Monday, October 26, 2009

David and Goliath in MODERN DAY LANGUAGE - prepare to laugh your socks off



David and Goliath in the modern day language. I don't know why this voice over is so funny...but found myself falling off my chair laughing. Creative folks over at student ministries @ Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA).

Worship Tip and Rewind: October 25, 2009 #sundaysetlist #sundaysetlists




(If you are reading this in your RSS feed, then you'll want to hit the actual site to catch the video.)

Topics in this week's worship tip & rewind:
  • boundaries (maintain healthy ones to be in it for the long haul)
  • Country Music weekend, yeeeeeeeehaaaa
  • how God has blessed TBC with musicians (so many and so varied and so skilled)
  • 3rd hour botch (but the band didn't flinch)
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Set List:
Watch/listen to last weekend's message

Links to other setlists:

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

CCM video with 3 million hits

Almost 3 millions views. Thanks Joyce Jordan for the video library you send me. ZAP!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Worship Tip and Rewind: October 18, 2009 #sundaysetlist #sundaysetlists




(If you are reading this in your RSS feed, then you'll want to hit the actual site to catch the video.)

Topics in this week's worship tip & rewind:
  • take your musicians/techs to lunch (relationships are more important than music)
  • final song was not planned (This World Is Not My Home)
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Set List:
  • Psalm 145 (The Message Remix: Scripture Reading)
  • Rising > Baloche, Redman
  • Sing To The King > Foote, Home
  • Praise to the Lord the Almighty > Gesangbuch (Cottrell arrangement)
  • Ancient Words > DeShazo
  • This World Is Not My Home > The text and the tune (I'm Just a Passing Through) are both of unknown origin. Sometimes they are attributed to Albert Edward Brumley (1905-1977).
Watch/listen to last weekend's message

Links to other setlists:

Click-Track production prank with musicians at the Topeka Bible Church light show

Here's a little something that will prime your pump for this year's Light Show at Topeka Bible Church.

What do you get when 16 musicians (that can't see or hear each other) are playing to a click track that speeds up? The following is the result from last year.



The production crew simply couldn't wait to unleash the musicians on this prank click-track that gradually sped up. What you are hearing in the video are the actual musicians playing along. What fun to hear them try to keep up.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Take a Walk on the Piano Stairs

66% more people took the stairs (instead of the escalator) when it was more "fun" than normal. Making it fun does make a difference.



Thanks to Joyce Jordan for sharing this one with me.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Worship Tip and Rewind: October 11, 2009 #sundaysetlist #sundaysetlists




(If you are reading this in your RSS feed, then you'll want to hit the actual site to catch the video.) Topics in this week's worship tip & rewind (have two separate roles on stage - worship leader & band leader, put vocal team/choir in columns in front of mics). Get past the dork and listen to the content.

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SET LIST:
  • Today Is the Day > Brewster
  • Sing To The King > Foote, Home
  • From The Inside Out > Houston
  • You Are My King > Foote
  • I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go > Roun­se­fell, Brown, Prior
Watch/listen to last weekend's message

Links to other setlists:

Monday, October 05, 2009

Worship Tip and Rewind: October 5, 2009 #sundaysetlist #sundaysetlists



VIDEO EDITION:
If you are reading this in your RSS feed, then you'll want to hit the actual site to catch the video. Topics in this week's worship tip & rewind (entry point to the worship arts ministry, why I don't like the word "choir," the instrumental prelude/greeting from this past weekend, our use of click-tracks and loops). Get past the dork and listen to the content.

SET LIST:
  • Sing To The King > Foote, Home
  • Revelation Song > Riddle
  • Speak, O Lord > Getty, Townend
  • How Great Thou Art > Hine
  • Indescribable > Story
Watch/listen to last weekend's message

Links to other setlists:

How and Why to Use Click-Tracks in Worship














If you are looking for the 100+ library of worship click tracks and audio loops - click here. But if you've wondered what in the world the musicians are listening to in their ears... read on. You can listen to an example of one of the custom click/loop tracks we used this past weekend at TBC for two of the songs (Sing to the King + Revelation Song). You'll hear click/cue track on the left (sent to the musicians' in ear monitor) and the loop/ambient track on the right (sent to the front of house system). By the way, a thank you to John Bowes for loaning me the eBay special electro-harmonix "Voice Box" he temporarily bought - very nice vocoder effect on Sing to the King. It's the "robot voice effect" you hear on the chorus.

WHAT is a click-track?
A click-track is a metronome beat that follows the tempo and time signature of a song.

WHY use a click-track? There are a number of great reasons to use a click-track.
  1. The tempo remains steady through the entire song. No fudging. Makes rehearsals less of a headache. No more comments like, "Hey, slow down...this ain't no freight train." "We are slowing down...speed up."
  2. The tempos from rehearsal to worship are consistent.
  3. Frequent use develops a sense of inner beat among musicians.
  4. Musicians know at what tempo they'll need to play their intro, riffs, outro (especially the drummer).
  5. There's no annoying "drummer-stick-click" - an' a one, an' a two...to get the song going.
  6. If cuing is used, the vocalists can sing the beginning of each section with confiendence - rather than wondering (do I come in now...how about now...now?).
  7. You can flow from one song to the next with no dead time - smooth patching of music sets.
  8. You can sync up to a music video anytime you need to or want to (iWorship DVD sets, audio loops & click tracks, or a custom video that needs to have the band synchronized, or even synchronize two bands together).
  9. Your band will be set for the recording studio when the time comes.
  10. You can put together a 3-story drive-in light show with live musicians in windows who can neither see or hear each other in separate rooms.
WHAT is a loop? A loop is extra "spice" on top of what a drummer is playing. Sometimes it's a repeatability beat pattern with a high pass EQ. Sometimes it includes synth and other ambient "icing on the cake" elements that augment the band (and difficult to reproduce in real-time, unless you are an Ableton Live freak on the stage).

WHY use a loop? It can bring studio production elements into a live music setting with ease. It also can augment your band if you are missing an instrument.

There are some cons to using click/loops. You can lose of spontaneity (unless Ableton Live MIDI triggering is used), or you might have a drummer with their time keeping pride, or the time it takes to learn/train, or even the monitoring system it costs to make it happen. But that's for another post. If you've got questions about click/loops, let us know - we live with these clicks/loops on every song and every week. Many musicians have been saying, "I'd never go back now that we are here."

Monday Music: Kid Shreds on Accordion

I don't care if you don't like accordion music - this kid is a-maz-ing. I've never heard Vivaldi's Summer from Four Seasons like this. I love how the kid simply looks off to the side like what he is doing is no big deal.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Worship Song: No Mo' Bacon

Remember, what's the most important part of any worship song. The words.



By the way, this video has more than 1 million hits.