Warm-Ups!

We all hate that cacophony that preludes a rehearsal or performance the warm-up. The incoherent din that precedes a all that we do - that gobbledygook of noise is actually all NECESSARY.

This morning, I got to play along with St. Jude's again on the song, "Don't Wait 'Till the Battle Is Over". It was tons of fun. I was just playing the one song at the ned of mass. The problem is I haven't been playing piano every week, and while it hasn't made me rusty per-se, it has made it so my muscles are not always ready to go on notice.

I got a 2 minute warm-up with the choir before mass. I then sat out for the rest of mass to sit with my family. When the choir came to the final song, I came up and played. It's an energetic setting made buy the Total Experience Gospel Choir in Seattle. It was awesome and it rocked (can a song" Gospel"?).

The issue I had was that over the course of this 5+ minute song, my forearms began to hurt something fierce. I've hit this more and more recently where my arms just aren't getting the exercise they used to. When we got to the end of the song, I was just in pain. I made it, but if I had had to go on to play something else, it would have been very difficult and would have affected my playing.

So, what am I getting at?

Before you start rehearsal or mass, take a few minutes to warm up. We all like the silence and want to communicate, but we as musicians need time to warm up our muscles. This is no replacement for rehearsal during the week, but it's still important to get the blood flowing to those places where we need it before we actually need it. This is not an opportunity to launch into the most daring work of the day.

• Drums - practice a couple rudiments
• Bass & Guitar - Work on a couple scales together
• Piano / Keys - Warm up the singers
• Singers - Warm up with a few scales and vocal exercises.

Each one of these deserves an article in an of itself.

Virtual Instruments - I'm Gloating

Easter Sunday. St. Jude's Gospel Choir. I offered to bring some fat B3 sounds to the sound for Easter. I brought:

• My trusty Korg Triton Pro
• My M-Audio 49-key controller
• My Apple MacBook Pro with Logic Studio 8 and a MOTU Traveler.

The sound was great - at least from where I was.  The Triton was up and running great, but I had weird problems with the FireWire until the second song of mass and things started...working.  (Word to the wise, having the Triton was a great backup plan!) Here's the breakdown on what I did:

Anything that required drawbar control went from the M-Audio Oxygen49 through the Mac.  I did this for light stuff or stuff that needed to stick out dynamically using Logic Studio 8's new Main Stage plug-in host and the EVB3 Hammond simulator.  I re-assigned my controllers on the M-Audio to control the drawbars in the plug-in.

Everything else that needed to be subtle, dirty, or very predictable from my perspective was the Triton because I needed only one control - volume.

In the end, things worked out well.  The only thing that would have been odd would be that the sounds of the TWO organs would not coincide really with the amp or the rotation speeds, but people listening to the choir weren't really any the wiser, I don't think. 

Get the Vocals Together

A couple things to remember when putting voices together. Any group of more than one vocalist must:

• Agree on the rhythm
• Agree on the diction
• Agree on the pitch
• Agree on the style
• Agree on the balance

Harmonies are great. Nail all of these and then multiply by harmonies.

Foods for Singers to Avoid on Sundays

• Dairy
• Pop
• Caffeine
• Heavy oils
• Spicy food

Examples:

• Pizza
• Coffee - including soy lattes (I sob)
• Anything fizzy
• Sundaes
• ANYTHING ELSE WITH CHEESE
• Really good Chinese food
• Yogurt
• All you can eat Indian buffets between the hours of 11 and 2pm (no doggie bags) with the really good Chicken Tikka Masala.

Why? Respetively:

• Dairy causes mucus
• Fizzy stuff causes burping
• Caffeine tightens the vocal chords which should be loose
• Oils give ME more mucus
• Spicy food brings more risk of hoarseness and throat irritation

You might also want to consider garlic and onions on that list as well if you actually like the people you worship with. (Thank you for this one, Kristi!)

Solos Should Have a Point

Okay, I'm not a big soloist. I like playing, but I don't have a big need to solo on much. In worship music, it's not needed often, but when it's called for, I have some opinions on the subject.

A pet peve of mine that got solved along with the issue of the existence of 80's hair bands was the fruitless efforts of flying fingers against setting of an otherwise harmless and unsuspecting melody. To me, it quickly turns into a demonstration of skill rather than a musical movement propelling the composer's melody to heights unattainable by the lyricist.

Which brings me right to my point - if you have a solo, see if you can sing it first. If you haven't done this, slow down and take the time to really sing it to yourself. You'll find a big difference in what you can capture emotionally with your voice at a pace much slower than your fingers could muster, and it will have a greater emotional impact as a result. I like to improvise, but if I can't sing it in some way, I ask if it really belongs to the song or if it's just too much me in the worship movement showing off. That's not how I should be glorifying God.

Here are a few points I like to think before diving into a solo or writing a new instrumental part:

• Keep it simple. Try something as simple just walking up the scale every half-note from the 3rd above the root!
• Keep it stylistically relevant to the rest of the song
• Make it carry the melody first and take it to new places second
• Do not use the opportunity to just exercise my fingers
• Stay focused and (if improvising) have a clear, pre-planned exist strategy to get back to the song

Seriously, Leave More Space

We all want to play.  We all want to praise.  We all want to praise and pray.

Good.

We all want to praise and play together. That's great, but not always at once.

As musicians, being professional means leaving LOTS of space. My high school orchestra conductor at Padua Franciscan H.S. in Parma, OH, Mr. Wayne F. Miller, put it best: "Never, never, ever play a rest."

