it's all about YOU

Vocal Retreat!! (9-10 Nov 07)

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

i muz say tt it's a great honour to be asked to write sumthin for de teenz blog.thx.
newae...

de retreat started on the 9th.myself, abi, reuben, huimin n terence were de first ones there. we started "boot camp" at bout 7pm. we started with doing breathing exercises. we laid on de floor, sum of us 'finding' our diaphragms. it wuz tiring. all of us were out of breath by the end of the exercise.

then we started revising the songs we previously learnt. we sang YOU ARE MY PEACE and also used it as a worship song, singing with feeling :p
titus and ee vyn telah sampai then we all sang for a while more. after terence ask us what we felt or what God said to us during that short worship session. i can't remember who said what but then there were so many encouraging things said.after that we pergi makan dinner *we need food lyk any other human!!!

after we balik church. priscilla and victor lum joined us.after tt we revise lagu again after doing warm up.sing sing sing until bout 11+ den boss say "ok,we are off for de nite!" wanted to go yam cha but den aunty ann and uncle boon fei say we shudn't cos we need the rest.de gurlz spent de nite at angela's hse but den de guys stayed in church.

next morning we met again in de cosy H2&H3. we did our TAWG then oso worship sikit. den after that MAKAN!!! some of de orang had the privilege of indulging in de legendary nasi lemak. de rest of us at normal ppl food :p

after we balik den we sing sing again. we belajar lagu baru.then after tt, terence made us all sing our own rendition of HAPPY BIRTHDAY. it wuz so funny. no one ever thought tt singing such a simple song cud be so difficult. we sang it in our own comfortable keys. it wuz fun.after tt, we oso had to choose one song out of all de songs we learnt and sing it ALSO at the other end of the room.the thing is none of us cud choose de same song.so one by one we pergi nyanyi SOLO.
after semua orang habis nyanyi their solo den we had sumthin almost lyk an evaluation bout the whole retreat thingie.everyone had positive feedback bout this.so after get we gether gether again go MAKAN lunch!

-end of retreat-

most probably de next one will be one de 14th and 15th of dec.
can't wait!!!

-Nic

*dewy: gud job, nicky! :)

5:27 PM 1 comments
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pok-pok!!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Chicken Khorma And The Art of Worship Leading:
I like to cook! OK ….. there I said it.

Makes me pretty happy to see friends bite into my low fat crab cakes and grin. Or go back for seconds on the Chicken Khorma or Thai salad. I’m a pretty good chef and have made some great meals just by winging it. But, more often than not, I’ve gone to a cookbook, followed a recipe and hit it out of the park.

Good chefs know great dining starts with a meal plan. Fresh ingredients, full of flavor and nutrition, exquisitely prepared and presented, are required to make the experience one to remember. Oh yeah, and it helps to know what the guests like to eat. Bacon wrapped shrimp for my Jewish friends…. uh, not so much.

It seems to me that leading worship is a similar experience. Stay with me on this.

When I lead worship, I have a responsibility to “serve up” an experience that helps the congregation find their own expression of worship that touches the heart of God. I do my best to know the folks in the congregation and get a bead on their tastes. Then, I work to balance out style and content to help make the worship experience meaningful and spiritual. After all, it’s about helping THEM enter into God’s presence, not scratching my creative itch.

In a media driven world, there is a lot of pressure on us to deliver fast food worship. That means creating convenient packaging; then offering bite size portions with little nutritional content and common flavor.

Too often, many of us spend our energies chasing the worship flavor of the day. Today that flavor is modern worship, but as much as I like U2 and the mandatory guitars with trailing delays, I’m kind of ready for the next course. I am not sure how this is going to “taste” or what it will sound like. I just know that I’m hungry for something different. (At least once in a while)

As I write this, I’m in the middle of an extended fast that my church does. Maybe that’s why I am thinking about food. I find it odd that while eating very little, I am acutely aware of the quality of what I eat. Fat, sugar and preservatives are out. Fresh, organic and high quality foods are in. I also know that when I come off a fast, my diet changes drastically.

I wonder what might happen if we fasted from modern worship. What would remain and what would we do differently when we got back in the saddle. We might rediscover the pure ingredients and important things that really help us express our love and admiration to the Lord of All.

