Worship Musician! Magazine - Jul/Aug 2014

ALL Sons and Daughters Connecting Broken People with their God

Product Review

Journey Overhead Guitar

Product Review

Product Review

TC Helicon VoiceLive 3

Casio Privia Pro PX-5S

Record Reviews

JUL/AUG 2014 Volume 12, Issue 4

I Am They l Jesus Culture l Passion 2014 l Kim Dexter l Life Church l

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74470 58440

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US $5.95 Can $6.95

Holding Umbrellas For One Another

by Tom

Kraeuter l The Art of Not Playing by Mark Shelton

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Worship Sound Pro features the latest and most essential music equipment and technology for today’s houses of worship.

Sweetwater-exclusive interview: The Digital Age

Former David Crowder Band members talk with us about their new sound, their approach to recording and performing, and the gear they use to share their musical message.

Essential Guides for You and Your Volunteers

In-depth, down-to-earth articles help volunteers, pastors, and worship leaders understand the ins and outs of the latest in worship sound technology.

THE

DIGITAL AGE

In January of 2012, the David Crowder Band ended their 12-year run as one of the Christian music industry’s most successful groups. Former DCB guitarists Mark Waldrop and Jack Parker, drummer B-Wack, and bassist Mike D went on to start a new musical venture called The Digital Age. Their debut album, Evening : Morning, was released to rave reviews in 2013. Recently, Sweetwater’s Jeff Barnett caught up with Mark Waldrop.

Can you give us a little history and recap what has happened since the last David Crowder Band show?

For those who don’t know what the David Crowder Band was, we started as a little worship team from University Baptist Church (UBC) in Waco, TX, a church that David Crowder founded with Chris Seay in the mid-’90s. We toured for about 12 years. Then in 2010, David transitioned from Waco to Atlanta, and the rest of us really wanted to stay in Waco and stay involved with UBC. So The Digital Age is essentially that. We’re still involved with UBC, and we’re still writing the same genre of music: upbeat, programming-heavy “fun worship,” as we call it. The Digital Age has been a band for a little over two years, which is crazy to say because it still seems so new.

We released a live EP called Rehearsals in 2012. We were just rehearsing for church, tracked it, and released it as an EP. And in 2013, we put out a record called Evening : Morning and followed that with a fall tour.

Evening : Morning doesn’t sound like just another DCB album, though. Can you describe the sound of The Digital Age? When you’re in a band and have an established sound and way of doing things, then you start a new band, you get to pick and choose what you liked about what you’ve been doing. But you also have a really natural moment to question what you want to do differently. With The Digital Age, we’re still writing songs for the same congregation. UBC is about 70% college students, so we tend to sound like what college kids are listening to.

We keep a close pulse on that.

The Digital Age’s latest album, Evening : Morning,, is available now.

To find out more, go to thedigitalagemusic.com!

David led from an acoustic guitar, and he would be a hard person to replace. One of the very first things we all agreed on was that we shouldn’t attempt to replace him. I usually play an electric, so now I’m leading on electric, and that fundamentally changes the sound of things.

You mentioned your studio in Waco. What made you decide to open a studio?

When David moved to Atlanta, we effectively lost our recording and rehearsal space. We found this place in downtown Waco that was an old dirty boxing gym, and we built a studio in it. We spent three months renovating it. The boxing ring was where our control room is now. It was designed by B-Wack, and it’s been really great for us.

We’re very programming-heavy, and we use a lot of synths onstage. We’re multitasking a lot more, too. As for what we sound like, that changes from one song to the next. All of us listen to different genres of music, so, “What do we want this to sound like?” is a conversation we have with every song. We don’t like to be the same on every song and on every album, so the sound of The Digital Age from album 1 to album 2 could be completely different.

We practice and rehearse there, and we also have bands come in and we record them. It’s an extension of our ministry. It’s been great for us to be able to help new worship bands.

Walk me through your creative process in the studio.

We all have our own mini Pro Tools studios at home, and we track these ideas as they come. Sometimes they’re full songs, sometimes just pieces. When we each have a handful of ideas, we all get together in our studio. All of these ideas start coming together, and we start to figure out how we are playing things as a band. We’ll either sit around the computer and start programming it out or head into the tracking room and start recording live parts. We all write, but we realize not all of us have the same strengths. I think one of our collective strengths is that we keep a really loose attachment to our ideas, and we see that they are all just pieces to a larger puzzle.

You still lead worship at UBC? We’re still very involved at UBC. When we were in the construction phase on our studio, we took a break from leading and just went to church without leading worship for the first time in a decade. Those three months were amazing; it was something we took for granted, and we didn’t realize how important it was. Now, we’re one of several worship bands at UBC. Our goal is to play there around once a month, depending on our tour schedule.

What gear do you use in your studio?

We are running Pro Tools HDX in our main control room. We use a lot of API preamps and the PreSonus ADL600. We use an LA2A compressor and a lot of gear that B-Wack made himself. Our main vocal mic is the Blue Bottle — so much character and so easy to change sound. For guitars, we use a mix of Shure SM57, Sennheiser e906, and Royer R121 mics.

For bass, we use the Shure SM7B microphone. On drums, we mostly use the same Sennheiser Evolution series dynamic mics that we use live. We use a Yamaha SubKick on kick drum, and a Sennheiser MD421 on snare.

We’re really into soft synths. We use Native Instruments Komplete. We also use Native Instruments Maschine heavily for programming. We lean a lot on Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere for pads. We use Reason a lot for piano sounds and sequencing.

We also have a lot of vintage synths.

How do you translate an album like Evening : Morning to something that works live?

A lot of it is decisions made in production. We use a lot of loops live, but one of our rules is that we never put anything in the loops that can be played live — no vocals or guitar parts. That makes it more challenging in a live setting. So when we record, we have to be very intentional with things like guitar parts and not put anything on the record that we can’t re-create live.

What software do you use onstage?

Ableton Live. On Mike D’s keyboard rig, he runs Live and Reason. He has a slew of Korg Nanokeys in addition to an M-Audio MIDI controller, and some of the keys are assigned to things such as mutes and changing different values instead of triggering notes. We also run some vocals through Live for effects.

What kinds of technical challenges do you see worship leaders facing today?

For us, the coolest thing you can do is create your own loops. I think when a lot of people see something that is loop heavy, they think that it doesn’t fit into the way they do music. Or they think they can’t do the songs because they don’t have the technical know-how to pull it off. It’s possible to do it. You can get a copy of Ableton Live and a MIDI controller for next to nothing and make incredible sounds with it. It’s been really cool for us to travel around and see these churches start to learn and incorporate the technical stuff into the church services. We love it when churches take one of our songs, create their own loops for it, and make it their own.

blisskatherine.com

You guys have had a very long relationship with Sweetwater. Why is that?

Relationship says it all. We love that if we have questions about gear, we can call and ask. We love that if there is something that piques your interest, we’ll get a phone call to tell us about it. The prices are always competitive, and as far as customer service goes, it’s always great. If anything is ever wrong, it’s always taken care of quickly. We travel a lot. If something isn’t working, getting a replacement quickly and easily is really important. It’s great to be able to get things fixed or questions answered without hassle. We really love the personalized nature of what Sweetwater does. You’re always great about asking what we need the gear to do. Even with a band like us, it’s so good to have somebody showing us how the gear we use can help us be better at doing what we do.

Photos by: Bliss Katherine

You can find out more about The Digital Age at thedigitalagemusic.com.

!

Freelance live sound engineer

Daniel Ellis

FOH engineer for The Digital Age How long have you been working with The Digital Age? The first tour I did with them was as the David Crowder Band, during the Remedy Club tour in 2007.

I was with DCB for five years. Then, when they started The Digital Age, I mixed their very first show and I did their first tour, as well.

What gear do you use with them onstage?

We use mostly Sennheiser mics, on just about everything. Mostly the Evolution series. One thing I don’t think I’ve seen anybody else do is that we use a Sennheiser MD441 on B-Wack’s snare. It works great and gives us a fatter sound than other mics I’ve tried.

On vocals, Mark and Jack both use a TC-Helicon VoiceLive Touch to add reverb and delay to their voices before they ever get to me. That’s cool; it makes my job easier.

At front of house, I run a Behringer X32. We use the S16 digital snake system, as well. That console is amazing. It’s so small and light — I can set it up by myself if I need to. When we started the tour, I was thinking, “There has got to be a reason this thing is so inexpensive, and I’m going to find out why.”

I still don’t know why. It’s a great console. I love it.

The guys use Sennheiser 300 series in-ear monitors, and they mix them themselves using Behringer’s X32-Q app for iPhone. That’s been amazing. It’s so much easier to not have to worry about doing FOH and monitors at the same time, and we don’t have to have a monitor engineer.

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Are there any unique challenges working with The Digital Age? Since they run all those effects on the stage, what I get is a wet vocal. When we started out, sometimes it was way too wet, and we didn’t really have enough clarity in the FOH mix in the vocals. So we had to work on getting those reverb levels down and make sure that they trusted me to add more reverb at the console if it was needed.

You and The Digital Age have been very loyal Sweetwater customers for years. Why is that?

Because of the relationship. Because of you! Seriously, it’s because of you. We don’t just call a 1-800 number and get some random guy; we get the same guy. And the candy. You send candy with everything we buy. I never share it.

From left to right: BWack, Mike D, Mark Waldrop, and Jack Parker

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Editor’s Corner

A Tough But Important One to Produce…

JUL/AUG 2014 vol. 12, issue4

Features

I have produced and/or co-produced over a hundred Christian concerts, twenty-five Christian Musician Summit training conferences, nine vintage guitar shows and one 8 marriage ceremony (Judy and mine twelve years ago) but the toughest event I have ever produced happened just last month.

Product Review

By Bob Kilpatrick Journey Overhead Guitar

10 From the Drummer’s Perspective

By Carl Albrecht The Drummer & Percussionist Team: Two heads are better than one? Or the two headed While my brother and his wife Beth, my sister and Judy monster!

My dear mother of eighty-eight years old passed away. My brother Allen, sister Barbara and I wanted to fulfill her wish of having a Life Celebration service for her family and friends.

My mom had left instructions that she wanted it to be informal and had left specific song requests as well.

and the grand kids took on various tasks of the event; I was in charge of the service itself. The memorial was to be in 12 Keyboard my mother’s backyard of her home so I enabled the help of

By Ed Kerr our street musician/evangelist friend Tim Moon to bring the The Space Between: Part 2 complete PA system and backline for everything we would need on stage. Being in a back yard our stage was actually 15 Bass a large wood porch.

By Gary Lunn

I put the flow of the service together and counseled with my Excellence and the Concept brother and sister to make sure it was what all three of us of Time wanted as a tribute to our mother. At eighty-eight years old my mother had out lived a lot of her friends but we still had 16 Vocals a crowd of forty or more friends and family (including grand

By Sheri Gould kids and one great grand son) sitting at round tables for the How Much Is Enough? service.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon in California and the 18 Tips for Tight Teams weather forecast was sunny and 88 degrees. We had

By Sandy Hoffman scattered my mother’s ashes earlier that morning at a place ppRpp (Five Steps For of her request so we had already gone through a meaningful Worship Prep’) and emotional event that day.

Several of our guests were too physically challenged to walk 26 Songchart down the porch steps easily to the lawn below where the

By All Sons & Daughters tables were so I placed them behind me in the shade under We Give You Thanks the porch awning. I kindly teased the four older ladies that if they were going to sit there they needed to be my back up 30 Record Reviews singers for the last song that closed the service.

By Gerod Bass My role as host started as greeter at the front door (I have done that for years at our last church in Puyallup so that was easy) and then I opened the Life Celebration with a greeting and overview of what the service would entail. Because of the heat we wanted to keep it to 30 minutes even though we had Continued on page 36

4227 S. Meridian. Suite C PMB #275 Puyallup, Washington 98373-5963 Phone: 253.445.1973 Fax: 253.655.5001 Email: bruce@christianmusician.com Website: www.worshipmusicianmagazine.com Publisher/Editor: Bruce Adolph Vice President: Judy Adolph Customer Service: Brian Felix brian@christianmusician.com Design Layout & Production: Matt Kees Director of Advertising: Steve Sattler steve@creativesalesresource.com 626-836-3106 Worship Musician! is published bi-monthly

by The Adolph Agency, Inc.

40 Guitar Grab Bag

By Doug Doppler Ear Training for Worship Guitarists - Part 1 42 The Band

By Tom Lane Pure In Heart 44 Camera

By Craig Kelly Hand Held Camera Tips for Live Events 45 Product Review

By Bruce Adolph Casio Privia Pro PX-5S 46 Ministry + Artistry = Profitability? Creating your MAP™

By Scott A. Shuford iTickets Secrets to Success 48 Product Review

By Doug Doppler TC Helicon VoiceLive 3 50 A Few Moments With...