This is more easily done with thorough composed music, especially on my bass clarinet with only the random whole-note to add.  When faced with chords charts and a band full of ideas and improvisational chops, our ingenuity quickly turns into noise every week on every song. 

Be the big, brave one and sit out until the final refrain, or the bridge.  Let the piano or the acoustic guitar do all the heavy lifting for the entire first verse. Let only the drums and bass play on the second verse of "Let the River Flow".

You'll hear the vocals better.

You'll sound more like the CD.

People will hear themselves better.

You'll be able to praise better.

You'll be able to clap your hands and lead by example!

And when you come back in, the professional difference you make by both playing and not playing will be obvious!

Tip - Go Old Sk3wl

Got a Glory and Praise 1 or 2 hymnal? Ever heard of SLJ? Foley? Schutte? Haugen? Haas?

Well... a lot of these resources are still around now and are still relevant NOW. I DARE you to get one of these now "classics" out and see who sings! My guess is it'll be everyone! Mind you, 20 years ago, these were cutting edge liturgy.

• Sing a New Song
• Sing to the Mountains
• One Bread, One Body
• You Are Near
• Though the Mountains May Fall
• City of God
• On Eagle's Wings
• Abba, Father
• Hosea
• You Are Mine
• Come to the Water
• Canticle of the Sun (Son?)

After 10 years in a guitar choir and you think I'd do these more often. I love these songs as they remind me the constancy of His church.

Kudos to John Hudak in Cleveland for the years we served together. Where are you, man?

Running a Sound Check

Sound men (and women) are so very, very important. They are critical to preventing distractions by providing clear sound in a prayerful environment. I've seen sound people looked down on by bands and seen bands looked down on by sound people.  Stoppit. We are all children of God and capable ministers.

Here's how I've learned to run a sound check. My hugest thanks to Kenny of the Matt Maher Band for filling in the gaps!  I'm going to assume 1) your band is using a typical three part system - front of house (FOH), monitor and backline, 2) your mixer (FOH) is probably being used to drive your monitoring system, 3) your drums are miked, and 4) you have a sound person running it all.

If you are blessed to have in-ear monitors and/or some type of personal monitoring system like AVIOM, God bless you, stop reading and go do something else. Otherwise, read on. 

If you don't have "mains", assume your church system is your "mains".  Any speaker pointed at a choir member would be a "monitor".

Start the sound check after you have prayed.

Once everyone is in place and attentive, start with the drums. Have the drummer hit the kick drum with full force going to be used for playing. Do not have any sound in the monitors or in the mains.  Bring the channel used for the kick up to a nominal level well before clipping.  You should strive to average around 0db or "Unity". 

Once you have the kick at a nominal level, set the monitor levels.  With the drummer still hitting the kick, go to each sub mix and set the level for the listener.  And ask the person (or people) who are in front of that monitor to give a thumbs-up or down to increase or decrease the volume of the individual instrument.

As the sound person, be aware of the following fun facts and goals:

• The sound system is for REINFORCEMENT. It's not a radio and sound that is not in the system may in fact be FINE without any additional monitoring.
• The person whose monitor is being set will need to hear themselves more clearly than anything else in the room. 
• The overall volume of all the monitors will ad to the noise in the room. Keep it to what is strictly necessary for the person to hear and not be distracted.

Having completed the above, repeat for the snare, hi-hat, etc.

I like to set-up in the following kind of order:

• Kick
• Snare
• Hi-Hat
• Overheads
• Bass
• Piano
• Electric Guitars
• Vocals.  (This one will take a while). 

To repeat, do the following for each input:

• Bring the signal up to unity.
• Bring the signal into the individual musician's monitor first.
• Bring the signal into everyone else's monitor to their liking.  No signal is great, if not preferred.

Importantly, do not put anything in the main speaker system until you have set all the monitors for all involved. You need to know how loud all your monitors are before you will know what to put in the mains. 

Once you've done all the monitors and the band starts playing, have them all play a song and have it stop part-way through and adjust. 

Repeat just a couple times, but don't dwell on it. Bands that dwell on monitor mixes will have a hard time being satisfied, so band members will often have to deal with imperfect sound.

Once the band is happy, start focusing on the room mix - the subject of a later article.

God bless you in your ministry.

Organic Crawl

So you're playing Hammond. You might have a great B3 yourself, or you might be playing an emulator or a keyboard with some decent sounds. Great. Here's a couple tips that can help your performance blend.

• Make it growl. Turn UP the distortion in the amp section. You'll find it blends rather than sticks out. It doesn't have the same effect as your guitar player.
• Try using just ONE drawbar, especially for softer stuff.
• Turn the rotary speaker sound on for about 5 seconds, then off. Repeat to build intensity.
• Vary your sound by changing octaves. You can CRAWL up from one to the next, but beware of jumping.
• Try playing no more than one or two notes at a time with your right hand.
• Try leaving you left hand off the keyboard to play with the Leslie (rotary speaker) sounds, drawbars and volume controls.

Lastly, don't be afraid to just listen. Being judicious with your playing can make the parts where you do play even more special to the song of praise.

All content copyright (c) 2007 - 2008 by Arthur C. Leonard. All rights reserved. None of the content provided can be used without the expressed written permission of the author.