I have a hunch those ingredients might be psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Those are tasting pretty good right about now, and I am pretty sure that some of the things we feel are important now might go away.

Liturgy in worship has always made sense to me. The word liturgy means “the work of the people”. It is a map that leads people through God’s Word, and causes them to acknowledge sin, thank God for all he has done and receive forgiveness. In that process, true worship occurs. The Word has historically had a key role in liturgical worship, but it seems that in the contemporary church, we have downplayed the Word of God and placed our focus on the presentation.

Recently, I had the great privilege of working with Todd Fields (worship leader at Northpoint Community Church and 7:22 in Alpharetta, GA.). As Dir of A&R at Integrity Music, I asked Todd to help us with a project (called Word of God Speak-The Worship Sessions) that was 100% pure scripture set to music. Music that is appropriate for today’s contemporary church.

In the making of this recording, a couple of things became clear. Things that should be the main ingredients for any great worship experience.

Here’s the recipe

1) Give people a great melody and they will sing with you
2) Play the heart of the song and you will move a person’s heart (doesn’t have to be stadium rock)
3) Use songs that are based on God’s Word. It is powerful and will NOT return void. It WILL accomplish what it was ordained to accomplish and people’s lives will be changed.
4) Be creative in content and style. It is OK to try something different. People are not afraid to try a new dish

Both during and after the recording process, I have heard numerous testimonies of how God spoke and ministered as the participants listened to and then sang God’s Word. Some have said that they were impacted by almost all the songs…not because of the vibe of the record, but purely through the power of scripture.

So, as you look to your next worship “menu”, I encourage you to look closely at the ingredients. Make sure the songs have significant content. And, what better content is there than the Word of God. If you can’t find songs you like, try writing your own scripture songs. Well actually, they will be a 50/50 co-write. Written with God.

I can not think of a better way to minister to your congregants than singing the power of His Word.

Blessing and Wisdom and Bon Appetite!
Steve Merkel

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Woa la!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

It's a crazy many weeks after the last post. Many things happened but words tend to elude me when i needed them most. sigh.. :(

Currently the core activities are vocal practices and musician practices.

LalalaHrr!

A lot of emphasis is being put into vocal training, maybe cos most vocalist need improve on their breathing and "lala"-ing.

From my observation, there are practices like lying down and singing, singin' sounds that help in err.. singing the right way! :)
And practice singing the album songs.

*pardon me, cos i noe nuts about singing, i tot it's just air passing through the throatie..

You can do it, la-la's! Breakthrough to realise ur full potential!!

Muzikians

Most of the songs practiced during the last few sessions are soooothing worship songs.. Lots of piano & keyboard action. There are chinese songs too, with R&B romantic-like intro, very Chinese-pop style, like a new song that popped out of 933 hits.

oh, i can't wait till next yr for the..

transform!
power musicians!

bratz singers!

bian! bian!

2-in-1

combined prac! (muzikians & singers combine)

lame lame.. wahaha!

Artist Spotlight: Paul Baloche
By Christa A. Banister

Artist Spotlight: Paul Baloche

Texas-based worship leader Paul Baloche opens up on the popularity of worship, his songwriting process and how he avoids cynicism.

Although he’s written congregational favorites like “Above All” and “Open the Eyes of My Heart,” worship leader Paul Baloche still wouldn’t exactly be considered a household name—something that’s “just fine” by him. Now in a revealing interview, Baloche opens up about the continued popularity of worship music, his songwriting techniques and how he’s manages to avoid cynicism (something that isn’t always easy in the Christian music world).

IntegrityMusic.com: Michael W. Smith says he always envisioned himself becoming a professional baseball player. I thought I’d be a sportswriter instead of a music journalist. Did you ever envision that you’d write the songs that people would sing in Sunday morning services worldwide?

Paul Baloche: I can honestly say that I never did. I was always “just the guitar player” and was pulled into leading worship reluctantly. Then in the midst of leading worship at my church, there were just moments in between songs where I would just sense this prayer rising up. And I would just start singing a simple phrase—from the prayer—and I just figured that it was just for my church. As the years have gone by, I’ve tried to be more intentional in writing worship songs. But I must say that in the beginning I never quite imagined churches around the world would be singing anything I’d written.