Tom Kraeuter Holding Umbrellas for One Another

• I Am They • Jesus Culture • Passion 2014 • Kim Dexter • Life Church

34 FOH Engineer

By Bill Gibson The Sermon 37 Percussion

By Mark Shelton The Art of Not Playing 38 Songwriting

By Brandon Bee Songwriting From the Heart 39 Worship Team Training

By Branon Dempsey Seven Reasons Why Your Church Won’t Sing

Interview 20 All Sons & Daughters:

by Bruce Adolph (adapted from Melissa RiddleChalos)

WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM JUL/AUG 2014

7

Product Review

By Bob Kilpatrick

Journey Overhead Guitar

I was in Beijing last October with Andy Piercy (Delirious producer, worship leader and all-round musician’s musician) when a guy showed us a collapsible guitar he’d designed that (he said) would fit in an overhead bin (9X14X22 inches!), assemble easily, play well and sound good. I was thinking that he was giving us a list of all the ways he could get it really wrong, any one of which would scuttle the whole project. He quickly put it together and we played it. Nice! We plugged it into the sound system and it sounded even nicer. Check the boxes marked “plays well” and “sounds good”!

to pass security. There is also a separate zippered access to a space above the body of the guitar, perfectly sized for a strap and a few other guitar tools. It has a handle on top and another on one side. It also has shoulder straps that hide away easily when you don’t want to use them. Million Milers will recognize all the features that could only have been designed by one of us (Rob flies a lot.)

Perhaps the initially jarring feature of the Journey guitar is that the neck detaches from the body. With a low profile headstock, this allows it to nestle in its own padded pouch inside the nylon case, with the strings (held in place by a simple closure) still connected to the saddle. It is easily reassembled in seconds and is remarkably close to tune.

The neck rests along one side of the top of the guitar, rather than laying on the bridge, which keeps it from pressing on and loosening the bracing. And, of The guy with the guitar was Rob Bailey. course, the fabric inside the padded He’s a worship leader in his church. Rob case protects the guitar from scratches. started with the maximum airline carryon dimensions in mind and proceeded to All this, though, means nothing if the form the size and shape of the guitar to fit guitar doesn’t play well. With my large them. I’ve taken my Journey guitar (which hands, my first concern was the neck.

I got shortly after meeting Rob) on many I liked it. I was impressed with how flights since October, on big planes and nice it handled. The mechanism that tiny commuters, and have always found holds the neck on the body allows for room for it in the overhead bin, even with precise calibration of the string height. my iPad, Bible, a couple other books and Consequently, the action is wonderful at all points along the neck; easy and other miscellany packed in its pouches. delightful to play.

The nylon case is remarkably ingenious (a design marvel) and made of high quality The body of the guitar is small, about materials. Besides the main compartment the size of a double ought or parlor for the body of the guitar and the zippered guitar. Through the use of what’s called pouch for the neck there are three other a Manzer wedge, the body is deeper zippered pouches. One is padded and on one side than a dreadnought, which sized to fit an iPad or laptop, and folds gives it plenty of solid bass and low open to comply with TSA regulations. mids as well as crisp highs. The tone is You won’t have to take it out of the case well balanced.

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JUL/AUG 2014 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM

All Journey guitars come with a proprietary under saddle transducer pickup. I am really picky about pickups.

To be frank, I judge all of them by what I consider to be the gold standard of acoustic pickups- anything by Lloyd Baggs. I don’t know how Rob did it but he captured that woody but clean sound I look for- the strong, tight bass and clear high notes with the punch and sound of a microphone- and no feedback issues.

Somehow Rob and his Journey Instruments team got all the features right! The guitar is a joy to play. The pickup is true. The assembly is fast and easy. The nylon case is right in every way. I highly recommend it. More info at journeyinstruments.com.

Model: OF-420 Solid Sitka top, laminate rosewood back & sides. Street price: $620.

Bob Kilpatrick is a writer, pastor, singer and sometime producer who travels the world singing and talking about Jesus, the hope of the world. He likes pretty much everything Bruce Adolph does.

More info at www.bobkilpatrick.com

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From the Drummer’s Perspective

By Carl Albrecht

The Drummer & Percussionist Team:

Two heads are better than one? Or the two headed monster!

I’ve been very fortunate to work with some amazing musicians. Drummers, percussionists, and great players of other instruments have made the job of creating music a shear delight. On the other hand, there have been moments of extreme frustration when a musician was not grooving or connecting with the band. It could be a technical problem.

Like a player not keeping good time; or playing too loudly; or not playing the proper part or style. Sometimes it’s an emotional thing. Like someone thinking too highly of them selves (arrogance) or just not caring about what they are doing (boredom). Either way it makes for a bad day for the band.

For a drummer and percussionist to work together well, every aspect has to be in place. Both players must really be “locked in” to the tempo. Dynamically, they need to sound like one unit. Their parts must be carefully arranged to work well with each other, and to compliment the rest of the group. And it helps if they have at least a good working relationship, if not a real friendship.

As a drummer, I look for the percussionist to “weave” their playing into mine.

The drummer is still “driving the bus” so to speak. The percussionist should never try to push or pull the tempo around. They should always try to line up their time & feel to what the drummer is doing. I want their part to compliment what I am playing and in general make the music sound great!

great and find parts that work with the of the band is doing to try to find the whole arrangement. Never thinking of drum part. Then the percussion concepts should fit into that. Yes, there are times drawing attention to myself. we might build from a percussion idea I’ve heard percussionist say that their first. Percussion grooves are everywhere drummer doesn’t play well and that they in contemporary music. Even more so have to over power them to make the now with the use of drum machines, music work. That could be true, but my drum loops, and sequencing. So it first recommendation is to work it out is a great time to be a drummer and first. Get with your drummer and start percussionist, but all of the musicians practicing with a metronome or drum must be serving the song. If what we loops. Communicate with each other. play does not make the song work well, Build a relationship where you think as it is just noise! a team, and learn to help each other.

When setting up I prefer the Music never seems to feel really good when there is a musical or personal percussionist to be on my right side and the bass player to my left (the hi-hat battle on stage. More on this later... side). This allows for the percussionist I can always tell when the percussionist to hear the kit clearly and to have a is not listening to what the drummer or visual connection to my right side. For the rest of the band is doing. The part me, the right hand will be dictating a they play might conflict with the hi-hat lot of the time keeping (hi-hat & ride or ride cymbal part. Maybe they are cymbal patterns). I’ve always found playing too busy. Filling every space this helpful when setting up a drum with some sound effect or percussion and percussion duo in the band. It is fill is like having too much salt in your definitely my preference when playing soup! In a case like this, I will actually percussion. When that’s not possible, I have a little chat with my drum/ still make sure I have a good sight line to percussion partner. I always try to be the drummer, and I’m very careful about an encourager. It never helps to yell at getting a good monitor mix. You have to someone or project negative emotions hear well to play well. into the environment. There is a spiritual I mentioned earlier about keeping a lesson here, but for the sake of time, let’s positive atmosphere. There should be just focus on the technical stuff. no personal or musical battles on stage.

I will actually discuss with the Make sure you are communicating well percussionist about how we arrange with the percussionist or drummer. Can our parts for the music we’re playing. I we talk? Commit together to serve the might ask them to not play for a section. music and the other players to the best st Maybe they should just color the 1 verse and chorus with sound effects, and of your abilities. If you can’t agree on not do any “groove” parts until the 2nd what you’re playing, always use the original recordings as a reference. Also, verse. It all depends on the music! What be sure the worship leader or artist is does the music really require? If there is happy with what they are hearing. It is a recording to reference, both players not about you! should be copying what was already Never think about getting noticed or “composed” if that’s what the leader wants. Yes, I think of recorded music as trying to “be cool.” If you are playing a composition. Unless the leader asks great music, and striving to make for some other interpretation, play the the whole group sound great, you part that already exists for the song. will automatically gain the respect of This is always my “default setting” for everyone. playing music.

A great tool for checking out your sound

When I’m playing percussion, I always remind myself that the drummer is the Christmas tree and I’m the ornaments.

In this case, we need to see more green than silver, if you catch my drift. If you check out some of the early Ron Kenoly videos on YouTube you’ll see me playing percussion along side Chester Thompson on drums and Alex Acuna on percussion. I even had the chance to play percussion with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums on Ron’s project “We Offer Praises.” In all of these and any setting If we are creating a part for a song I’m focusing on making the music feel I listen very carefully to what the rest

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JUL/AUG 2014 WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM

Continued on page 47

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SOUND LEGACY

Keyboard

By Ed Kerr

The Space Between: Part 2 Many of you are regularly involved playing keyboards on a worship team. You don’t have to go far back on your calendar to find a date where you teamed up with other musicians to lead a congregation in worship. Think about that worship time. Not whether the team played well with the click track. Not whether the vocal harmonies really popped on the 3rd chorus. Not about the mix or anything musical. Think about the people in the room. Was someone there who’s waiting on the results of a biopsy, concerned that the diagnosis might be cancer? Is there a couple in the church whose marriage seems to be falling apart? Do you know of tensions between a single Mom and her teenager? A husband weary of a fruitless search for work?

Sure, you say, you know people are going through stuff. You might wonder what this has to do with keyboards in modern worship. Well, it relates to an opportunity you and your worship team have every time you sit at your instrument or pick up a microphone or prepare slides and motion graphics for projection. We have a chance, through the music we present, to help people see, perhaps for the first time, perhaps for the five hundredth, that God is with them. The God of peace. The God of hope. The God of mercy.

Of the thousands of songs that we might choose from to build our song lists, certain ones enjoy seasons of special popularity. “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” is one those songs today. Think back to the people you know who are facing challenges when you think of the lyrics to this great song. The opening line says “You call me out upon the waters, the great unknown, where feet may fail”. Seem relevant to those people?

Let’s say you’ve presented the song as recorded, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge. Here’s an opportunity to do something with “the space between” the bridge and whatever you sing next.

Again, with people’s current struggles in mind, your worship leader might say something like “We’re going to sing a line from this song several times now. The lyric speaks of God calling us out onto the water, into unknown areas, places that are unfamiliar for us, perhaps frightening for us.

But He’s also inviting us to call upon His Name, keeping our eyes on Him, not our circumstances.”

The verbage isn’t the thing here. Presenting an opportunity for people to make a personal application of the truth of this lyric is. Note: Let your media person know that you’re going to repeat a line or two. You only want people to see the lyric you’ll be repeating here.

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Now for options. I’m showing you options of how you might harmonize this lyric as you sing it multiple times.

Here are the original chords:

Below I use a longer harmonic rhythm, holding a different chord for bars 1 and 2, a more dissonant chord in bar 3, and a different chord in bar 4.

More chord changes below, especially potent in measure 3, where the F#m7 colors the lyric “the great unknown”.

In this final example I increase the harmonic rhythm, the rate at which chords change, in bars 1 and 2, building the musical momentum.

Play these examples alone or with your full band and I hope you’ll hear and feel the impact of repeating a line or two of a song. The significance of slowing down or increasing a song’s harmonic rhythm is easily heard in examples B and D. The ways a chord can bring emphasis to a lyric are clear as well, in example C. Play example B twice, perhaps starting softly. Then play example C. Next play example D and you’ll sense that the dynamics want to build with the faster chord changes. Wherever you go after playing example D will have a significant impact, all from being creative with the space between.

The point of this exercise isn’t to rearrange the song.

It was masterfully written, creatively arranged and skillfully played and sung on the original recording.

The point is to show you ways that a powerful song can, perhaps, impact your congregation differently by applying some of these concepts.

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 Yamaha’s Motif XS8. www.kerrtunes.com

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Bass

By Gary Lunn

Excellence and the Concept of Time I was recently given four songs from a single client to play on at my home.

I received a stereo reference track in mp3 format, via email. I loaded it into ProTools and tried to find a tempo that the click inside the stereo reference track would lock to (I tried to put the track “on the grid”) with difficult success and then attempted to find out why it didn’t feel right. After a little digging and comparing, the answers I found were somewhat alarming. The answers that came from this situation present a few things to pass on to others who do home studio recording (or those wanting to become better musicians).

On a side note, playing to a click or loop seems to be the norm for me in the studio at least 99% of the time. In live situations I play with one about 90% of the time. I have learned through the years that there are certain situations where it’s better to just turn the click off, follow the varying “opinions” of time, and try to “hang on” (to be the “glue” in the track).

This situation would’ve definitely been one of those, but the problem was that the click was mixed in with the track, making it impossible to turn off. It was sort of a nightmare.