Art's Formula for Worship Guitar Sound #1

I am going to call this WGS1 - because it's cool to use acronymns, and I want to be cool - someday.

I personally really go for the Vox™ sound made popular by The Edge of U2 for this type of song. The guitar sits right on the edge of overdrive without always clipping. You lay into it, and there it is – that extra noise!

I actually use a POD (1.0), but the fundamentals are the same no matter what you're on.

Here's how it works for me:

• The Guitar - I use Gretsch Nashville 1962 reissue (FilterTron pickups, using the neck pickup only). Any hollow body or semi-hollow can get great sound. For solids, dial your guitar tone in on the warm side.
  
• Optional Delay - . There are two ways to do this:
  
  • In time with the music, usually an 8^th or quarter note in delay. Using a tap-delay will keep your drummer from killing you. (Read: don't force your drummer into a groove – adjust your equipment!) If you're shopping, make sure you can access the tap feature with your foot. Line6 makes a good model for this. It's green and can be seen on almost every band's pedal-board.
    
  • You can also work on off beats. This is the way The Edge does it, and Christian artists everywhere copy it! You want the delayed sound closer to a 16^th note, but only feedback ONCE. Then when you play, play 8^th notes – you get twice as many notes! Timing is critical. You can also try triplets! Count 1-2-3 per HALF note and tap away! This is even closer to that classic sound – but harder to program on the fly.
    
• The Amp - The idea is to get the sound close to overdriven but not quite there when playing lightly. This will let you arpegiate cleanly without overdriving. Then, you can use a BOOST or just start playing harder to get a crunchier sound! It's very versatile and very "in".
  
  • If I had my way, my amp would be an Orange AD30 TC
    
  • My second choice would be a real-tube Vox AC30. This is the basic amp of George Harrison of The Beatles and U2 and is the originator of the sound in question.
    
  • Lastly, you can get a good emulation from the Line6 POD effects units.
    

Line6 also makes amp versions of the POD with the tones already built in, and in worship can be much more effective than having an amp that does all the work. (Loud backline amps should someday be a Cardinal Sin. J ) Keep your FOH engineer in mind when you're shopping!

If someone wants, I can post my actual POD settings here! Just leave a comment!

He Is Risen! Now make it known.

Lent is over. We’ve renewed, refreshed, and been revived!

Your music should reflect on the resurrection, moving the people to praise with fervor as in no other season!

At St. Vincent’s, we do some simple things to keep from lapsing back into “Ordinary Time Mode” (OTM):

• Sprinkling rite at each mass in the Easter Season (with accompaniment)
• Change the mass setting to something bright, simple and worshipful
• Use the word “Alleluia” as often as is possible

Find a new song and repeat it a few times during the season:

• On the Third Day (Maher) performed by Tim Hughes (reflection-type of hymn
• Resurrection Day (Maher)
• Let Your Love Come Down (Blakesley)
• So We Will Worship (Hart/Hipp)

A couple other things to try:

• Update some of the older hymns like “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”
• Add a brass section for a few weeks
• Make your warm-up more interactive, or just do something different
• Find a new song with hand motions
• Commit to find one new instrumentalist this Easter season
• If you’re a writer, write something new!
• If you’re a keyboardist, use a different preset, or even play a non-synthetic instrument

Me? I’m gonna praise Him just a little more this week on my old 1973 Wurlitzer 200.

Whatever you do, keep it out of the OTM!

God bless you in your ministry.

Space – the scary frontier

As musicians, we often feel it is our job to make noise, after all who can argue when the Bible says, "May a joyful noise unto the Lord." (Ps. 100:1).

The thing is, not playing and not singing often takes much more discipline than playing all the time. As my orchestra teacher used to say, "Never, never, ever play a rest," we too must leave space at the right times.

Take the song "Sacred Silence" as recorded by Tom Booth or Jenny Pixler (available through www.spiritandsong.com). It is a lovely, sparse song that grows, ebbs, flows and resolves. At almost no point is the entire band playing at the same time. Yet, the beauty and completeness is achieved with so little.

The same is true for more upbeat songs, like "Trading My Sorrows" (Darrell Evans). The verse doesn't need a lot of things going on. You might find more people sing when there is more space for them to do so. For example, next time your team plays this song, try using just drum and bass on the verse along with the vocals. You might find the space is just what the congregation needs to find a home in the song.

The congregation, just like us as musicians, has the desire to be needed in worship. We should do our best to give them the space to feel desired. We, as musicians, should provide holes for them to fill in, like the name tags: "My Name Is:
".

As musicians, we all have egos. Just admit it. It may be checked at the door, but it is still there waiting to come out. We should all have the ears and guts to know when we don't need to play. And it does take guts. Even more so, it takes professionalism I

Over the weekend I had the honor and privilege to play a mass with Jesse Manibusan, David Yackley, Jackie Francois, Paul Nuyen, Becky Rameriez, and Rufino Zaragoza (among others). David and Rufino, both gifted, talented pianists traded off on piano, Jesse played where needed, and not all singers sang on everything - and it was awesome and beautiful. All had the professionalism and talent to demonstrate:

1. the worship experience is more important than for them to hear me play
   
2. I am secure enough in my skill that I don't need to fill the entire space with my notes for me to be satisfied with my contribution.
   

If your team isn't carrying these notions every week, you might think about some of the following questions:

• Have we reinforced our team's skills with compliments or with criticism?
  
• Have we made clear the need for space in our music? (Does your team know it's okay to not play?)
  