IM.com: Since you’ve been in the business for a while now, trends seem to come and go in music. But worship music has stuck around for a while and continues to connect with audiences. Does that surprise you?

Baloche:I guess it doesn’t. As crazy as our culture continues to get with things changing so far, I think people are crying out for an anchor in their lives, and they want to connect with God. Music is such a powerful vehicle. It involves our emotions. Modern worship music isn’t a brand new thing by any means, but I can’t see it going away. I think as long as people are trying to reach out to God and are trying to connect with Him, I think music and songs are a great vehicle to help in that process.

IM.com: Does there ever come a point in songwriting where you feel you’ve said everything you can say in a congregational worship song?

Baloche: At times, having written all these years, you tend think at any moment you’ll run out of things to say to God. But the scripture written a 1,000 years ago says to “sing a new song to the Lord.” So for me that means the Bible is commanding us to sing a new song. So that’s what I try to do.

IM.com: How does that process of coming up with a new song work for you?

Baloche: I would say that no two songs come together the same way. But most of the time it comes out of different times during worship. Maybe it’s in between songs where there is just that moment of lingering, and I just kind of sense these phrases. Or maybe a song results from something I read earlier in the week, a scripture or something I wrote in my journal, maybe even a prayerful idea.

“Open the Eyes of My Heart” was an example of where I didn’t start out to write a song. It was just a phrase I had in mind, and I find that process happening over and over again—where I have one little line, and that’s the beginning for me. Then throughout the weeks that followed, I’d take that line along with other ideas and just try to chew on them throughout the day. Maybe I’d sit down with the guitar (and I’d call it worshipping with it), take the idea and not just try to click into songwriting mode, but try to let it gestate. I’d let that seed germinate and kind of worship with it and sing it out prayerfully with a melody. Then all of the sudden you get another line, and a concept starts coming. You start to think this could be a really neat song about a particular aspect of God’s character. So I try to do more of that, just spending more time letting worship songs become more of a byproduct of honest worship, instead of like cranking out something clever.

IM.com: With that method, how do you remedy a situation where you might get stuck on a particular line?

Baloche: There comes a point, way later in the song where it become a kind of crossword puzzle—where most of it’s inspired, and you’re just missing a couple of lines. There’s where you might take out the rhyming dictionary. I try to hold off on that as much as possible, because it seems like the good stuff come from a place of worship, an honest moment of saying “I need to connect with God.”
Sometimes you write a song just to flex the songwriting muscle, just to stay in shape. But the ideal is what I just described.

IM.com: An important distinction for most worship artists is that worship is a lifestyle. How does that statement apply to you personally?

Baloche: The first time the word worship is used in the Bible is when Abraham is getting read to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. There wasn’t any music involved, Abraham certainly wasn’t singing, which underscores the point that worship isn’t really about music. Music is a vehicle to help us worship, but what I think God is after is a relationship. Worship, at its essence, is what we were created for— relationship with God. And that has become a cliché, but it’s true. We were created for his pleasure, and if we are not plugging into God and we’re not seeking His will for our life and being a part of advancing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, then we are missing God’s best for us. Worship means wanting to learn how to receive God’s love, and to not try and find my identity from other places. I used to skip that one, I was like, “OK, worshipping is loving my wife and loving my kids.” And in the last couple of years I’ve realized before I do that, I need to come to God as his child and learn to receive love from him, grace, mercy, identity, all the things we can try to look for, even in ministry. When that’s in place, worship naturally leads to loving my wife, trying to be sensitive and saying I’m sorry. It’s loving my kids and being available to them, trying to be a good friend to my neighbors, trying to be a good son to my parents.

IM.com: As someone who’s been doing this for a while, how do you
prevent worship from becoming a kind of old hat to you?

Baloche: I think it is so easy for people like us to become jaded and cynical. We just hear Christian music all the time, and you have to guard your heart from being too familiar with it, even as a worship leader. So I encourage people to ask themselves “What are the things that inspire you in the Lord?” Do more of that. What is it? I tend to get oversaturated with noise, and I just need quiet. As a worship leader, I can’t be encouraging people to go anywhere that I’m not going myself. If you do it for any length of time it becomes more work. God can become like a job. But each day, when I wake up, I say, “I am going to get up today, try and be led by Him and by his spirit, and try to love others in his name.” That’s the best thing I can strive for.

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