I supposed to play with the click or the Hopefully, that antiquated piece of gear is in the trash now. drummer?»

In my opinion, the best way to cut tracks in a “pass-around,” file-sharing fashion is always to start the process with the DAW (digital audio workstation) you’re cutting with in “grid” mode, generating the click at the proper tempo with a click sound that is generated by the program (or a tempo-locked plugin), with bars-and-beats accurately counting in the transport window. Then any reference track for overdubs can be sent out with the files starting from “zero” and safely contain no click track. Be sure to indicate the correct tempo (I have producers write the tempo as part of the file title). This allows As you can see, it’s very “everywhere” the players to generate their own clicks around the beat. When you look closely from whatever DAW program they like you can see that the click is on the lines to use (Garage Band, Logic, Cubase, at first, and then it isn’t. Then it comes etc.). This allows them (us) to manipulate back. The click is coming and going in the click however they need to (pan, turn varying increments throughout the track. up, down or turn off, etc.).

It’s entirely distracting to everyone trying Even if you don’t do sessions, I to play with it, creating musical chaos in highly suggest that you consider these the track. concepts and familiarize yourself with Players cannot play to this click this process. It will make you a better track. Then when you have drums that bass player, help you to be more tempoare not playing with the click, it wreaks conscious, and listen more to what other havoc on the musicality and consistency players are doing, which, I believe, is of the track. The vocal’s timing was the key to musically “serving” in a song, everywhere too, as well as the acoustic rather than playing all over it. guitar’s timing. All of this makes adding Blessings on the work of your hands... a bass part very difficult. As a very and ears! funny producer once said to me about a “drifting” drummer on a session, “It’s sorta like trying to stand on top of a bowling ball!” Unfortunately, in these situations I spend more time editing my parts than I do playing them. It would’ve Gary is a session player/ been SO much easier to play without a producer/writer in Nashville, click!

TN. He does home recording, The other possibility is that whatever click source is being used on these demos is not very reliable, or, perhaps something is being corrupted somewhere in the process. Here is a screen shot from ProTools of the click track on the end of the file I was sent for one of the songs. Notice the timing drifting off and on the grid.

Typically when I receive a track to play on, the first thing I do is put it on the tempo “grid.” In other words, I tap tempo to find the tempo of the track and then set my DAW to that same tempo so I can generate my own click that plays alongside the track. I do this because it makes identifying sections easier and allows me to copy-and-paste sections that I like better than others (for various reasons). Like I mentioned before, the tempos of these songs were difficult to find. Upon initially listening to the first song I noticed that the drums were, at best, with the click about 50% of the time. They were ahead of the click (more than behind) so as I played along, I constantly looked for the right spot to lay the notes in so that the bass would act as “the glue.” If I were going to play with just the drummer, I would’ve turned the Upon further investigation, I found that click off, but that was impossible since it the click source was generated by an was mixed in the track. This is where the older, analog metronome. It had been session story/joke comes from about the the single cause of this entire debacle! guitar player asking the producer, «Am

plays many recording session accounts, is on tour with Dolly Parton, and attends Grace Church (gracechurchnashville.com) in Franklin, TN. Email him for questions, comments or scheduling at garylunn@me.com.

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Vocals

By Sheri Gould

How Much Is Enough?

So you love to sing. In fact, you sing on your team at church. Maybe you sing in a band on the weekends. Perhaps you sing for an occasional wedding or funeral.

How much should you practice to stay in shape (or get into shape!)? Let’s take a look at what you need…

The Weekend Warrior Let’s face it: unless you’re a professional singer you most likely have a “day job”.

That “day job” could mean you leave your house daily to work out in the world or perhaps you’re a stay at home parent. Either way, you don’t spend the vast majority of your time thinking about singing. Instead, singing is more like a hobby to you, something you enjoy doing but haven’t managed to pay the bills with just yet.

However, if you are like so many other singers I know, you likely sing-a lot-on the weekends. The weekend is the time when most churches hold the majority of their meetings that include music. The weekend is the time when you’re most likely to sing if you are dabbling in music outside the church as well. So how can you best prepare yourself physically to be able to maximize your vocal capabilities when the time does come for you to sing?

Growth or Maintenance?

The first thing you have to decide is what your goals are vocally. Are you trying to maintain what you have and keep yourself healthy vocally? Or, are you trying to move forward and grow as a vocalist? That will determine how much time you really need to spend in preparation and conditioning.

At a minimum, you need to put yourself in a position where you can continue to sing and serve for as long as God gives you breath and a voice right? So… Maintenance To maintain your current vocal level and to provide the right amount of practice and

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conditioning we first need to assess how much you are singing (on a stage or platform). Tally up the amount of hours you typically sing in each 24 hr period when you perform or take part in a team. For example, if you typically sing on Sundays, what does your day look like? Do you start out with a rehearsal in the morning from 7:30-8:45 and then sing for two consecutive services each requiring you to sing approximately 30 min each? Then you would say that you typically sing for two hours on that day. This is an important number for you to determine. If you sing for two hours on any given day, then you need to condition your vocal cords to be able to withstand two hours of “stress”. You see, your vocal cords are muscles and need to be conditioned and prepared like any other set of muscles that you would use. If you were going to run an hour long marathon, you would need to consistently run for an hour to condition your muscles to be in the right shape for your marathon. Well, the same is true of singing. Your vocal cords CAN withstand two hours of singing, but if you want them to give you a great performance you need to prepare them to be able to do so.

you need to gently and systematically stretch your cords, that is pretty much it. It’s not very complicated. Ah, but you say, I don’t have to sing every day so why should I warm up? Any day that you use your voice is a day that you could benefit from a warm-up, even if you only use your voice to speak. Starting out your day thinking about caring for your voice will help you to think more like a “singer” throughout the day and that might encourage you to practice better vocal health overall. Besides, if you do a 15-20min warm-up every day, you will be that much closer to conditioning your cords for your weekend work-out!

you do in your life that you can add singing to. There are lots of times during the day that you could actually be singing and do what you are doing! But let me back up for a minute. You need to start every single day of your life by warming up your vocal cords. Period.

Add this to something you already do; the shower is the perfect way to start your day with a warm-up but there are other ways too. Find something that you do every morning that you could add singing to. Warming up doesn’t require the same type of focused energy and concentration that “working out” the vocal cords would. When you warm up,

Next time I will devote this column to helping those of you who want to go beyond maintaining a healthy voice and keeping your current strength, stamina and range. We will look at some ways you can take your voice to the next level. Until next time, God bless you and happy singing!

Next, throughout the day look for opportunities to sing and use them. Try to sing as often as possible in the same way that you will sing when you are on a platform or stage. Get into the mindset of “giving it your all” as often as you can. We all sing a bit differently when we sing in front of others, so try to mimic that when you sing throughout the week.

Let your mantra be “sing, sing, sing!”

Making singing a habit will be good for you in countless ways. Singing itself is good for you! But the continual practice will help to condition your vocal cords for your “warrior weekend” and you will find your voice stronger, more agile and How can I possibly sing for two better equipped to handle the hours of singing. (or more) hours a day?

Growth Here is the trick—look for things that

Sheri Gould is an internationally acclaimed vocal coach. With a degree from the University of Ill, she has been coaching since 1979 and leading worship since 1985. For weekly vocal tips, check out Sheri’s FB page at www.facebook.com/officialsherigould.

For information on products, including instructional DVDs, check out http://sherigould.com

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TIPS FOR TIGHT TEAMS

by Sandy Hoffman

ppRpp

(Five Steps For Worship Prep’) In order to take our worship times each week from zero to one-hundred, there’s a process we must all go through. It varies with the individual, and can even become routine, but this process must never be taken lightly. We’re talking about a calling (I Thess. 2:11 & 12), a spiritual vocation (Ephesians 4:1, KJV).

It is a lifestyle (Romans 12:1), and a means to a very significant and ethereal end: to ultimately glorify the only true GOD!

pay-offs!

2. PRACTICE (Wednesday)

Let’s say that with the help of the Holy Spirit, your service order/song list for this week has been completed. Wednesday cometh and ye must prepeth, prepeth, prepeth! Actually, the word is practice and lots of it. Pull out your charts, warm up a bit, then dig in. Focus on tone, pitch, speed, accuracy, dynamics, and execution. Memorize as much of your music as possible and practice songs As worship leaders and team members, without stopping and starting along we’re supposed to make this happen the way. Repeatedly play through your week after week. This worship-calling worship tunes as though you’re already requires us to deliver quality, consistency, in the worship time. commitment and camaraderie, drenched When you feel you’ve got it all in and oozing with a deep sense of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. perfected… get back to work! No break “A piece o’ cake,” you say? Not so time yet. Practice requires wonderfully fast! You know we’re only human. This long hours. Steady… intentional work is going to require anointing, wisdom, yields the incredible fruit of (near) extreme effort, and some serious ppRpp! perfection.

Why perfect? We practice those long The following is a suggested weekly routine. It is offered to provide a hours, not so that others will shower us framework upon which to build the with adulations about how magnificent Five Steps For Worship Prep’. As we are. Instead we practice to become mentioned before, the routine may vary so skilled at our worship-craft that we with the individual. Let me encourage are no longer a distraction to those you to make these guidelines your we desired to lead in worship in the own, expanding them in any direction first place. We increase our skills to which enables and empowers you to decrease distractions to increase HIS fulfill the worship-calling of God on visibility. your life. Along the way, please do not 3. REHEARSE (Thursday) neglect to take at least one day off per week! Remember: “They call it ‘driven’ Raising personal skill level happens in those times of private practice, but it because it drives you crazy!” is during rehearsals that we contribute 1. PONDER (Monday or Tuesday) the fruits of our personal practice to the The first worship-prep question we collective growth of our worship team. must ponder is this, “How did our latest Corporately, we become a cornucopia service(s) go?” “Any mistakes, train of musical produce, fit for worshipwrecks, or technical glitches we need consumption [roll eyes here]. to learn from?” There’s an old saying: Team rehearsal is the pinnacle of once bit; your fault… twice bit; my fault. prep for praise. We pray together, This applies well in worship. Why repeat seek unified inspiration from the Lord, our errors? Isn’t once enough to learn then put our hands and hearts to the the lesson? As much as applicable, let’s work. It’s the time to iron out dynamics, ponder previous presentations to prevent chord voicings, vocal and instrument possible repetition. Always debrief. arrangements, song-to-song flow, After a bit of analysis of our previous tempos and keys. We build in free service(s), it’s time to look ahead to worship times, intros, outros, and “whothe next one(s). This is where we twist knows?”. It’s during rehearsal that we and turn and ponder it until it becomes learn to give attention to detail, exercise a beautifully crafted worship time, musical-relational deference to one dynamically rising and falling with another, and flow in improvisation, all scriptures, songs, visuals, antiphonal by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We moments, valleys, peaks, prayers, and win, win, win.

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4. POLISH (Friday or Saturday) Rehearsal is now a distant memory.

Well, ok, it just happened last night.

Anyway, what’s next for the worship musician? Perhaps a bit-O-polish?

Yes! You’ve already practiced. You made broad, general brushstrokes of preparation for the rehearsal and subsequent worship time. Now comes the buff and shine!

Polishing is the type of practice where we rub out the smudges, and wax up the finish of our worship musicianship.

Here it begins to radiate in the light of the Son! We spend time, slowly at first, accelerating gradually to the desired tempo on difficult passages. We finalize our memorization of phrases and melodies and fine tune our ears to harmonies and blend… round the tones, bend the notes and add the flash!

We thank the Lord, and spend time in prayer and meditation on our favorite, most poignant worship scriptures. We get some rest and enjoy the peace of the Lord until...

5. PRESENT (SUNDAAAAY!) “...present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to the Lord, which is your reasonable act of worship.” (Romans 12:1b) Such a blessed commandment from the Lord to worship leaders and team members.

Present! Present what? Everything.

All of our pondering and practicing and rehearsing and polishing for an entire week now rests upon the altar of sacrifice to God. As much as we pour in… it’s never about us, and it never, ever belongs to us. Our worship works exist as a “present” which we “present” to the Holy GOD! Worship to Him is a gift from Him. The genuine heart of worship joyously returns the gift to The Giver.

All for One, Sandy

Sandy Hoffman serves the worship community at Christ Church Santa Fe, NM, and beyond. Find out more about his “Tips for Tight Teams” online at: www.WorshipWorks.com

ALL Sons and Daughters

Connecting Broken People with their God

by Bruce AdOlph (adapted frOm Melissa Riddle-ChalOs) Music lovers worldwide are captivated, swept up in the surging wave of modern folk as heard in the likes of Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, Neon Trees, The Civil Wars and others.