• Are we personally comfortable enough to let go and not play, and yet still feel valuable to the worship experience?
  
• Is our team's working environment competitive or collaborative when it comes to dividing arrangements?
  
• Do we (as directors) always rely on the same people to fill the same roles, or do we also provide space for others to grow?
  

God bless you in your ministry.

Directing from the Piano

Yeah - I am a pianist. I love leading from the guitar, but it's not always practical. Or in my case - ever practical.

Here's some tips that will help anyone trying to lead from the piano:

• Try not to make yourself critical to performing a song. This is especially true of your left hand. Let the bass player do his job. He / she will thank you for it.
• Position yourself so that you can clearly see the drummer, and the drumer can clearly see your hands.
• Use simple hand signals with your left hand to cue the drummer.
• Get a drum stool or keyboard stool that will let you sit higher than the expensive artist bench the church invested in. Sitting higher just even a few inches will make you more visible to the band and the congregation.
• Be in constant visual communication with the drummer, the same way he / she is with the bassist. As long as the to of you agree, you will have a much easier time moving the song musically.
• Position the piano in such a way that you are looking at your singers.

Alternatively, you can do what so many others have done: Give up, get a guitar and someone else to play keys. :-)

It's taken me a long time to get the balance between playing the piano and directing - and I'm still learning. It's much more difficult to do both from the piano as it is so easy to hide behind a behemoth instrument (we're gifted with a grand piano at St. Vincent).

Go fight your pianist intraversion with a few sparser inversions.

God bless you in your ministry.

Lock step - the drum and bass

"Never uttered words more true." - Angus McDonell

This is the response I got when I said the fllowing at a conference recently where I was playing bass for Angus McDonell (who is himself a wicked bassist!):

The kick drum and the bass should be in sync at virtually all times.

Seriously.

What does that really mean?
If the kick is on the one - the bass is on the one and generally doesn't hit another "big" note until the kick does. The two parties are in lock-step with each other at all times. If this is news, then there is something else the two parties will need to start doing: communicating.

The drummer and bassist need to talk little about most songs. That means that the drumer and bassist have to be solid enough to know what the grove is and what they're going to play before they play it. You can "wing-it", but you have to agree what wing you're talking about.

One case in point: Raggae. Raggae is one of those places where you can play it "white", or you can play it "right". The key to doing it "right" is the ghost note on the one. That means no bass or drum is played. Often times I've heard demos where its just kindof got a raggae feel, but to paraphrase Jesse Manibusan, if you don't have the ghost on the one, then the groove is to raggae like Taco Bell is to Mexican food.

If you've got the kick on the one, the bass should probably be right their with it. If the bassist has a note change on the upbeat of 2 (as a lot of our modern CCM music does), he/she should communicate that to the drummer so the change can be reinforced by a well-placed kick.

(If I get some comments here, I'll post some charts to explain what I'm talking about.)

A lot of times we have willing musicians, but not the most skilled. The key thing is to be willing to learn and be of service. Often too we have musicians that are more skilled than the task calls for - and thats awesome. Again, the key is to be a willing servant.

In the case of the drum and the bass, I don't think this is any more true. These two people (often half of the band) has to provide the spine of the group and be happy doing it, knowing full well that their abilities will likely never be used to their full potential at mass. And that's okay - it's being part of the Body of Christ. If the band is the Body of Christ, the body needs its spine - or else it will fail. As musicians, if we are not skilled, we should invest to become skilled to serve effectively. If we are skilled, we should bring the mind of the teacher, and the heart to serve and communicate.

God bless you in your ministry.

Can I see your License, please?

We've all done it: violoated copyright law. Most of us without knowing it.

More often than not, the key thing people aren't aware of in music ministry is how to manage copyrights and make sure that they are legal. They don't understand the differnces between a mechanical reproduction and performance rights. Here's the skinny on what I've come to understand as what we all need to know.

The FIRST thing you need to know is that I am not a lawyer, nor have I ever played one on T.V. I am not offering legal advice and this article should not be construed as such.

Here are the types of licenses / rights you need to be concerned with:

• Performance rights - the right to perform a piece of music
• Mechanical royalties - the right to mechanically reproduce a perforance of a piece of music
• Reprint license - the right to mechanically reproduce printed music

I'll go through each of this as suscinctly as I can:

Performance Rights

In the United States, when used for a worship service, no performance royalties can be collected. However, when broadcast or played for any other situation (concerts, etc.) performance royalties of the song are due to the songwriter. This is paid by the venue (i.e. bar, coffee shop, concert hall) to the Performance Rights Organization (i.e. ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) in order to pay the songwriters and their publisher. The performer is required to turn in a songlist to the venue, and the venue is required to submit the songlist (with composers) over to their Performance Rights Organization.

In practice, this rarely happens in small clubs and venues. Same with college radio. Larger companies like ClearChannel-run radio do actually turn these over and people do actually get paid for their work.

Again, this royalty is not owed the songwriter when a song is used for worship. But publishers and songwriters have other means of getting paid for their work.

Mechanical Royalties

Mechanical royalties are due a company when a work of theirs is reproduced in any means. For example: copying a CD, or a tape.

When your singing group makes a recording of a song, they must pay the songwriter* a statutory rate of $0.08** per song produced. For small runs of privately funded CD's, a more low-cost fee may be reached, but it is your duty to contact the publisher to get permission and pay their fee.

