also shows us that whatever God creates someone to be, He builds it into him or her. With such beauty, splendor, and power, it’s no won-der why everything went to Lucifer’s head, leading to his downfall.

“You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wicked-ness (iniquity) was found in you...Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor...”

Ezekiel 28:15, 17 - NIV

Lucifer was created to direct the music, yet when he saw how great, beautiful, and splendid he was, he began to think too highly of himself. This thought was the iniquity that was found in his heart. Iniquity is simply a quality of sin; it deals with the sins that cannot be seen (except by God). Some examples of this are pride, jealousy, deceit, envy, and covetousness. While sin and iniquity both deal with falling short, sin is the visible action we do that separates us from God and iniquity is the hidden thought or intention that separates us. In Jesus’ message in Matthew, He shares the difference between iniquity and sin:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lust-fully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Matthew 5:27-28 - NIV

The visible action of adultery is consid-ered sin, but the lustful look is the non-vis-ible act of iniquity. Iniquity wants to mani-fest itself; it is only waiting on opportunity.

Going back to the question of why it is that pride seems to be the biggest down-fall for musicians and worship leaders, we see that it is because Lucifer first gave into pride and thinking he was better than God Himself. I believe this is the reason why

so many people now struggle with humility and false humility issues: we don’t want to make the same mistake Lucifer did.

Now, where is the balance between being up front, leading others in worship, yet pointing to God and not to ourselves? When I first began leading worship, I would never take credit for anything; I stayed as conservative as possible be-cause I didn’t want others to think I was prideful. When someone would say, “Great job with worship this morning,” I would blow it off and say it wasn’t me, but it was God. After going through this process for years and wondering what the balance was, I finally went to His Word and sought the answer.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden...let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14-16 - NIV

In this verse, Jesus is saying to go out and be a “light” in the world; to let it “shine before men”. I spent years worrying that people were going to see me and not see God, but after reading this, I realized my mind frame was all wrong. A light is vis-ible to everyone around it, especially the light that is placed on a hill (or stage). When that light shines, people will see what you’re doing (and appreciate you for it), but ultimately, the praise will go to our Father.

In this next passage, we see that the queen of Sheba was hearing incredible stories about Solomon. She heard reports about Solomon that she didn’t even be-lieve herself, so she decided to make a trip to visit Solomon and see these things for herself.

“When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the pal-ace he had built...she was overwhelmed...She said to the king...‘Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you...’ ”

1 Kings 10:4-9 - NIV

I found that through everything Solomon was doing and everything he had, the queen of Sheba did not see him; she saw the God he served! If Solomon had put on this idea of “false humility” and hidden



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Greg Sisley is on the pastoral staff at Faith in Kent, WA, where he leads production and men’s minis-tries. He is also a member of the Lift Worship Team, specializing in lighting design and production.

liGHTiNG

Lighting is a field that’s constantly changing. It’s one of the things I like best about it. The creativity God put into us constantly devises new and better ways to get things done. During the next few articles we will look at several new tech-nologies that are changing the lighting world forever.

The Elation E Spot LED from Elation Professional Lighting is an innovative leap into the future of automated lighting. This deceptively small, full-featured moving yoke spot not only competes favorably with existing moving lights, but also packs some revolutionary features.

The engineering and design team at Elation is really hitting on all cylinders right now and turning out some fantastic gear. Their E Spot weighs about 25 lbs and measures only 8” by 11.8” and just 17.2” high. The E Spot LED features a color wheel with 8 rich dichroic colors and color scrolling with variable speed. A single gobo wheel holds seven rotat-ing/indexing replaceable gobos. The unit also features gobo scrolling and a gobo shake effect. A really nice feature is the fixture’s three rotating, indexing prisms - a 3-facet, 5-facet and 3D, which allow

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The E Spot uses ground-breaking tech-nology for its light source - a CBT 90W white 6500°K LED. Though the LED lamp consumes less than half the power of a similar sized fixture’s 150W discharge lamp, the 45 W LED has greater light output and very little heat is generated. The E Spot LED produces 960 lux at 16 feet. Compare that to a Mac250 Entour which produces 911 lux at 16 feet with a similar 15 degree beam angle. A typical discharge lamp is rated at 3000 hours, while the LED lamp in the E Spot is rated at 50,000 hours!

The E Spot has another feature not usu-ally found on units of this size or price. Elation’s RDMX (Remote DMX Addressing) allows DMX values to be set remotely from your controller, eliminating the need for hands-on access to the fixture once installed. Combined with long lamp life, the E Spot becomes a great option for those hard to reach locations.

Here’s what I like about the E Spot. It’s a rugged, high-quality, full-featured light with a super efficient light source and ex-tremely long life. It produces sharp beam edges and an exceptionally flat beam field. It’s very affordable. The E Spot’s capability and features belong to fixtures that are bigger and more expensive. The E Spot LED is a reasonably quiet fix-ture, and is appropriate for use at clubs, theaters, concerts, stage productions, churches, and other applications where total throw is not greater than twenty-five feet. Elation has pioneered the way with the E Spot and opened a door to a whole new realm of creative possibilities. The advantages of LED - lamped fixtures are driving other manufacturers to develop similar models. Soon we will see larger moving lights with greater throws, CMY color mixing, and moving washes, all lit by LED lamps.

At about $1500, the Elation E Spot LED from Elation Professional Lighting is a lot of bang for the buck, and would make an excellent choice for your lighting rig.

By Greg Sisley

Elation E Spot LED

Brian Weaver is a sing-er, songwriter, and wor-ship leader from Phoenix, AZ, signed with VSR Music Group & EMI/CMG Distri-bution

who he was and what God had given him, then the queen of Sheba wouldn’t have been drawn to God. If anything, he would have been drawing more attention to himself.

As worship leaders and musicians, we need to begin operating through the light God has put inside of us from the day we were born. We are told to go out and be a light, to stand on a hill and be seen. Through all of this, if our hearts and inten-tions are right and set on the Lord, we won’t need to be concerned about ‘get-ting the glory’; it will automatically point to God.

A friend once told me something I will never forget: “People are most attracted to you when you’re operating in your anoint-ing.” This attraction should not cause you to hide your light, but it should cause you to live it out. Solomon was living out the light God had given him, and through that, everyone saw the source of the light: God.

As long as we continue to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), we don’t have to worry about any-thing else. The next time someone thanks you for the great job you did, don’t brush it off, but say, “Thank you.” Humility allows other to appreciate you; even the word appreciate simply means “to increase in value.” People’s value should increase after a worship experience, because they have just drawn even closer to the pres-ence of God.

Going back to Ezekiel 28:14, Lucifer was described as the “cherub that cov-ers.” As a worship leader, you’re not only responsible to lead others in worship, but also to protect it. The presence of God should be protected from distractions. I’ve noticed that a dull light draws more atten-tion to it than a bright light. When a light is dull, it pulls all the attention and focus onto itself and away from the things around it. However, when a light is extremely bright, it shines on everything around it, revealing the dark places. Let’s be the bright lights in this world and shine on the dark places of our hearts.

Don’t worry about telling others it’s not you; just show them:

“For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.”

Isaiah 52:15 - NIV

Continued from page 60

A FEW MOMENTS WiTH…


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Worship Musician! Magazine - NovemberDecember 2010

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Transcript of Worship Musician! Magazine - NovemberDecember 2010