Organic, acoustic and packed with live energy and freedom, it’s the unpolished imperfection and open invitation to sing along that has catapulted these artists into the spotlight and up the charts.

For All Sons & Daughters’ Leslie Jordan and David Leonard, these qualities are even more keenly experienced in music that connects broken people with their God. Worship leaders at Journey Church in Franklin, TN, their critically acclaimed EPs, Brokenness Aside, Reason To Sing and The Longing, along with their full length albums, Season One and Live bear witness to the power of worship by the people, for the people and of the people. In the truest sense,

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them what to do. It’s a beautiful time of sharing and being really honest. This has become an integral part of touring. Doing this gives us the chance to put our finger on the pulse of what is Two years ago we had AS&D lead happening in each community. worship at our Christian Musician Summit NorthEast in Buffalo, NY. I was Released in May, All Sons & Daughters’ thrilled that we could turn the registrants self-titled studio album turned the page on to their music and easy going worship on a new chapter for the duo, a new style. I asked David what his approach season of leaning into their own musical to leading worship was at events like and lyrical instincts. “We’ve allowed this, “The relationship aspect of what we ourselves to be more creative, more do is most important to us. We always reflective of who we are, while still try to connect with people, whether it’s writing songs for the church,” Leslie the people bringing us in or those who says of the self-titled album. The album’s cover art—an incredible mixed-media are attending”. piece created specifically for AS&D During our last two tours we have by artist Deeann Rieves—perfectly done worship leader lunches where we represents the fragmented beauty of invite leaders from the area to come growth and decay inherent in all of life. and engage in a conversation. We ask “We asked Deeann, who is familiar with questions. This isn’t a time for us to tell our work, to listen to the new record and the mesmerizing, soul-baring lyrics and acoustic styling of this talented duo are beginning to make an impact...inside and outside the church.

WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM JUL/AUG 2014

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All Sons & Daughters

continued

life, the more I experience my own depravity, the more I see my need for the kind of bold faith this woman had.

She was rejected by society, but she knew if she could just get to Jesus, he could heal her. We don’t see that kind of faith much in today’s society, that kind of faith is ridiculed... so I’ve been really challenged by that. Even before we started writing, we knew this song would be special.”

“You Will Remain,” was the first song written for the record. Its melody led Leslie and David to the Gospel of John where Jesus refers to himself as ‘I AM.’ “We were struck by the truth of it,” Leslie says. “He didn’t say ‘I was’ or ‘I will be,’ but ‘I am.’ And he wasn’t overstating anything... the constant, unfailing nature of God and his goodness. We never tire of leading this one.”

paint a piece that fits what you hear.

What you see on the cover is really unique. We feel like we’re standing on the foundation of the fragments and pieces, musically speaking, building on the changes we’ve encountered over the past few years,” David says.

Produced by Paul Mabury, All Sons & Daughters features a ‘wish list’ of co-writers, Stu G (of Delirious), Derek Webb, Leeland, Sandra McCracken, Jack Mooring and Francesca Battestelli.

“The beauty of co-writing,” David explains, “is getting some new blood in to really push us, to think differently about the lyrics.”

I would be a fool / If I could be made new /Come ruin, come ridicule Recklessly I come, I run to You – “Your Glory and My Good” “Your Glory & My Good,” co-written with Derek Webb, sets the tone for the album. “It was challenging, but so invigorating to write, and it tells such a beautiful story,” Leslie says of the song inspired by the story of the woman with a bleeding disorder in Mark 5.

“The older I get, the more I experience

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(which made me like them even more :) I asked Leslie about the guitars and she told me that they like to visit music stores in the various cities they visit looking for old guitars. How cool is that? I asked her what is the appeal to her with older vintage instruments? She responded, “I would normally defer to David on this question, but since meeting him, my affinity for vintage/rare instruments has grown. I have a vintage guitar now because it was a gift from a pastor we visited in Tucson! However, David has definitely shown me the fun side of gearexploring.

In the age of ‘American Pickers’ and ‘Storage Wars’ there is a certain excitement that comes with finding a hidden treasure. We travel so much now that it is a lot of fun to explore the hidden potential in each city, either in music By the means of grace and the hope of stores or antique shops. David always glory /All honor and glory forever finds the most unusual keyboards and it is fun to be a part of that. Older From now to the end of the age instruments always seem to have stories Inspired by a prayer of thanksgiving to tell. And we love a good story”. found in the Book of Common Prayer, the benediction that closes out each More joyful and celebrative overall AS&D event, “We Give You Thanks,” this latest album includes two songs emerged with the co-writing help of previously recorded live, songs that are Jason Ingram. “It’s just such a beautiful catching on with churches nationwide moment when we read that prayer as now reinterpreted in studio: “Great a congregation every night,” David Are You Lord” and “God With Us,” explains. “We were sitting around one both audience favorites and significant night and thought ‘What if we wrote moments on their concerts. In these and a chorus around this thing?’ And it’s all the original worship compositions just been such a cool part of the night, for this eponymous release, Leslie and connecting that prayer to the chorus and David continue to pursue authenticity and honesty in the music they make. seeing the congregation catch on.”

A lot of people mistakenly think that Hanging backstage with Leslie at CMS Leslie and David are married to each Buffalo I noticed she and David both had vintage Gibson acoustic guitars other but in fact they are married, just

All Sons & Daughters

continued

not to each other. I wanted to know how they make this work well for their own marriages and how they can encourage other mixed gender worship teams to work in unity together without blurring the lines of spouses and jealousy.

always been based around respect for each other and our families. It’s all about boundaries and a community that challenges you”.

play, to serve and resource musicians and worship leaders. As always, their song charts are free online, and they continue to take advantage of any Leslie added, “We have been blessed opportunity to start new conversations to have amazing spouses who walk about what worship might look like when approached from an authentic David replied, “We sat down as a down this path with us daily”. place ...Worship as a true reflection of family from the beginning and came up With plans to tour with Crowder in the heart, however fragmented, however with what we would and wouldn’t do. October 2014, All Sons & Daughters How much we’d travel, how involved take great care to make music that meets weak, however strong. our individual families would be. The people where they are, to find the pulse You can find more info about AS&D at non-negotiables. Our relationship has of the people in the cities where they www.allsonsanddaughters.com

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2014-06-12 11:29 AM

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Record Reviews I Am They I Am They 1. We Are Yours 2. Awake My Love 3. Your Love is Mine 4. Over and Over Again 5. King of Love 6. Even Me 7. From the Day 8. Make a Way 9. Here’s My Heart 10. Amen

By Gerod Bass about the restorative power of God’s love. Complete with clangin banjo’s, clappers, and dueling acoustic guitars, this song would be a great response to confession and forgiveness. “Your Love Is Mine” is a very bouncy vertical worship tune that reminds us that we belong to Christ and that the love that washes our sin-stained souls is everlasting and true.

“From the Day” is a rhythmic acoustic romp thanking God for his saving power and “Make A Way” is a gorgeous midtempo song about how God serves Hailing from Carson, Nevada, worship and loves his people in every situation. newcomers I Am They have found “Amen” is a soaring prayer of praise themselves in a place they never thought and thanks complete with strings and they would be, writing and performing piano that wraps up the album nicely worship music for a major Christian and has you begging for more. record label after winning a song writing I was very impressed with this first contest at Spirit West Coast a few years ago. Subsequently they went to Nashville release from I Am They. Most of the to claim their prize of recording one song songs in this project were very singable, with a producer who liked them so much, easy to learn, had solid theology and he shopped them to 5 different labels were interesting lyrically. Some of the which landed them on tour with Matthew songs tended to run together since there West and the resulting recording contract wasn’t a lot of change instrumentally with Provident Records. Their first self- and I would have liked one or two more titled full-length studio recording contains quieter moments but overall this is a 10 new songs that are sure to have you great album from these newcomers. clapping your hands and lifting your voice Jesus Culture in joyful worship to our God. Unstoppable Love Musically, I Am They, is a yummy combination of the southern acoustic 1. Sing Out 2. We Will Run groove of Matt Maher and the vocal shimmer of All Sons and Daughters. The 3. Light Of The World songs contained within this introductory 4. Surrender All (Give project are scripturally rich with themes You Everything) 5. Unstoppable Love centering around God’s faithfulness, His 6. Your Name Is Glorious unending love and the Kingdom of God. 7. No Other Like You (We Will Exalt Most of the songs on this project have You) a wonderful acoustic flavor with lots of 8. You Make A Way guitars, banjos, shakers and other hand 9. We Stand instruments giving it a very light and airy 10. Wide Open* feel. Vocally I Am They are very solid with 11. Born Of God* tight three part harmonies throughout this 12. In Awe Of You project reminding this reviewer of groups 13. 10,000 Reasons like Caedmon’s Call. *Included with the DVD version Some of the better tracks include “Awake The newest live worship album My Love” which is a toe-tappin diddy from Jesus Culture was recorded

*Gerod’s Personal Picks in bold.

Overall impression Average church congregation could learn/participate on the first hear Can be learned/adapted by a band of average skill Lyrical creativity and integrity

I Am They I Am They Jesus Culture Unstoppable Love Passion 2014 Take It All Kim Dexter Reaching Life Church Dance Again highest marks

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live during Jesus Culture’s annual Encounter Conference held Jan. 2014 in Sacramento at California’s historic Memorial Auditorium. Featuring a dynamic collaboration of voices who have helped shape, and continue to inspire, generations of worshippers, the 11-track album consists of mostly new original songs, alongside a few new arrangements of some well known worship favorites.

Kim-Walker Smith gives a stirring vocal performance as she leads the driving anthem, “We Will Run” which reminds us that only Jesus can heal the wounds of this life and we must surrender everything at the foot of the cross for complete healing. “Light of the World” is a passionate Easter themed song that features some hauntingly gorgeous guitar work and worship leader Anthony Skinner’s arrangement of “Surrender All” is a brilliant adaptation of the much loved hymn “All to Jesus I Surrender”.

The instrumental work in this track is genius and Skinner’s heart for worship is also very evident as he leads the congregation in a very moving ‘free worship’ section of this track.

Another popular song that gets a bit of an arrangement make-over is the Grammy winning worship hit, “10,000 Reasons” originally written by Matt Redman. With more emphasis on the vocal and strings, and almost no percussion included in this arrangement, the lyric really rises to the top and gives this track some unexpected sparkle and life.

“None Other Like You (We Will Exalt You)” speaks of the uniqueness of the love of God and “You Made a Way” is a beautiful reminder that only by the saving power of Christ can we enter the gates of heaven.

Jesus Culture has emerged as a driving force of worship in the modern church in the past few years because of their bold and powerful worship and for the most part, this album adheres to that recipe.

I was somewhat disappointed however that a lot of the songs in this collection tend to run together and sound the same. I also appreciate repetition in worship, to a point. I am not sure why they need to do a 9 minute worship song where the bridge is repeated over 50 times, but I do know that there are a lot of people who love that and if so, this album is for you. Instrumentally, this album is a gem but I wish they would

Record Reviews have spent as much time concentrating Me Go” and “Let It Be Jesus”. Probably on their lyrical content as they did the best song on the album that is sure arranging these songs. to jump up the CCM worship charts and be sung on Sundays all Passion 2014 around the world is Tomlin’s “At Take It All the Cross “. This song reminds me a lot of “Jesus Messiah” with 1. Don’t Ever Stop (feat. its quiet beginning, memorable Chris Tomlin) chorus and crescendo build to 2. Never Gonna Let Me Go the bridge where Chris cries (feat. Kristian Stanfill) 3. Let It Be Jesus (feat. Christy out....”Here my hope is found, here on Holy ground, here I bow down, here Nockels) 4. At the Cross (Love Ran Red) arms open wide, here you saved my life, here I bow down, here I bow down”. [feat. Chris Tomlin] 5. I Am (feat. Crowder) No Passion album would be complete 6. My Heart Is Yours (feat. Kristian without a few heavenly tracks from Stanfill) my favorite female vocalist, Christy 7. Almighty (feat. Chris Tomlin) Nockles. The first, “Let It Be Jesus” 8. You Came To My Rescue (feat. focuses on the name of Jesus as the Christy Nockels) name above every name that saves us 9. Mercy (feat. Matt Redman) and “You Came to My Rescue” is an 10. Come As You Are (feat. Crowder) upbeat worship anthem speaking of the 11. Worthy (feat. Matt Redman) freedom we have in Christ. Christy’s 12. This Grace (feat. Kristian Stanfill) passionate vocals and authenticity come Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks: through both tracks in fine style.