*songwriter and their publisher, actually

** this may be out of date.

Reprint License

THIS IS THE THING that as a music minister, YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW.

• A reprint license grants you (most often) the right to make copies of the lyrics of a song to be consumed by a large number of people for public performace (like at mass). This applies to song sheets and overheads.
• It does NOT grant you the right to copy sheet music. (With notes.)

The sad news that you probably don't want to hear is that there is almost no legal way to license music to make tons of copies for your 300 member choir and accompanying orchestra. The cost per sheet is roughly equal to that of what the publisher would charge you anyway - so just buy the sheet music.

In order for your favorite artist to get paid so they can buy food (and I know quite a few good artists that have trouble affording FOOD), you must turn in your songlist quarterly. The funds that you surrendered at the beginning of the year will be distributed to the songwriter and publisher based on their percentage of the total amount of songs paid for in the year.

Penalties

You're going to love this. Copyright infringement is a simple calculation: lost revenue x 3. That's right - TRIPPLE DAMAGES. And the law doesn't care if you're doing the Lord's work.

This is a vast, vast, vast over simplification of licensing and is by no means complete or definitive. It is however BRIEF.

God bless you in your ministry.

Compose your Composure

It's been a little while - okay a LONG while since I've written. For those new to reading: many of the opinions in this column are my own. While I'd love for this to be a definitive guide, its' really just my own opinions and observations on musical liturgy.

I've got a renewed sense of purpose right now, and I've also got some new subjects to write about. So I'll just get to it.

What is your composure saying about you?

At some point or another, it happens to all of us: our body language speaks louder than the hymns of praise we extol from the ambo. We are not always aware of the hidden - and not so hidden messages - that our body language sends to others, especially when we are in the role of ministry.

I have a case in point: I am at a Catholic conference this weekend and a m having a great time. Last night I attended mass, which is good because - well... it's mass. But the one thing I remember isn't so good. I remember the psalmist flipping her hair incessantly. I'm a little ashamed to say I let it bug me quite as much as it did, but it did.

The real question is, "Why did it"? It was a number of things that are both personal to me, and general to most people. Firstly, the Psalmist was a young and up and coming Catholic artist. Every flip of the hair appeared more and more arrogant and dismissive of the assembly than the next, as if to say, "I have surpassed the need to be a part of you." I know that's not at all how she meant to convey the Psalms though. Secondly, her delivery came across to me as if the Word of God was a means to convey her own personality and talent. The Psalm setting was very stylish and vocally energetic, and did her voice well, but her presentation distracted from the fact that it IS the Word and requires a deliberate approach to its recitation that negates the need for personal style. I would have been willing to let the stylizations go, but that with the hair flips put me over the edge - I was distracted.

And that's the point - we must be free of distraction from the Word of God. Everything from our clothes to our hair, to our musical prowess, to our ability to distract ourselves with page-turns, last-second directions or mike stand adjustments builds at best a distracted environment and at worst and air of irreverence for our Lord's message. We send out constant signals about our own personal level of reverence for the Word and for the Eucharist. These signals are subtle but set the tone and example for the congregation to follow - especially when that example is not up to the task at hand.

Our own reverence is key - and it is present in our body language - not just in the words we sing. As our music is deliberate to the purpose of the liturgy, so too our movements should be deliberate, key as a part of the function in which we serve. Liturgical music does not serve us. It even refuses to do so by definition. Music that serves our own purposes is not Liturgical - it is secular by nature and therefore does not serve the liturgy. Our job is to do our best to not corrupt that purpose with our own bad habits.

While all of this is most relevant when the band can be seen by the congregation, it is also important when the band is behind the congregation - in a loft for example.
Try the following:

Take two minutes before mass to make sure everyone's music is in order: one page turn is all that is required to get to each successive song.

Take another minute (or five if needed) for the entire band to walk through the entire mass before engaging the congregation to worship to answer any remaining questions.

Right before mass starts, set the tone of reverence by an example of silence.

• Throughout mass observe the following:
• All eyes in the band should be on the Word when it is read
• All eyes should be on the Eucharist during the Communion Rite
• There should be no more than the absolute minimal retuning during mass
• Singers should not converse with each other at any time between songs
• Communications with the director should be made non-verbally - hand signals should more often than not be sufficient to handle most crises.

I predict your example will set the tone for a more reverent, and therefore more vibrant and relevant liturgy. What good is it when we distract from the liturgy? It serves no one - least of all those we serve.Other things to watch out for:

• Singers: don't touch the microphone at mass - especially for emphasis. This is not a concert.
• Guitarists: make sure if you must tune, you can do so at near silence.
• Singers: know your music well enough to sing it without the page.
• Singers: Participate in mass essentially leading the congregation in every word - not just the sung ones.
• Singers: Dress appropriately.

Directors: I don't get the wild, over enthusiastic hand motions of some directors. Enthusiasm is good, but some of you need to switch to decaf (in my opinion).

If you've ever seen Val Lamar Jensen, that's not what I'm talking about. She's got the right idea with her temperance.

God bless you in your ministry.

Vintage Keyboards

I love some of the equipment I've collected over the years. I have also acquired a fair amount of junk as well. No place is the line more blurry than in the "vintage" gear. But that old Hammond M-100 may only fetch $200 on Craigslist.org, but it may be worth $1000 to you with some work and a good Leslie speaker. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read on.

