Preparations on top of preparations

There is a normal level of work for getting ready for something, and then there's whatever I've got going on.  Maybe it's my tendency to dive into commitments and start serious relationships with my work, but it seems like there's a lot I scoop on my plate for this.  Don't get me wrong though most if it's pretty fun.

There's the obvious musical portion, which a normal human being might rehearse for, my nut ball self takes it a bit further.  When I started teaching bass lessons I realized that I had to not just get how it worked, but understand how it worked.  So thus I have been learning my music theory to a little different level than I had.  rhythms, chord progressions, modes, scales and different techniques are all part of the deal now.  Nevermind the volume and breadth of music (mainly bassists) I have been pumping into my brain.

While the music is important, having run a worship team at a college for a few years has drastically changed my understanding of how a worship team works, mainly in the spiritual and discipleship aspects of things.  I have seen how true worship from the team changes the atmosphere.  I have seen how 2 awful musicians (we got better) trusting in God get to see some unbelievable things both during the worship nights and outside of them.

What is the most amazing thing to me looking back, is really how much we would use phrases like, "We'll see what God can do." "It's up to God." Whatever God wants to do with it/us."  We said these enough times that it probably sounded like a joke to those who didn't get it, but to us it was/is a way of life, a creed said in a sentence.  This motivates me to foster the same attitude more and more in myself, especially heading into CTI.

Always groove responsibly

And the fundraising continues

As I keep on preparing to leave for CTI as, what appears now to be the bassist, I am still in the course of raising support for the trip.  There's a link in the right hand corner of the blog that takes you directly to the donation page of the CTI website, or you can click here and donate to a fundraising website.

Its a long process to get funds together for a year and its amazing what God will do when you trust Him, because there is no way I could raise this on my own, but where God guides He also provides.

I'll be posting an update later with info on where I am with rehearsals and things like that.  Music is an awesome way to communicate things with people, and so besides fundraising there's lots of practicing!

Always Groove Responsibly

Highbrow Musicianship

One of the easiest ways for a musician to look down on another musician is to ask if they read music.  It is the ultimate litmus test that divides musicians into two categories, and the funny part is the categories aren't even good and bad.  They are "can read music" and "can't read music."

For me, I read music, I make sure to teach students to read music, I encourage every musician to learn to read music, and read it better.  Proficiency in sight-reading is a bonus, but not totally necessary (even though once you can read, why not read quickly).

The amazing thing is, this idea of, "do you read?" transfers over to faith very easily, and not just that, the excuses for not are almost the same.  If you ask a musician who can't read music, and has no interest in reading music, why they don't, you'll get a litany of answers, they often sound like this: "I don't need to read music to play it."  "I can feel it, why do I need to be told what to play."  "So and so didn't read music." and my personal favorite "you're just jealous that I don't need to have my music written down to play it."

While I don't know of many Christians who would disagree with the idea that you need to read the Word, I know of more than a lot who would argue that you don't need to understand your faith.  The go-to verse?  Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (NASB).  This is a great definition of faith, but it doesn't say have faith and know nothing.  Peter, the same guy who wrote this, wrote that to your faith you should add knowledge (and other things, but these are the base for all the others).  Why would he say that if we don't need to understand even a little theology, if we "can feel God's presence, so why do I need to know theology?" "don't have to prove faith, that defeats the purpose." and the one that gets me going "I don't need to prove what I believe, to believe it."

The odd part is, reading music isn't about not having the ability to play on your own creativity, and having knowledge of your faith isn't about lacking trust in God.  These both have everything to do with gaining a better appreciation for what you have.  As a musician, I read a potion of a score and see amazing interlocking rhythms, call and response passages, harmonies and counter melodies.  If I couldn't read I might never know just how intricate and intertwined a piece really is.

As a Christian, who knows some theology, I can see the interlocking ideas, the cohesive structure of God's Word, the web of supporting commands and teachings, the foreshadowing and the internal references.  I gain a better appreciation for just how amazing God and His Word are.  Really, it makes my faith even greater, because I can grasp the tiniest bit more of how amazing God really is.  

Moral of the story, learn to read music, learn theology, you will be amazed at what see, when you understand what you are looking at.

Always groove responsibly 

Rehearsal and introversion

I'm not ashamed to say I'm an introvert, this means I need to be away from people to recharge.  Really it doesn't have to be physically away from people, just mentally.  This is I think part of why I love solo rehearsal time.  I get to be alone, be totally in my own head, and productive (which eliminates the guilt).

It doesn't matter whether I'm playing a particular set of tunes for an upcoming gig, the 5 songs for Sunday morning service I've played at least a hundred times, or just throwing down grooves as they come out of my head.  It really doesn't matter what I'm doing, what matters in particular is that I am alone when doing it.

If you are unfamiliar with the Meyers-Briggs personality test, I recommend taking it, it's very revealing, and if you understand how the letters work, you can learn how to work the way you work best.  I, for example am an INFJ, which is Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Judging.  In order, this essentially means: I: I prefer the internal world to the external world, N: I will probably tell you what I feel the impression the speaker, movie, song, etc was trying to make, rather than the verbatim version. F: I will probably use the phrase "I feel like..." and then give whether I felt something was good, bad, out of place, set perfectly, just off, etc.  J: I'm a fairly structured and organized person, although you wouldn't know this looking at my house or car.  I do have plan, usually at least 2 backup plans.

What does this mean?  it means I will spend hours playing scales and modes until I feel like I've got them, that I will choose my bass tone based on if it "feels" like it matches the impression I get from a song.  It also means that often, technically it will be accurate, but ascetically, it will be totally wrong for me.  It also means that more often than not, if I have stopped paying attention during a talk or sermon, I've gone off on an internal tangent that might or might not have been sparked by the speaker.

Anywho, the point being is that for me, music is a very visceral, internal thing.  it runs deep within me, and has always been important to me, whether listening or playing it.  Because of this my alone time, within an instrument is some of the best times I've had.  so here's a quote from Ray Charles, I feel like I identify with this a lot.

Always groove responsibly

Teaching and Doing

The joke is those who can't do, teach, and those who can't teach, teach gym...while I'm not going to comment on gym teachers, I do disagree with the first part.

Being both a bassist and sound tech, I have a fair number of things I do with each that are unique to how I like things to sound, how I hear the sound shaping up, etc.  I noticed almost right away when I started teaching both of these, that to play and notice subtle things is one thing.  To attempt to communicate why "it feels better" to play the exact same note on the E string instead of the A string is an entirely different idea.

I can be handed music and I can usually feel okay with how I'm playing it in a few run-throughs, mainly by changing subtle things to get a sound that is: more crunchy, more boomy, kinda thunky, etc.  This is well and good, but when a 15 year old girl is looking at you all perplexed, trying to figure out what you mean by "a bubbly sound", you realize that to teach and explain something, you've really got to be able to know what it is.

I am really glad for both my sound board student and my bass student, because 1. having to teach them really forces me to really know what I'm talking about, which has made me a better player and tech, and 2. They both are really into what they are doing, and it's really exciting to watch them nail a groove they worked on for weeks or to hear when they dial in the guitar's tone just so to make it "gently weep"

But really, the look they have when they get it, is easily the best part.

Always Groove Responibly