• Sing and Shout (feat. Matt Redman) speaking, banjos, • My Heart Is Yours (feat. Kristian Instrumentally folk guitars, and even hammered Stanfill) [Radio Version] dulcimers make their presence known Passion conferences have been in throughout the project, often times existence since 1997 and each year integrated with electronic elements in thousands of people come together a make this collection more interesting for a weekend of worship, fellowship, and memorable than previous Passion teaching and service that features albums. some of the best worship leaders and song writers in the world. Most of my It’s pretty much guaranteed that any experience of Passion conferences have Passion release is going to contain 4 or been through the inevitable live worship 5 worship chart toppers but I would say CD’s that follow these gatherings and this is one of the better Passion releases for the most part I always look forward simply because of the increased variety to adding many of these songs to my in instrumentation and vocal distribution of songs. Go pick it up!

Sunday set lists.

Kim Dexter This year’s Passion album once again Reaching features some of our best loved worship writers, Tomlin, Nockles, Crowder, Redman and Standfill to name a few.

This album is laid out in the typical Passion model; big guitars, driving drum rhythms, dance electronica, endless keyboard pads and amazing vocals. But this year’s album also offers a few nice surprises. The first of which is something that a lot of Passion fans were wanting, more variety of vocalists on the project (meaning less Tomlin). Well, they got what they wanted and although Mr. Tomlin sings 3 out of the 12, the rest of the tracks are vocally well distributed.

1. Remain 2. Pour Out Your Love 3. In This New Year 4. We Lift Our Eyes 5. Be With You 6. Reaching 7. Be Thou My Vision 8. Our Souls Cry out 9. Freedom 10. Here to Save

Kim Dexter’s first major foray into artistry came in the late ‘90s when The catchy “Don’t Ever Stop” starts she fronted Christian rock band, off the project with a blast of opening Mayfair Laundry, who toured nationally energy. Stanfill and Nockels follow with opening for the likes of Switchfoot, two more highlights in “Never Gonna Let Steven Curtis Chapman and Third Day.

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Dexter subsequently found success as a songwriter, penning tracks for Bryan Duncan, Nicole C. Mullen, Avalon’s Jody McBrayer, and multiple missions organizations. She also wrote the theme song for the immensely popular children’s series, “Bibleman.”

Nowadays she resides with her husband Paul (also of Mayfair Laundry) in California and has just released her first worship-fused solo album, Reaching which is a follow-up to her first solo album So This Is It. Dexter’s sugary sweet yet emotive vocals are the highlight of this solo project with the standout songs being “Pour Out Your Love”, a Sunday-ready, mid-tempo anthem speaking of God’s faithfulness, “We Lift Our Eyes”, which centers worshippers around Psalm 121 and Dexter’s piano-driven version of “Be Thou My Vision”.

“Our Souls Cry Out” is by far the best song on the album and is also the only duet featuring former Hawk Nelson frontman, Jason Dunn. This song features a nice combination of pop and country as we hear the all too typical keyboard pads mixed with an unexpected banjo twang that actually works nicely. The two vocalists complement each other well as they sing of the redemptive power of Christ.

Throughout this project Dexter’s sparkling pop charms emote authenticity and inspiration. She truly has a unique vocal gift and even though lyrically there wasn’t anything that tickled my fancy, there are still a few nice moments that make this worship album a solid offering.

Life Church Dance Again 1. Alive Inside 2. We Believe 3. One Thing Remains 4. Dance Again 5. Jesus’ Blood 6. Found & Redeemed 7. His Kingdom Is Here 8. Let Faith Arise 9. The Promise Isn’t Over 10. This Is My Surrender 11. Come All You Saints 12. Back Where I Belong 13. Emmanuel Life Church in Bradford, England’s newest life worship release, Dance Continued on page 47

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FOH Engineer

By Bill Gibson

The Sermon Modern church services are primarily structured to highlight worship through music and preaching from the Word of God. The music sets the spiritual tone for the service as the music team invites the congregation to join along in the singing and reciting of Scriptural truths. If the presentation of the worship music is heartfelt, and if the team has done a good job of engaging the congregation, the sermon will be much more powerful than it would have been without the musical support.

The music should introduce or re-introduce the congregation to God. Once the congregation has focused their hearts and minds on the things of God, they will be more open and receptive to His message for them, both individually and corporately.

The sermon is incredibly important—it must be heard and understood. It is distracting for the congregation to strain to hear the sermon, and it’s equally distracting to have to wince at the excessive volume level every time the preacher yells.

Intelligibility Intelligibility equates with understandability.

It implies the ability to accurately differentiate between words and sounds, whether the source is familiar or not. The pastor’s sermon must be intelligible. The congregation must be able to differentiate between similar-sounding words, such as brief, breed, and breach; they must be able to accurately hear the vocal sibilance, which provides so many of the key pronunciation and enunciation cues.

Headset Microphone Headset microphones are very popular in the modern church. They allow the preacher to preach, unrestricted in any way by a microphone or cable. They are typically worn with wires wrapping behind the ears to hold the mic in place, so the mic remains at a constant distance and angle from the pastor’s mouth.

With the headset mic being worn just an inch or two off to the side of the mouth, it provides a much more intimate, warm, and consistent sound than a lavaliere mic worn on a tie or collar. The headset mic typically provides excellent intelligibility and dramatically improved gain before feedback, when compared to the lavaliere mic.

The headset mic often sounds good without

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equalization; however, depending on the room and the preacher, it might need a high-pass filter at about 80 Hz, a 2- to 4-dB cut between 300 and 600 Hz, and possibly a high-frequency boost of 1 or 2 dB around 4 or 5 kHz. Lavaliere Microphone In a large room, using a sound system that has ample gain before feedback, a lavaliere mic is a viable choice. Some pastors are simply not comfortable wearing a headset mic. It is of primary importance that the pastor not be distracted by the forced implementation of technology, so a lavaliere mic might be the best choice.

There is often a feedback issue with a lavaliere mic because of the distance between the mic capsule and the sound source. It is understood that much of the low-frequency depth in the lavaliere sound comes from the pastor’s chest tone vibration, but the midrange region is often difficult to control. There is usually an overabundance of the frequency band between about 250 Hz and 800 Hz. An advantage that the headset mic has over the lavaliere is its stationary position in relation to the pastor’s mouth—no matter which way the pastor turns while preaching, the sound quality will remain constant. A lavaliere clipped to a tie, lapel, or collar is stationary in relation to the preacher’s chest, but not in relation to the preacher’s mouth. Depending on the exact location of the lavaliere, when the preacher turns his or her head to one side, the volume might increase, and then when the head is turned to the other side, the volume might nearly disappear—it’s a simple matter of proximity to the sound source.

Lectern Microphone The lectern, or podium, microphone mounts at the end of a long thin tube to bring the small condenser capsule up to the presenter. Small diaphragm condenser capsules offer the potential of excellent sound quality when used from the correct distance. They are very popular in conservative denominations, where the preacher stands at a podium to deliver his or her message.

The biggest problem for many preachers is that the lectern mic is stationary. It doesn’t move at all, other than a slight bendability of the tube holding the mic capsule.

Often, the preacher stands a foot or so from the lectern mic, which reduces the potential gain before feedback to near the same level as a lavaliere mic. If the pastor has a loud and projecting voice and if his or her mouth is within 6 to 12 inches from the mic capsule, lectern mics

can function very well; however, if the preacher has a light and timid sound and stands a foot or so away from the mic, there will be a feedback problem.

The lectern mic might not need EQ if the preacher is aggressive, or it might begin to feed back around 300 to 600 Hz or possibly around 5 or 6 kHz. Once the frequencies that tend to feed back are cut by a few dB, the lectern mic will sound good in the right application.

Handheld Microphone Some pastors prefer to hold the mic.

They get used to holding a mic, and they often count on it for security. Most preachers want to keep their hands free for communicating, expressing emotion, holding a Bible, and so on. There are several advantages to the handheld mic, including the following: • The handheld mic provides the best sound quality when used properly.

• The fact that the handheld mic is held within a couple inches of the preacher’s mouth makes it the least likely to feed back.

• It is the fullest-sounding when held close to the mouth.

• It provides the most impressive and dominating sound.

• It can be pulled away from the preacher’s mouth when he or she wants to speak loudly.

No matter how many sonic advantages a handheld mic might offer, the handsfree feature of the lavaliere and headset mics makes them too attractive for most pastors to turn down. The headset mic most closely approximates the sound quality of the handheld mic.

For more about this important topic, including insights regarding volume level, compression, riding the fader, wireless considerations, batteries, and who should be in control of the sermon mic’s on/off status, refer to The Ultimate Church Sound Operator’s Handbook, Second Edition by Bill Gibson.

For more from Bill Gibson check out www.billgibsonmusic.com.

This month, Bill celebrates the release of The Bruce Swedien Recording Method by Bruce Swedien with Bill Gibson.

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EDITOR’S CORNER Continued from page 7

BLIZZARD OF BASS

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Product Review PRS S2 Mira

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tent canopies over most of the tables for shade.

After my greeting came the eulogy (which I was honored to give). The Lord gave me a line to say that had calmed my nerves and emotions and prepared me to speak better that I thought I could… I told the folks gathered that some people might call it a “eulogy” but that I called it “a chance to tell a captive audience about how cool my mother was”.

After the eulogy came a song on tape and then her only grand daughter Kimi spoke, then my sister (both did an excellent job) and to wrap up the service on a more celebrative note my oldest son Drew and his wife Molly sang an upbeat version of Amazing Grace with me accompanying on acoustic guitar. I don’t know why but I was more nervous about the guitar playing part then I was with the eulogy. I goofed a down beat on one verse with the lively rhythm part I had and cringed but my singers rolled through it and as usual the audience didn’t seem to pick up on it.

When the song was over I gave a brief but impromptu prayer to thank the Lord for my mother in our lives and that is when I started to break down. I wrapped it up and invited folks to stick around and tell us their stories of how cool my mother was and got quickly off the stage/porch.

album available worldwide allsonsanddaughters.com

The whole day was a team effort with everyone pitching in (siblings, spouses, grand children, friends etc.) and at the end of the day I believe we honored my mother which is the only one of the Ten Commandments that has a promise tied to it… “Honor your mother and father and it will go well for you” (paraphrased).

If you also subscribe to our sister publications (Christian Musician & Collectible Guitar) there will be a few more insights into how my mother impacted my life in those editorial pieces.

Rest in peace Mom… your kids love you!

Bruce & Judy

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PERCUSSION

By Mark Shelton

The Art of Not Playing

judiciously administered but can Out of the eight instrumentalists in the become tedious and distracting when worship band, only the two keyboardists overdone. Every transition from verse were playing. Their sparse texture was to chorus does not require a cymbal the sole accompaniment for the entire roll, and using the bar chimes more song. Neither my colleague playing than three times in any song borders drum set nor I on percussion allowed on excess. ourselves to slip in even a meager cymbal roll. Sure, there were moments • Technique exists to serve our musical when a tasty percussive tidbit could ideas. Developing blazing technique have worked; but we somehow fought can serve you well when it is needed. off temptation. The art of not playing However, it can be tempting to apply requires discipline and is an essential that skill whether or not it is required. element of musical maturity.

Just because you have the tambourine chops to match every accent that the Standing in the back of the orchestra, drummer is playing does not mean you can observe violinists and woodwind that it is always a good idea. players processing the hundreds of notes from their sheet music into beautiful cascades of sound. Percussionists can monitor the activity around us as we continue to count the 258 bars of rests leading into three taps on the triangle.

The efficient orchestrations of the great composers and arrangers demonstrate the power of percussion when scored at the right moments. As a music student and later on as a professional orchestral musician, I grew accustomed to the “forced discipline” of the printed score as I waited to play an often sparse yet highly effective percussion part.

In many styles of sacred music, we have “forced discipline” when we are reading from a chart with specifically notated percussion--along with a conductor who expects a faithful rendition. However, in modern worship music, a percussionist is frequently expected to take an active role in creating the part. When “forced discipline” is absent, “self discipline” is needed.

• In some cases, it may be desirable to play throughout the song, but usually there are sections where percussion can take a rest. If the drum set player is laying down the time, consider waiting until the repeat of a section to add your color to the groove.

• The opening verse of a down-tempo worship song might seem a good spot for a sixteenth-note shaker line but could you wait until the second phrase comes around to add percussion?

idea and request more percussion activity than you deem appropriate. If you are asked to play more than was in your plan, go ahead and honor the request. No matter what your artistic intentions, submit to leadership and take direction.

Are you just going to stand there?

Membership in the praise band makes you a worship leader with a responsibility to set an example for the congregation.

Choosing to lay out for a section does not grant you a license to remain motionless with hands jammed in pockets while your brain journeys to Alpha Centauri.