Vintage – an important but meaningless word

"Vintage", a word that comes from wine-making, is simply a word that describes the year something was made. For example, the vintage of a 1999 Chateau St. Michelle Merlot is 1999. Simple, right? But for musicians, a piece of "vintage" gear is one of enough historical significance so as to warrant its continued relevance and value today.

"Vintage" keyboards (and instruments for that matter) are that category of instruments that pre-date Rainbow Brite™, often fail to shine aesthetically, but can (if taken care of properly) knock the socks off most anything else made in the last 20 years. They come with "character" rather than scratches, and sound, rather than shine.

Not all old instruments are considered "vintage". For example, a 1981 Samick acoustic, is not, and probably never will be considered a "vintage" instrument. The key here is desirability. However, I got the privilege of playing Matt Maher's 1945 Gibson acoustic guitar – which sounds great even now! As is the case with good acoustic instruments, it will often sound better after 10 or 20 years than it does new!

Here are a couple examples of "vintage" instruments, if you can find them:

• Pre-WWII Martin guitars (good luck finding one)
• Stradivarius violins
• 1965 Fender Stratocaster
• 1960 Gretsch Nashville or Tennessean
• 1971 Fender Jazz bass
• Hammond B3 Electric Organ
• Fender Rhodes 73 Electric Piano

What makes these instruments special?!

1. Most importantly, none of them are manufactured anymore. Even if they are in "re-issue", meaning similar look and electronics, they were not made at that time
2. Often, they represent a particular sound associated with that part of history, or were made popular and became desirable
3. Sounded great

A couple of reasons for these instruments being important is that they produce a sound you can't produce any other way.

For example, Stradivarius violins are so highly sought after because the builder was a master and has died, the woods used no longer exist because the climate in the 1800's when they were built was especially wet, and they sound fantastic. You simply cannot build a better violin today for some of those reasons! (I especially love the climate reason.)

Vintage Keys

Vintage keyboards are a little different breed from other instruments when it comes to vintage and value. "Vintage" keyboards still tend to be electric in nature, and therefore not always a better pick for use in worship.

The key drawbacks to owning a real vintage keyboard: tuning, hums, buzzes, fuses, weight, and cost of repair. But, the key reasons to own vintage gear: character, authenticity, expressiveness, grittiness, and… well it's just cool.

I guess the big thing I love about vintage keys is authenticity and expressiveness. For example, I own a Wurlitzer 200. Its preamp is noisy. Its keys often need tuning. The action needs work. It's as heavy as my 88-key digital piano. None of this would be a problem if I had bought a Clavia Nord Electro and used their model. But, the sound of the reeds being struck be hammers is so honest, you can't replace it. The fact that things are slightly out of tune – it's not all bad!

I like to think of this as the difference between polished singers and singer/songwriters. You may disagree with me, but I often find more sincerity in the unpolished honesty of a songwriter like Ben Folds or Elliot Smith than I find in the overproduced sounds of Justin Timberlake or David Coverdale.

Here are a couple models to watch out for on Craig's list or eBay and save up for. You may need to have a friend with a pickup for some of these!

• Hammond B/C3
• Wurlitzer 200(A)
• Farfisa
• Fender Rhodes 73
• Yamaha CP80
• Rhodes Suitcase EP

What makes these instruments interesting to list to is that they use real, physical means of producing sound. For example:

Hammond – spins a wheel ("tone wheel") at a high rate past an electric pickup to cause the pickup to modulate (vibrate like a microphone).

Wurlitzer – uses a hammer like a piano to strike a "reed" to make it vibrate, and is picked up via a pickup like an electric guitar.

Rhodes – Uses a non-articulated hammer to strike a "tine", like a xylophone to make a sound, which is then picked up like a guitar would.

CP80 – works just like a piano but with an electric pickup (again, like a guitar) on the soundboard.

The problems here with producing physical sound, especially for worship, is that they often have issues:

• They often go out of tune
• These instruments are often electrically noisy
• Can be unpredictable (try finding a fuse for these during a sermon or homily!)
• Are heavy to lug around
• Are often quite fragile and sensitive to climate changes

The sad part is that many of these issues cannot be worked around without good maintenance, and even then can cause you pain on Sunday! So, now we've come to the very crux of the matter: "Vintage" does not mean "good", especially when it comes to keys. But there are alternatives available.

Alternatives

Your typical keyboard will have settings for Hammonds, Wurlys, Clavs, and the like. Most of these are "PCM" based (sampled recordings of actual instruments). While this sounds good, it's not the same as the real thing – nor will it sound good typically on its own.

Each of the real versions of these instruments (Hammond, EPs) use actual physical means of making sound – yes, even though the instruments are electric! A single recording of these instruments (as most digital keyboards have) is never enough to represent the range of sounds producible by the original, and its inferiority honestly is apparent.

But, there are instruments out there that model the physical nature of the sound, and even give you control over the creation of that sound to come up with some of the best available emulations out there – without the price or unpredictability.

First are the hardware based instruments like the Clavia Electro, Korg CX3 and Roland XK-8. These instruments offer a lot of options that will suit your needs well. For example, all offer a major feature of real organs called "drawbars" that let you configure the sound of the organ on the fly! (We'll talk about playing with this in a future article.) You can also configure your rotary speaker emulation to work just the way you want it, recreating those great sounds you hear today.

Roland VK-8

Also available, for those tied to the latest computer technology, are plug-ins and the like that can be run on a portable laptop computer that will create those great sounds in a controlled fashion, like Apple Logic's EVB3 and Native Instruments' B4. Both of these have great organ emulations. You can model the age of the instrument, it's noise, tuning, speakers, and even how much noise would be made hitting the keys! The disadvantage is that you have to rely on your laptop, so have a GOOD, clean low latency output. You'll still need to bring a keyboard to control the computer.

However it's still not the same as playing the real thing. So, if in my opinion, if you ever get a chance to play the real thing and can't have it all the time, DON'T. You'll wish you could, and you'll always be comparing the emulation to the real thing. ;-)

Models to check out: Clavia Electro, Korg CX3, Roland VK-8, Hammond XB-3, Apple Logic's EVB3 and EP88, Native Instruments B4 II.

My personal take

My favorite keyboard to play live by far is my old Wurlitzer 200. It has a single output jack that I plug into a DI box (because after carrying this thing around, the last thing I want to do is carry around another amp.) It's old, it clunks, it buzzes, it only makes one sound, goes out of tune, and is heavy. I take the laptop with me occasionally and play Hammond sounds though Logic. I also sometimes play the emulation in my Roland RD-700sx (which also emulates tone wheels).

I use a variety of tools to create the sound, and when it comes down to it, I try to do what's going to work best for the music. If the buzz is a distraction, I stay away from the Wurly. If I need to lead, I'm on the piano or guitar.

Do what's right for the ministry, and be ready for the answer to not be any ONE thing.

Life on Speed

I need to slow down.

There's a lot going on in all of our lives. Performing music and praising God is fun and rewarding, challenging and consuming all at the same time.

Most of us involved in ministry have families, loved ones, lawns, jobs, bills, and weeds. The oil in my poor car hasn't been changed in nearly 9,000 miles. I just haven't had the time. That said, I drive 35 miles each way twice a week (yes, 140 miles a week) solely for LIFE TEEN masses and rehearsals.

Often, I have to remind myself to slow down. Life will be okay... mass will go on, and for crying out loud, pick another song rather than staying up until 3am to write a new setting or transcribe one that OCP can't be bothered to put online.

Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI recently reminded us that being busy all the time can lead to spiritual hardness of heart. I know I've felt it. It's in those times that I have trouble experiencing Jesus' love in the everyday. I haven't given enough time to let him into my day, let alone those moments of ferocious panic trying to put liturgical music together because I haven't given enough time to sleep, let alone pray.

As teens, we're reminded to leave six inches for the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, this is said jokingly, but I think if you turn this around to our busy lives, it can be equally important - leave six minutes for the Holy Spirit. Leave an hour. Leave something for God to breathe into your life. How much better decisions, better living will we experience if we are spiritually and emotionally grounded in every day, not just the few hours of our week after mass.

God is there with us always. Let us take the time to acknowledge his presence, allowing us to let Him rule our lives. If we keep Him a priority, perhaps we'll come to terms with "busy" not being equated with "productive", "important", or even "good".

God bless you in your ministry.

Watch that tone of voice

Sometimes, it's the simplest things that get you. I hope this is old hat to most (both) of you, but if you're like me, and learned about vocal coaching for small groups by osmosis, experience, experimentation, trial and error, read on.

Having attended conferences, concerts and the like, I am always amazed at the great vocal sounds some other groups are able to get, and often horrified at the sound others get. Knowing our group was filled with talented vocalists, I was pretty confident the quality of our musicians wasn't an issue. The problem was in the architecture of how I had built our sound, and though great in theory, it didn't work as I had expected.

Small groups tend to lend themselves to tighter, more experienced musicians that can all lead given the opportunity. I believe in a smaller group, there is no safety in numbers. Every singer needs to be solid and be able to deliver on their own without the support of the group. What surprised me a little (as a budding vocal director) is that the individual doesn't need to deliver like this to be effective when in the group.

Over the years, we've worked on several exercises to get our blending to improve. What I've found over the last couple years are the following simple pieces of advice that, when put into practice, can make all the difference in turning a talented bunch of singers into a tight-sounding, gifted ensemble, truly capable of moving beyond filling the role of the cantor and really leading liturgical music.

1. Structure: one lead, others follow
2. All non-lead vocals need to back off when not explicitly leading in a cantor-like role
3. Non-lead vocals should refrain from using more than the bare minimum of vibrato
4. Non-lead vocals should use a soft tone of voice regardless of range expertise

I work with a small group of singers – usually 3 – 6 singers on any given week. Preferably it's half male and half female. I came out of an amateur background in music, doing theater in high school, various choirs since 8th grade, and the occasional vocal lesson.

Learning in high school, college, choirs, etc, I was taught that the way to give a good performance was to project. (That's prō-'jekt, not prä-'jekt). While this is true for almost any singing or presenting situation, this is not the case in the small choir in the role of a backup singer. As a soloist, this is a no-brainer. In order to be heard, you must project. There is no value in mumbling the Word of God. In a larger choir, the same is true, depending on the tonal quality desired – a larger choir operates without much of the aid of amplification to achieve its performance, therefore sing as you are best able!

But, in the smaller ensemble with the aid of electronic amplification, projecting is not typically going to be the right answer. I saw a great demonstration of contemporary worship music done badly with a female vocalist leading by singing into the microphone and a male tenor adding harmony. The woman led using her melody with soul, but not a lot of volume – but she sang directly into the mike, and was very effective in her duty. The male tenor on the other hand added his harmony far off the microphone, blasting all those around with his very good, but very loud and unbalanced microphone. Even with the sound system, the result was poor at best. The vocal performance was unbalanced, and ineffective – we were all distracted by the tenor. He protested that his sound engineer usually turns his mike down.