So, what should you do if you are not playing? Here’s an idea: WORSHIP. Be • Check yourself with questions such as: engaged in the moment. Sing, clap your How is this part that I am playing hands, look at the leader, and let your affecting the music? countenance reflect the mood of the music.

Does my choice of instruments and The parts of the song without percussion will not feel awkward if you focus on rhythms enhance or detract? worship.

How can they miss you if you never leave?

Either playing or not playing affects the overall musical texture. At times, you can heighten the impact of percussion by laying out for a few moments. After hearing the same sonic material for a while, our ears enjoy receiving new information.

The reentry of percussion after a period of absence can provide fresh stimulus for the listener. Simply resting for a chorus and bringing in a stream of tambourine sixteenths on the repeat can give a needed lift to the song (and the worshiper).

As percussionists, we have great ability to change the texture of the ensemble with our variety of sounds but always remember that we can also change the texture by not playing. Demonstrate your taste and restraint with the confidence How about a trim? that the decision to play less is indeed a The art of not playing includes not musical decision. playing so much even when you are playing.

Think about simplifying LIke a city that is broken down and without your part (deleting notes, removing a walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint. few accents, eliminating the clutter). Proverbs 25:28 WEB Reducing your part a bit can give some needed space to the music and can help An active freelance musician, tighten the rhythm section as a whole.

Mark Shelton has created If a printed part seems to suffer from programs, products, and overwriting, use a bit of artistic license educational services for a variety of ages. Mark’s percussion work can to edit the excess.

Can you give me more?

• Showing restraint also applies to Although you have every intention of “coloristic percussion.” Those dings playing a meaningful and concise part, and shings which are tasty when the music director can have a different

be heard live and on recordings with Gateway Worship.

An active blogger, Mark writes regularly at www. percussionforworship.blogspot.com.

©2014 Mark Shelton Productions / Percussion For Worship

WORSHIPMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM JUL/AUG 2014

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SONGWRITING

By Brandon Bee

Songwriting From the Heart It started out as a rant on Facebook. I didn’t expect much of a response, but received a big hug from all who read it.

It seems to be something that needs to be talked about. This “it” is what I call “songwriting from the heart”.

and might think about sex, drugs, and partying. They might go once in a while to a club, but their day in and day out has nothing to do with the lifestyle of these songs.

Christian songs use about twenty different words (all with perfect rhyme of course) and, are guaranteed to include “love”, “hope”, or “grace”. In reality, Christian listeners are going through divorce because they have “fallen out of love” with their spouse, and happen to be some of the most unforgiving and nonNon-Christian songs are written about accepting people on the planet. There sex, drugs, partying, and an occasional is a separation here. It’s disappointing ‘blissful’ love song. The funny thing is and not the way God wanted for music that most of those listening to the songs to be used. Sure the simple, warm, and are playing video games, staring at their fuzzy songs that talk about how great iPhones, or watching Netflix. Once in a God is and great it is now that we know while they might actually see a human him, are fine and should exist, but we are missing a whole piece of what God desires in our music.

I will turn on the radio (both secular and Christian) and feel nothing. There is a group of writers who create assemblyline songs catered and tailor-made for us. At least they think they are, but in reality there is no connection to real life at all in these songs.

For those of you that write light and fluffy songs I challenge you to dig deeper and really write what you’re thinking, what you believe in, what what you don’t. If you are truly focused on God, He will shine through your music without you purposely writing it. For those of you that write overtly raw and rough around the edges, I challenge you to find the joys and love around you.

It is there. God is all around you and God desires us to give Him all the God is love. And finally to those of you glory, to be honest no matter where that listen to music and might not write, we are emotionally and spiritually, to be open to the spirit to hear what God be healed, and to minister to others wants to tell you in the songs you hear in need. So, if worship is a lifestyle, on the radio, online, by your child, your then serving at our local soup kitchen friend, or your worship leader. It doesn’t is just as much worship as the singing take a professional song to speak to on Sunday morning. This tells me that you, it just takes a willing songwriters writing and singing songs with real heart to write a song about what is stories, raw emotions, death, failures, going on in their life. doubts, and loss of love, is worship. It Be graceful to those that are still on elevates God because we know He is their journey, in and out of church, they bigger than all of it. This is as honest as are not in and out of their conversation it gets: it is the healing process to the with God. Art was created by God and writer and it meets others where they are He will make all things work together for at to minister to them. our good.

We need to allow God to say what He wants to say. God does desire joy but when it’s a lie, then it is null and void.

We cannot fabricate happiness or joy.

An interesting scripture I read recently was Jeremiah 46:11: “Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you.”

It is a prophecy about a war that took place in Egypt. For some reason this specific part of the prophecy hit me and I thought about it for days. We need to write the soundtrack of our life: songs of hope of course, but also songs about

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those that we know didn’t know Jesus.

There is good and evil. They both exist.

The Bible talks a lot about hell; I think even more then heaven. With out the awareness of darkness, there is no fear of it. There is no sadness that would draw us to evangelize to the ones we love (our kids, parents, friends, spouses, etc.) In vain, we have sang many songs.

I believe writing and singing real life songs will bring real healing.

Brandon Prescott Bee Artist, songwriter, producer, worship pastor at Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver, Wa “We are God’s art, even Michelangelo marveled at his creation!”

WORSHIP TEAM TRAINING

By Branon Dempsey

Seven Reasons Why Your Church Won’t Sing The human voice is the most basic instrument known to man. But what makes people sing? What makes the stop singing? Could it be that music is too loud, or the key of the song is too high? What causes one person to sing, may not be true for the next person.

What they both have in common is a desire to connect, along with the ability to participate.

the people can sing will bring greater insight. Go back through your song list and ask these questions: Which song did they seem to participate the most?

What key was the song? Was the song in fast, slow or medium in tempo? Was the song familiar and how often was it sung? Where was the song placed in the service? Lastly, did people smile and appear that they enjoyed the song or 1. It seems that the basics of music did they frown and look at the ceiling are often overlooked. Qualities such as tiles? Bottom line, knowing what makes key and pitch are dependent upon the your church sing is all about learning overall appeal, mood and framework of who is singing. a song. The adverse effects can greatly 5. Singing too long and too high. The hinder the participation of the church time of worship through song is to be an in worship. Some don’t find that key is experience where people can connect important, but in my experience, it can without distractions. Singing too high make or break the singing of the church. (and/or too low), or at least over long 2. When congregations experience durations of time will only force people difficulties of range, key and tempo, to stop singing. The same is true if the they may feel inclined to strive for the leader sings songs that are rhythmically song, as if they have to work in order to challenging and/or too fast for the keep up. After being tired of working, people. The average Joe does not sing who would want to sing? At this point, as much or hardly at all in comparison they close their mouths and begin to to those in music ministry. The typical human voice does not have the same simply spectate. stamina or range as an experienced 3. Your church are not vocal singer. We should not expect our Olympiads. Newer songs have the low people to jump over the same bar as subterranean verses and then jump up professionals. to the next octave. They sound great for 6. The congregation wants to hear the singer, but the typical church has the vocal melody, not so much the trouble. When people are pushed too band.

There is nothing more unique, high or too low, they will have difficulty nothing more intimate and nothing more in mechanically producing the notes.

A good range for the average voice is personal than the beauty of the human middle C (to shining) C, or D to D. Keep voice. The worship leader and team the verses consistent and let the chorus have the responsibility to help people be the highpoints. Even here, the chorus worship, having the right dial and sections need to be around B to D (treble balance from singers to band will help the church hear themselves sing. clef lines).

4. In the role of the worship leader, it 7. Ephesians 4.12 tells us to edify the is much more effective for the leader to church in equipping the saints. When adapt to the congregation in picking the our congregation is able to participate keys of songs. How does one do this? and unite as one, we have done our The leader needs to be in tune with job as leaders. This does not mean that the congregation. Knowing the ability, every single person will respond in the age and gender, also style of what same way, but it does mean that there is a presence of a concentrated oneness.

I do agree with those who say that the participation of worship is not totally dependent upon the worship leader.

They are right. There are many conditions that can be factored into the equation: audio/visual interferences, band/music related issues or the emotional wellbeing of the congregation.

What is expected from us: the band, singers and worship leader is our preparedness, leadership ability, music clarity and a spiritually engaging demeanor. We must make every effort to help our church worship. When we do, we honor God and build-up each other.

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” - Rm 14.19 Worship Team Training - Branon Dempsey

Branon Dempsey is the CEO/ Founder and Training Director of Worship Team Training® a ministry providing live workshops and online resources for local worship ministries.

Branon holds an M.Div in Worship and BM in Music Composition/Performance and is an instructor with Christian Musician Summit, a writer for Worship Musician Magazine, Shure Notes as well as other worship publications. Branon and is a Training Partner with Yamaha Corporation of America | Worship Resources, and part of the Expert Panel for Shure Microphones. Worship Team Training® is sponsored by Creator Leadership Network, Christian Musician / Worship Musician Magazine / Christian Musician Summit and a partner with Compassion International. Artist/Teacher Endorsee through Line 6, D’Addario, Proclaim Church Presentation Software, iSing Worship, Promark Drumsticks and Jim Hewett Guitars. Visit: www.WorshipTeamTraining.com Copyright 2014 Branon Dempsey | Worship Team Training® | Administered by For His Music. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. www.worshipteamtraining.com

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GuiTAR GRAB BAG

By Doug Doppler

Ear Training for Worship Guitarists - Part 1 In the first installment of this series we’ll be covering the key information and terms you’ll want to have in place in order to build a solid foundation for your ear training skills. Developing these skills is a great way to improve your ability to learn the parts that make up the songs we play. These skills are equally valuable in developing your ability to put fingerings to the parts you come up with on your own.

ear training exercises we’ll be covering which I usually refer to as the “one”, in this article(s). So, let’s start off by given the cyclical nature of scales. defining some of the lingo we’ll be The C Major Scale using.

Western theory, harmony, and ear Intervals training is driven by the C Major Scale An interval is most commonly defined as played on the piano. In looking at as the distance between two notes. fig. 1-1 it’s pretty easy to see that this Since a number of the parts we play scale simply uses all the white keys, and have a tendency to toggle back and that the black keys determine the order forth between pairs or groups of notes, of whole steps and half steps. being able The Shapes of Things… to recognize distances One of the things that makes guitar so the appealing is the shape-based nature of between them is the instrument. If for example you want key. to turn an A Major barre chord into a Dyads Although it’s a bit harder to see on B Major barre chord, you can simply the guitar since the The term dyad describes two notes move one chord shape up the neck two notes are played on frets and you’re done! On an instrument being played at the same time. The twomultiple strings, the like the piano you would actually have note “power chords” used in countless Major Scale fingering to know the notes that make up these rock songs are a great reminder of in fig. 1-2 is driven by chords (A C# E and B D F# respectively) how shape driven the guitar really is. the same “two wholes in order to switch between them. Same Triads and a half, three thing holds true with scales. The more wholes and a half” you practice chord and scales, the more Dyadic power chords are a bit formula used on the misleading in their name since most your ears and fingers become familiar piano. people would agree you need at least with the sound and shapes of them.

Major Scale Singing Exercise There is a tipping point at which players three notes to create a chord. As you go from practicing these elements to might have guessed, three note chords We’ll close this installment with our first recognizing when other players are regardless of their makeup are referred exercise. Move the shape shown in fig. using them. The wider our vocabulary to as triads.

1-2 to a fret where you can comfortably of chords and scales the greater the Whole Steps and Half Steps sing all the notes while playing them. As probability of our recognizing them The distance between any two adjacent you play up and down the scale with when someone else is using them. frets on the guitar is a half step. Double your guitar, sing the numbers included Similarly, the more comfortable you are in the diagram. In this fashion your ears, that to get a whole step. playing these shapes, the faster you’ll fingers, and brain will be on the road The Major Scale hear which shapes players are using. to connecting the dots between sounds, Since worship guitar parts tend to use When started on its first note, the order shapes, and fingerings. a finite number of elements somewhat of whole steps and half steps used to repetitively, the more songs you learn, create/define the Major Scale goes: We’ll pick up from here in the next the more you’ll hear and recognize the whole, whole, half, whole, whole, issue. Thanks and God Bless ~ Doug shapes that get used over and over in whole, half. A common way of referring the music we play. to this is “two wholes and a half, three What is ear training and why is wholes and a half.” In looking at the Doug Doppler is passionate order of these whole steps and half it valuable? steps, it’s important to note that there are about God, worship, and Ear training is about developing worship musicians. In addition no two spots you can start that will have to his work coaching individuals your ability to recognize the sound of the exact same order of whole and half and teams, Doug is also the intervals, dyads, triads, chords, and steps. It’s also important to note where author of “The Worship Guitar scales. One of the ways to accelerate the half steps occur numerically as you Book” which will be available in reaching the tipping point mentioned run from the first note up to the octave May 2013 via Hal Leonard. above is to practice the guitar-centric

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The Band

By Tom Lane

Pure In Heart Being a part of a worship band and leading worship in general is a unique opportunity and privilege.

It’s also very different than being a part of any other kind of band because we do it for different reasons. We’re not driven by a creative vision or desire alone, though we are passionate about our music and playing—it’s about more than that. It’s about heart, and no matter how good the music may be it is the heart that God is most interested in.

Psalm 24:3-4 says: "who may ascend the mountain of the Lord, who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart..." I wonder how many of us would say we have clean hands and a pure heart? If honest, most would likely say that we fall short and are very aware of our own unworthiness. If we relied on religion or feelings to make us worthy then who could come to the Lord? The reason we dare to enter his presence in worship is Jesus makes us worthy to do so, not because we feel like it or have earned the right by adhering to certain standards.

Lord instead of to Him. For any number of reasons it can be a struggle every time we get on the platform just to be in a right frame of mind. Sometimes we put such effort in to simply being prepared, by the time we’re there we remember all the stuff we’re dragging in with us from the day/ week/month/year. God’s desire is not for us to beat ourselves up over our failures but nonetheless to be willing to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. This is what leads to the purity of heart we need in order to come to Him.

It’s true that we can become so callous and tolerant of our own sins and still stand in front of people and lead just as if nothing is wrong. But that never negates that God is our Father and will always deal with us as one. Meaning our sin doesn’t go undetected, and He is always aware of our condition and struggle. He is both merciful and just in His dealing with us.

The mercy part means He’s patient, kind, compassionate, understanding—leading us to repentance. The just part means that He will allow the consequences of our sin and behavior to catch up to us and play out in our lives. It’s not that He Most of us involved with worship won’t redeem our messes, but He’s given have experienced the feeling of being us free will to make choices and there are unqualified, trapped, or paralyzed, maybe consequences to every choice. We really even naked and ashamed while leading. do reap what we sow!

Almost as if the whole congregation can There is also great grace, and under see straight through us and we’re totally exposed. Guilt and shame are two big the new covenant we are covered once emotions that can drive us away from the and for all by His atoning sacrifice. Every

the producer for your next project...

“Matt is a very musical songwriter, producer, mixer and a very good friend of mine. I love hearing his work as he is one of the best in the business. I always look forward to working and making great music with Matt.” ~ Gregg Bissonette (LA session drummer and member of Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band)

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worshipper enters as an imperfect and sinful person in need of being cleansed and made whole, every time! None of us is really more qualified than another.

It’s important to keep a balance, we never want to self destruct by degrading, condemning, or railing ourselves with such judgment over our imperfection and struggle. Yet we also do not want to develop such a thick skin that we are unaware or uncaring about holiness and purity in our lives.

My hope is to push us as leaders to be very real and humble in our leadership.

As progressive, excellent, and professional as our worship can be, I will always maintain that human hearts are drawn in by the Spirit of God and not our music or production. The Spirit of God is drawn to human hearts that are humble, honest, and repentant. So the condition of our hearts is what matters if we want to encounter Him in worship. "who may ascend the mountain of the Lord, who may stand in His holy place?” The qualified, the beautiful, the skilled, or more deserving?

“The one who has clean hands and pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior” (Ps.19:3-5)

Nashville, TN is home for Tom Lane though he is involved in ministry and music 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.

Camera

By Craig Kelly

Hand Held Camera Tips for Live Events The hand held camera in TV production is a great tool – if used correctly. If abused or not used well, it becomes a distraction and can bring your 3. production value down to amateur level.

improve thier shot – the HH can.

This camera position is not for the weak at heart.

Don’t offer a shot you can’t maintain. Your director may stay on your shot way too long. If you can’t hold it – don’t offer it.

Here’s a few thoughts from an excameraman-turned-director regarding hand held shots; 4. Want a great hint? Get up close as possible to your subject and zoom 1. Want to know how steady you out as wide as you can. Change should be? - It should be as steady your distance instead of zooming. as a camera on a tripod – pretty Don’t be shy. The closer the lens is steady is never good enough. Yes, it to the subject, the more the viewer is true that can you convey a sense will feel like a part of the action. of point of view or observation view Also, the wider you stay, the less with a little movement but generally your movements will be seen and speaking it should not be noticeable focus will not be as critical. As for for the camera to be moving – at focus – when in doubt, zoom it out all. Anything that allows the viewer always works. That doesn’t mean to step out of the moment should be you shouldn’t be spot with focus – well thought through and be done this is just a way to help you out on purpose. I know a few years of a jam. ago that ‘shaky cam’ was all the rage – and over-used. That fad 5. Watch your horizon! Unless you has passed. A great way to help are rolling the camera for a Dutch steady the shot is to use something shot – keep it level. to lean against – a corner, a wall, a doorway. Shooting a ground level 6. Clean your lens - both ends. shot? Use your hand or fist to rest Because the HH can may end up the front of the camera on. shooting at angles that are straight into lights - all smudges, grit, specs, 2. The hand held camera can get shots spots, etc., will likely show up. that none of the other cameras can get – up close, underneath, over 7. Put the camera on your shoulder top, from behind – every which early before the event and get way, and more. Get in there, don’t your shoulder worked in. It seems be shy. Use foreground, use creative like your shoulder tightens up for a angles, work, and don’t give up! while until it gets “worn in”.

The other cameras probably can’t move a little to the left or right to 8. Don’t laugh – it’s happened to the

best of us; make sure your lens is on tight.

9. Change your shot – often. Move around. Vary it up. Move to other side of the room or stage. If you have the cable – make your grip work. That’s what they’re on the crew for.

10. Never let your grip hold the camera cable without it resting on the floor between you and them. If they hold it up off the ground, every move they make will move your camera.

11. You need to let your grip know exactly what you expect of them. I always tell grips that they are doing their job best when their camera operator doesn’t even remember that there is a cable connected.

12. Lastly – practice. Then practice some more. Even if it hurts.

Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at zoomit.cam@ craigjkelly .com. Remember too - If I don’t have the answer, you or I can pose the questions in the free Linked IN group called TV Camera Operators – over 5,000 television professionals from around the world to learn from.

Craig Kelly is a veteran Freelance, TV camera operator/DP for over 25 years. He writes these articles to be included in his blog found at www. craigjkelly.com. Often the subject matter comes from the 3,000 + global membership in the LinkedIn group he started for new camera operators and volunteer operators called TV Camera Operators. Kelly is also the International/North America Representative to the Guild of Television Cameraman as well as advisory board member for 2 colleges and 2 high schools in the greater Seattle area.

In addition, he writes for Worship Musician Magazine and conducts workshops for new and volunteer camera operators. Kelly welcomes comments here or via email at zoomit.cam@craigjkelly.com

Newworldson at CMS NE photo by Bob Hardick

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Product Review

By Bruce Adolph

Casio Privia Pro PX-5S Well the folks at Casio have done it again. They have delivered a 24 pound 88 weighted key stage piano loaded with bells and whistles and more importantly hands-on live performance controls. First of all – how do they do it all for such a light weight and secondly… why is there a ton of technology on board for such a reasonable price tag?

All of this merits a deeper look. I actually had the pleasure of getting an in-person demo with the PX-5S from Casio’s own General Manager of Marketing Mike Martin at Sweetwater’s GearFest in Indiana a few weeks ago.

Mike is always very busy with all things Casio but he does acknowledge that the House of Worship sector is an important one for his company to be involved in.

In fact, Mike has played with his own worship team before.

Casio’s AiR (Acoustic and intelligent Resonator) processor delivers the goods.

Acoustic pianos (your bread and butter) are well done and are all new, as are the electric keyboard batches (especially those of the tine variety – thank you Fender Rhoades :) They are spot on and the way that you can manipulate the patch with your sliders assigned to the clack of the key strike or the amount of chorus, E.Q. or tremeloo you have mixed in or even the breaking up of the different speaker simulations. I like this!

You have your reed and clavinet patches and you can even control how much wah wah sound you want on the clav patch via the sustain foot pedal which now sports an envelope response. The clav patch with wah sounds is one of my favorites. Mike was laying down a killer riff. Good stuff!

sound more accurate than electric… I’ll give them that. This could be all on me though as I believe an electric guitar needs to be heard through a tube amp to be authentic. The guitar patch when blended with other sounds is a bit more convincing but overall it left me wanting.

This one small complaint will soon disappear however amongst the 340 patches, 256 note polyphony, phrase sequencing, on board effects, 4 knobs and 6 slider controls, pitch and mod wheel controls, 2 pedal inputs, 3 audio inputs, 2 outputs and oh, did I mention it can be battery powered? All this and the Privia Pro is still only 24 pounds?

Remarkable. If you are a mobile church your stage crew will like this pro stage piano as much as you do.

In summary what I like the most outside of the versatility and great sounds of the Privia Pro PX-5S is the fact that for ministry times you can really be creative in how you support your worship team and your pastor’s gospel message time by the layering of patches and by the changing of your effects “on the fly” to fit the moment’s sensitivity.

Now keep in mind that this stage piano is also a synth as well. Casio has borrowed and improved upon their XW series of synths and rolled them into the Privia Pro package as well. This gives you multi-dimensional control. One patch may have six different sounds combined in it and you can flow in and This PX-5S stage piano would make out of that particular sound patch by just a powerful and light-weight tool in any using those handy control sliders and keyboardist’s arsenal and at this price, it knobs. This gives you a lot of freedom is really hard to say no to. over the varying textures of layered Retail $1,399.00 Street $999.00 sounds. Pads with strings, pianos and synths create ambiance and then throw www.casio.com in the arpeggios…

Wow! I am liking this But the first question anyone should flexibility Casio affords a wide-open ask is, “How does the action feel… us… architecture to create especially at 24 pounds… did they take a short cut that I will miss while playing your music with. it?” If you are a long time reader you A pet peeve of mine will know that two years or so ago I as a guitarist (all my reviewed an older model Privia and keyboard friends will I loved the feel of the action… it was now roll their eyes) fast. Well this new realistic piano feel is that not only with from Casio’s tri-sensor spring-less 88-key Casio but with every scaled hammer action wins the day. It keyboard I have ever is better than the last keyboard I played played, I am not

by Casio. overly impressed with The next question I always get after their “guitar” patches. “feel” is, “How does it sound?” This Nylon strings and boards high-definition sounds using acoustic guitar patches I am excited about this new stage piano because it offers so much versatility for adjusting beautiful piano patches layered with string pads (or whatever you want to layer it with) and gives you the ability via on board sliders and knobs to adjust the blend and effects that can alter the patch “live” while playing.

Add in phrase sequencing capabilities for live looping-like effects on the fly and the ability of recording everything going into the keyboard’s inputs and everything you are sending out from the keyboard onto a USB thumb drive and you get a, “Way cool!” from me.

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Ministry + Artistry = Profitability?

Creating your MAP™

By Scott A. Shuford

iTickets Secrets to Success iTickets.com, part of the FrontGate Web Network, is one of the best resources for any artist who is looking to get the word out to the Christian audience.

With one of the largest Christian direct email databases available segmented by church leadership position, gender, age, region and more, and tons of online page views, iTickets is one the most targeted advertising options for musicians and event promoters who desire to reach the faith-based audience.

The site is the #1 traffic website for Christian conferences, concerts and event information, and has a hightraffic classification: a whopping 300,000+ unique visitors a month. In addition to Christian music marketers, movies, book publishers, colleges and of course events, all utilize iTickets’ powerful combination of targeted HTML email and online website advertising.

From our FrontGate experience marketing music and other clients, here are some additional ways to help your ticket sales.

Sell your tickets Facebook page.

on

You can create a separate shopping cart for your attendees where they can purchase tickets. This feature means that you can list all or one of your upcoming events on iTickets, and customers can see all of them and purchase tickets to all of them from just one screen! It’s super convenient, and also easy to set up.

After your live gig starts.

In addition, if you are planning a live event, don’t forget that the event promotion doesn’t stop when the music starts! You can try live-tweeting, and posting pictures on Instagram to engage and draw your attendees. Post group photos and wide angle shots where they can tag themselves, and keep the momentum going. You may also use a specific hashtag that will help audiences find all the snaps in one place.

Published by your friends at Worship Musician! and Christian Musician magazines!

iTickets App iTickets also offers a great app with a user-friendly interface!