However, what I've found (and what others will tell you) is we cannot rely on the sound engineer to fix your sound. The job of the sound system is to re-enforce the sound, not deliver it en mass! While the volume may be corrected, the tone cannot be corrected by the sound engineer, and that makes all the difference.

So, what vocal tones work well? The items I listed at the beginning of this article were what I've found to work. The goal is to get a full sound with good clarity that encourages others to sing. Every person projecting, using vibrato leads more to a chaotic sound, which can be especially difficult if you've got a team of great musicians! As a director, it's often been hard for me to take the lead, because I see my role as a mentor and facilitator rather than a soloist. However, there are a lot of times that we just need good direction, and building that from the lead vocal spot is the best way to achieve that goal.

So, here's the quick breakdown of what I've found to work:

• One lead – one person gets to project on any song. If there isn't a sole individual projecting, then no one should be – just use good, solid diction to make the consonants heard well.
• Keep the volume down if you're not leading. No one should ever feel like they need to "steal the show". That's not the point of worship. We're all a critical part of a team of worshipers.
• Keep the vibrato down. You just want a fuller sound. The more vibrato, the more chaos will ensue. Vibrato helps the voice to stand out in such a small group, which should be reserved for a soloist / cantor, but even then, still with a healthy dose of judicious moderation.
• Everyone else uses hushed tones, even when adding harmonies or counter melodies. The point is just to add to the sound.

I use a couple terms to illustrate the parts as I've described:

• Lead – the one person leading the group. There should be a lead for major hymns. I don't assign a lead for the parts of the mass (primarily the songs that accompany the Liturgy of the Eucharist). Backing vocals are still used when we have a lead.
• Solo – one person sings the part completely on their own. No backing vocals. I only use this on occasion.
• Backing vocals – everyone else who isn't on the lead part.
• It took me too long to figure this out – and though I like learning by experience, this is one of those places I wish someone would have smacked me.

God bless you in your ministry.

Updating the "Standards"

I've been lax with my posting, and apologize. Just a few postings into it and I'm getting busy. Here's this week's tidbit, for those of you that haven't tried these tricks.

Most congregations like to sing what they know. Very few embrace new songs as quickly as we (as music ministers) would like. This can be especially true if you're coming into a parish that has never had a "modern" music ministry with a "Worship Band". Even well established bands may find that the most well sung hymns are ones that the congregation has known for years. You can tap that energy we lovingly direct to our Father by using some easy techniques to update the sound of the hymns, making them relevant to the hearts of the young and young at heart.

• Use 6/8 and 12/4 time
• Don't' change lyrics or rhythm
• Keep it simple

If you haven't used these time signatures before, they hold a great treasure for unlocking the potential of "modernizing" some old standards. I've heard great renditions of songs like "O Come, All Ye Faithful", "Come, Holy Ghost", and "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus" all thanks to these time signatures! You can swing an acoustic guitar easily in these signatures, bust out a killer groove, or do something else creative with the song.

Take something simple like, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". To update this song, I wrote an arrangement around a 12/4 time signature. (If you're having trouble hearing it your head, think the groove to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears.) Since the original song is written almost entirely in quarter notes, the triplet subdivisions do not interfere with the melody. I then put a Bruce Hornsby-esque jazzy piano to the arrangement, along with some innovative bass playing from our bassist Rhoscoe, and we built what has to be one of our most complimented Advent songs. We made sure to keep the arrangement subtle, but made sure to re-enforce the mood of the song.

With this in mind, I do want to stress a couple things when updating songs. No matter how clever you are, the original (or well known) lyrics and rhythm must be left alone. Completely alone. Part of the advantage of using an older hymn is about familiarity, connecting to our eternal God, and leveraging people's knowledge of the hymn so they can direct their praise to Him, rather than a songsheet. If we change the lyrics, the rhythm, or the pitch of the notes, we lose a lot. The congregation still has to re-learn the hymn, you'll lose people's connection with the past, and it will cause a train-wreck of lyrical mush - hardly unifying. Instead, make sure to just keep the melody intact - you can freely changing the chords and voicing around the melody and make things fresh without abandoning the familiar.

Leave the mood of the song intact. If you can take such feelings like "anticipation", "joy", "remorse" or "patience" further in your arrangements, do so. Don't feel the need though to change the mood or setting. It'd be quite funny to hear Sum 41 do "Hail Mary (Gentle Woman)", but then it would only be a caricature, and not capture our focus.

When using an older hymn, you will almost invariably want to keep it simple. There was a time in the Church that the very idea of polyphony was branded as heresy. Your arrangement should not be complex, and the focus should still remain on the praise to God in the song itself. If you're updating a hymn, changing anything about the song will be enough, and it need not show itself in full force to be "new".

I once had a high school student demand that we "up the ante" in the group by doing some more ambitious arrangements like the setting of "Joyful, Joyful" as done in "Sister Act". While well intended, this type of arrangement is not really what we should be after - even in the movie, that arrangement served as a vehicle for the attention of the arranger. We must always are remember that we serve the community to provide it a means by which to praise our God. We cannot offer praise on their behalf. All present must be active participants in this Holy Eucharistic feast.