Find out more about what you can do via iTickets, through our FrontGate Web Network at www.FrontGateMedia.com, and tune in our Social Media Tips blog in the News channel at the site.

your

Did you know iTickets can sell your paid event tickets right on your Facebook page? That’s right, with just a few clicks, fans of your page on Facebook can snap up tickets to your live gigs. We can help you set up a little square spot under your main header so that it’s incredibly easy to use and requires no updating once it’s set up.

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Add a shopping cart to your site.

Collectible Guitar magazine’s passion is all things guitar - vintage to new, then and now.

Scott has led classes for us at CMS and NAMM as well as teaching on marketing for the Gospel Music Association, Christian Leadership Alliance, and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

Scott is the Chief Engagement Officer at FrontGate which provides media buying, public relations, and social media marketing to reach the Christian audience. Their site at www.FrontGateMedia.com was recently awarded the “Best Marketing Website” and “Best Faith-based Website” in the 2014 Internet Advertising Competition. Get more marketing and social media tips at FrontGate’s blog.

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DRUMMER’S PERSPECTIVE Continued from page 10

is to record everything you play. I’ve mentioned this in other drum articles, but it is really true for every player.

As a percussionist, you can get a true perspective of what you sound like when hearing the recording from any event you play. Be objective when you listen and decide if what you’re playing really works with the music.

If not, be mature enough to make the proper adjustments. You might notice your shaker or tambourine patterns don’t line up or “groove” well. Listen carefully! Do you need to push your time more or layback to make the music feel good. Are you too loud or too soft? Do you need to leave out some ideas because there is just too much going on? Hearing a recording of yourself is one of the most educational tools you can use.

Be brave and do what ever it takes to improve your work.

One practical thing I look for in a percussionist is the way they angle the shaker or tambourine. The more perfectly level you play a pattern with these instruments, the more even the rhythm will sound. If you use more of an up and down hill kind of stroke the rhythm will swing more. Try it next time you practice. Take a shaker and play a simple pattern as evenly as possible. Notice the more you point

RECORD REVIEWS Continued from page 32

Again, is a 13-track album featuring new songs from the UK’s LIFE Church, and features original songs written by members of the church along with a cover of “One Thing Remains” by Brian Johnson/Bethel Music. But it is the story behind the title track that has people talking.

It all began with church member Amanda Varty who had battled “ME” (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) for nine years and was miraculously healed through prayer one Sunday at the Life Church campus. Her testimony had a profound effect on the church, inspiring worship leader and associate pastor Matt Hooper to pen the song “Dance Again” that features an incredibly powerful opening verse....”Praise Him when your heart is breaking, when your strength is almost gone . Sing out your song and praise Him in the fire and fury, In the

your stroke towards the floor the more “uneven” or “swinging” the pattern will sound. Then come back to a perfectly horizontal stroke and listen to the difference. This simple exercise well help you learn to control the feel of your groove. Try this also with a tambourine. It’s an “eye opening” experience.

Another common percussion mistake is to use the wrong style of grooves with the music you play. If you play real legit “Latin” percussion patterns in pop or rock songs, they may not fit. Even if you play them perfectly, they still may not work with the music. Again, the contemporary percussionist must know how to blend all of the styles they know and find just the right “musical” concept to fit with what the song requires. You might have to play some very strange combination of instruments or patterns to create the right vibe.

In my set up, I use a set of 3 congas, a pair of bongos, two timbales, a djembe, a doumbek, a big low drum, an udu drum, a talking drum, several triangles, cowbells, woodblocks, aggogo bells, several wind chimes, assorted cymbals, gongs, and several cases of percussion toys. I even collect saw blades, seashells, metal and plastic pipes, and other weird noisemakers. One of my favorite sounds is a hitting or shaking a

dark night of your soul. Your tears will dry, your heart will mend, your scars will heal and you will Dance Again” Much of this album’s musical flavor fits in step nicely with the album title as many of the tracks feature a decidedly electronic up-tempo style that will appeal to a younger generation.

One of the best written songs on the album is “We Believe” which is a wonderful musical adaptation of the Apostle’s Creed.

Amidst the energetically charged worship that pervades this collection are a few really nice and tender musical moments as well. “This Is My Surrender” is a powerful personal prayer of response and “I Lift My Hands” uses Romans 4:19 as the backdrop for this simple yet soaring offering of worship.

Overall I really enjoyed of new worship songs Church and even though I had never heard of them,

this group from Life personally this album

“garden weasel.” It’s that weird tool you’ve seen on T.V. Leann didn’t care to use it in the garden, but I love the sound it makes.

Anything can be used as a percussion instrument, just be sure it works “musically.”

Developing your drum & percussion team into a great music machine will make you an honored duo in your band. Stay humble and focus on making the music sound great and you will never be accused of being a two-headed monster.

You can truly be proof that two heads are better than one.

Psalm 133 – “How good and pleasant it is when we “groove” together in unity.”

The New (NKCV)

King

“Carl”

Version

Blessings, Carl Carl Albrecht has been a professional drummer & percussionist 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 sessions, producing, writing and continuing to do various tours & seminar events.

Visit his website: www.carlalbrecht.com or send an e-mail to: lmalbrecht@aol.com.

definitely put them on my personal worship radar.

Musically, there are some really interesting choices that work for this album giving it a freshness and vibrancy that is becoming more and more rare in the worship world. Lyrically, this album is honest and authentic. Most of the songs are easily adaptable for your worship team and easy to sing. Pick it up and look for big things to come out of Life Church.

Gerod Bass is a ministry veteran who has been serving God’s people through worship and youth ministry for more than 20 years.

Since 2009, he has been living his dream serving as the minister of worship and Jr. High at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Tacoma, Wa. Gerod is a singer, guitarist and recording artist who has a passion for impacting lives for the sake of the Gospel. You can find out more about Gerod, his ministry and his music, including his newest album release at his website, gerodbass.com.

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Product Review

By Doug Doppler

TC Helicon VoiceLive 3 The TC Helicon VoiceLive 3 delivers great sounding vocal and guitar effects, and also includes a feature-rich looper. While this unit was not produced specifically for worship teams, the feature set is perfectly suited to address a number of the challenges that many teams face.

What is the VoiceLive 3?

This unit is a preset driven multi-effects unit featuring independent inputs, signal paths and easy-to-configure output options. Vocal, guitar and loop processing happen simultaneously on separate effects “layers” within the same preset, each of which features an independent processor and stomp box style control.

Who is the typical user and how are they using it?

The VoiceLive 3 is particularly popular with singer-strummers who love the convenience of leveraging one piece of gear to dramatically enhance their sound. The vocal processing layer allows singers to create great sounding effects and harmonies that they can easily control on the fly via the footswitches on the face of the unit. Acoustic or electric guitar processing is done on another layer within the same preset and can include amp and speaker simulators as well as effects (including a number of the sweet sounds from TC Electronic’s TonePrint series of pedals).

for worship leaders who also play guitar - especially those serving at smaller congregations where worship and sound teams can sometimes be thin in numbers or skill. Being able to map vocal harmonies and effects as well as guitar tones to a single preset is incredibly powerful. It allows you to craft better sounding parts with the added advantage of lightening the load of what your sound team has to do down stream.

You can also pre-record vocal or guitar loops into a preset which adds yet another musical dimension.

What problems does it solve?

If you are the lone singer on your team (or on a given Sunday) this unit delivers great sounding harmonies that can really add to what you’re doing. If you are a Worship Pastor tasked with judiciously buying gear for your team the VoiceLive 3 is a sound investment for a couple of reasons. Although this unit shines most when used by singer-strummers, it also does a great job of delivering the goods when used solely for vocals, guitars, or looping. If you’re looking for a single piece of gear that can serve the broadest range of people on your team, you’d be hard pressed to find a better candidate.

Is it easy to configure?

One of the things I enjoyed most about the VoiceLive 3 was how easy it was to set up.

The looper layer allows musicians to record, When I review gear I almost always try and loop and stack tracks on the fly. find my way around a piece of gear before How does this translate into a Church cracking the manual, just to see how well environment and what challenges things are laid out. The menu matrix on this does it solve? device was intuitive to navigate and easy to The VoiceLive 3 is particularly well suited modify. Anything I was not able to figure out on my own was easy to find and understand thanks to the well written “quick start” guide and owner’s manual.

What are some of the coolest features?

The Layer Footswitch – it allows you to instantaneously transition between

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the vocal, guitar and looper layer views for each preset. If you’re leading worship and playing guitar you already have a lot on your hands. The VoiceLive 3 makes it easy to make changes inside each preset layer… that is a real plus!

Hit Button Each vocal and guitar layer includes a hit button, which effectively gives you a preset within a preset. This function allows you to map any of the available effects within a layer to the hit footswitch. This is perfect for adding vocal harmony parts on a chorus or drive and delay for a guitar solo – without having to change presets!

All Guitar FX Global This parameter allows you to map the same set of guitar effects to every preset, effectively giving you a digital TC pedal board – how cool is that?

Buttonmap The buttonmap function allows you to choose which effect a footswitch controls. This is particularly useful for singer-strummers who want to be able to have the same footswitch control the same effect from preset to preset.

You can also place the same effects and controllers at the same locations on both the vocal and guitar layers and use to the cross layer functionality to control them on BOTH layers. In a word – smart!

Conclusion All in all, this is one of the coolest pieces of gear I’ve had a chance to review in quite some time. Between the great sounds, intelligent layout and outstanding functionality, the TCHelicon is well worth checking out!

MAP: $1099.99 TC-Helicon.com Doug Doppler is passionate about God, worship, and worship musicians.

In addition to his work coaching individuals and teams, Doug is also the author of “The Worship Guitar Book” which will be available in May 2013 via Hal Leonard.

Worship Arts Technology Summit

Music - Vocals - Audio Lighting - Media

Early bird and group discounts are available, so bring the whole team. This two day comprehensive hands-on training event is unlike any you will ever attend. Our world class teaching staff includes:

Carl and Leann Albrecht - Ed Kerr - Michael Hodge - Tom Lane Camron Ware - Aaron Williamson - Sean McCurley - Lee Fields Harold Ruben - Scott Ragsdale and more...

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Ridgecrest NC San Antonio TX

Sept 19-20, 2014 Oct 17-18, 2014

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A Few Moments With…

Tom Kraeuter

Holding Umbrellas for One Another Not long ago, a friend of mine, Jonathan, went to a live production of Les Misérables at the Muny. For those not familiar with this St. Louis landmark, it is an outdoor theater with seating for more than 10,000 people. Each summer, the Muny—that’s short for the official name that no one uses, the Municipal Opera House—brings in numerous Broadwaystyle shows, each for a week-long run.

Combining big-name stars with highcaliber local talent, the productions are always first rate. Almost every night draws a packed house. There is something magical about live theater under the stars. As long as the weather cooperates, it’s a glorious experience.

The evening Jonathan went, however, it rained. Not a deluge, mind you.

Not even enough to cancel the show, but there was enough rain to make everyone a bit soggy. And there was certainly enough to cause concern about musical instruments, like violins and cellos. I know I wouldn’t want my guitar out in the rain, and I’m guessing that many of those instruments are more valuable than my guitar.

Jonathan mentioned that he was fascinated as he watched the musicians

freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:13-14). As Christians, we are called to freedom, but not so that we can indulge our own self-centeredness.

While the rain fell during the performance of Les Misérables, the No, that freedom is granted so that we second chair musicians set their can serve one another. This includes the worship ministry of your church. instruments aside and held umbrellas over the first chairs. They also used their Are you serving each other there? I free hands to conduct, since the first know you’re serving the congregation chairs couldn’t see the musical director through that ministry. That’s good. But are you also serving one another within through the sea of umbrellas. the ministry? Are you encouraging one Jonathan’s comment was simple: another? Are you helping one another “Inspiring humility from world-class to do better? Are you, figuratively musicians.” speaking, holding umbrellas for one I like that. I think, perhaps, we could another? learn from that in the Church.

I challenge you to consider ways that How would you have reacted in you can serve your brothers and sisters that situation? What would you have in Christ in the context of your church’s done? Would you run for cover or hold worship ministry. an umbrella for someone else? Or, perhaps, expected someone else to hold Tom Kraeuter teaches the umbrella for you? at worship seminars and in the orchestra pit. Many of those instrumentalists are a part of the St. Louis Symphony, a truly first-class organization. The Muny’s music is always top notch. You can bet there was not a third-rate musical hack in the entire orchestra that night.

For those involved in worship ministry in a local church, Galatians 5 offers a great challenge. For you were called to

conferences, church retreats, denominational gatherings, and more, all across North America. For more information on any of Tom’s books or seminars, contact Training Resources, 65 Shepherd’s Way, Hillsboro, MO 63050, 636-789-4522, staff@ training-resources.org, or

www.WorshipSeminar.com

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CYMBALS. PERFECTED.

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