This blog deals with worship of God, and almost specifically with theology of corporate worship. Because music is a gift from God and an integral part of our corporate worship, on occasion we’ll look at musical issues, and today is one of those days.

Years ago I read a quote from Charles Mingus that stuck with me: “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” Most of the music I would call brilliant is in fact simple. Amazing musicians and producers have figured out how to boil a song down to its essence, and  add only what is necessary in presenting the song. Several bands that stick out in my head who display such taste are Elbow, Radiohead (OK Computer), The Cardigans (Gran Turismo), Daniel Lanois, Feist, Spoon, and Tom Petty. Oh, and Paul Denman, who plays bass for Sade. @TaylorRobertsok is a huge fan, and has turned me on to the  brilliant simplicity of such a capable bassist.

One of my favorite bassists is Colin Greenwood from Radiohead, and his work on OK Computer should be a chapter in any book titled “How To Play The Bass Perfectly”. The taste, sense of groove and use of space he displays is mind-blowing. His basslines are written and executed perfectly, and almost always stick with me long after listening. To illustrate this point, let’s look at “Karma Police”.

For the first two and a half minutes, Colin lays down a simple foundation, rarely departing from the beat of the kick drum. It’s almost like he’s playing along with the song for the first time, following the root on a chord chart. And why not? There is a piano and acoustic guitar filling up much of the space, and Thom Yorke’s lyrics do not leave much room in the verses.

At 2:30, the band introduces a new part where Yorke sings “For a minute there, I lost myself”. It’s a heightened section of the song; the dryness of the effects on the verse are replaced with reverb on the vocals, the piano and guitar play even more, and several elements are added in the background. Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway continue to keep it simple, but THEN at 2:59 Greenwood does this walking bassline that immediately grabs the listener’s attention. But he only plays it once before going back to the normal groove based in the root of each chord. Almost forty seconds later Greenwood plays the walking part again, and carries it out through the remainder of the song.

Yesterday, had you asked me to hum the bassline from “Karma Police”, I would have immediately hummed that walking part; it’s gold. Never would I have guessed that he only plays it a few times in the song. It’s what stuck with me over the past thirteen years, and in that time I’ve found myself humming the bass part as opposed to Yorke’s amazing melody.

The point is this: the temptation for most would be to put that walking bassline all over the song, and it speaks of Greenwood’s taste that he restrained from doing so. It’s an awesome part, why wouldn’t we saturate the song with it? Why play the simple root when you have such a powerful part? In the end, it’s a memorable, powerful bassline because he only plays it sporadically. Instead of focusing on his bassline, he serves the song well. For a band as talented and at times complicated as Radiohead, this makes such a choice even more brilliant.

Sadly, this approach of “serving the song” is not commonplace in most churches. Too often the case is that each player is listening only to himself or herself, and when a “cool” riff is created, it’s overplayed out of excitement for creating such a good part. Oftentimes, it’s understandable – a rotating group of musicians are playing a new set of songs with people they haven’t played together with in weeks or months, if ever. This is one of the reasons we operate out of a band model at Vintage21, but regardless it comes down to the person leading the band and the individual musicians. No matter what context you play in, challenge yourself constantly whether or not what you’re playing is necessary or simply a distraction. In looking for sites to link to the artists above, I came across an interview with Paul Denman. The quote below captures well what our outlook should be:

“Early on, being young and eager, I was more outfront— slapping and taking solos live. Robin Millar and Mike Pela, our producer and engineer at the time, liked what I was doing, and they encouraged me to step forward and try ideas. However, I hadn’t really learned how to hear a song or listen to what the others were doing; that came with time and maturity. As the years rolled on, I started to get more into dub and reggae, using off-beats and playing less, and it fit with Sade’s melodies really well. I’m always listening to the melody; I won’t play anything without the melody in my head, because I don’t want to get in the way with some insignificant fill. Now, I’d rather play one note for three minutes than trample on somebody’s feet with two. You eventually learn to find your pocket, and sometimes that pocket is filled with space.” – Paul Denman

What are your thoughts on overplaying in music? Are there other artists you would characterize as serving the song well?

Welcome new @V21Church Band leader Andrew Darragh. Auditions for his band will take place on Thursday, September 17th, in downtown Raleigh. For information on the auditions, email matt at vintage21 dot com.

First of all, I have to say I am so excited that God has chosen to use me as a band leader at @V21Church. It is my prayer and my hope that as people sing in worship with us, they will experience God in a new way each time. Worship is our ultimate purpose as human beings. It is not only the act of magnifying and exalting God but also, as we live out our ultimate purpose and give to God our praise, we are so much more fulfilled for it. Jesus said that “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:39). So, as we empty ourselves of ourselves, realizing our complete brokenness and depravity, and rely totally on Jesus, we will actually gain life! The most crucial part of this is to realize that we are broken and in need of a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus. In Jesus we have “boldness and confident access” to God (Eph. 3:12). As we enter into His throne room, it is my prayer that we would not only praise Him together, but listen for His voice as we open our hearts to Him so that He can change us.

Musically, I would like for the band to be mostly acoustic guitar driven, but not necessarily always. The sound will have lots of folk influence, with the guitar stylings of people like Iron & Wine and Alexi Murdoch; sometimes picking, sometimes strumming. Also as an influence of Alexi Murdoch, the sound might occasionally bring in a stringy or synth kind of pad. This would probably be representative of the slower tempo songs we do. The faster songs will probably bring in the tight groove and percussive guitar parts of bands like Dave Matthews Band or the relaxed, happy groove and simple patterns of Jack Johnson.

Bass – Needs to have the ability to be more than just a “foundation” for the band…needs to occasionally make a melodic contribution as well. Open to electric or stand-up bass
Drums – Mostly fairly simple beats, but some syncopation at times, some off-beat playing, some jazz colors
Acoustic Guitar or Banjo – Plays some lead lines or filler melodies or picking patterns…sometimes picks up rhythm playing
Keys – Sometimes plays soft, sustained pads, sometimes makes a more rhythmic melodic contribution
Strings -  Fiddle or keyboards adds melodic fillers or sustained pads
Vocalist - Male or female vocalist who can add compelling harmonies and sometimes lead songs

Some songs that I think would represent these elements well would be “The Wonderful Cross” or maybe something like Shane & Shane’s version of “It Is Well.” An example of a faster song would be Lincoln Brewster’s “Love The Lord”, or Charlie Hall’s “Marvelous Light”.

I think the band will have more the setup of Shane & Shane, plus keys and banjo/second acoustic, but I really like the more “earthy” or not so rock feel of Iron & Wine.  The Iron & Wine video doesn’t really get to the point until like 1:30, but it’s the best one I could find.

For information on the auditions, email matt at vintage21 dot com.

]]> http://worship.vintage21.com/2009/09/new-band-vision-andrew-darragh/feed/ 0 http://worship.vintage21.com/2009/09/thad-cockrell%e2%80%99s-show-at-the-pourhouse-this-friday/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thad-cockrell%25e2%2580%2599s-show-at-the-pourhouse-this-friday http://worship.vintage21.com/2009/09/thad-cockrell%e2%80%99s-show-at-the-pourhouse-this-friday/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:44:22 +0000 Matt Stevens http://worship.vintage21.com/?p=465 I am thankful for the band leaders who lead worship at @V21Church. These are men who love Jesus with their lives and are good stewards of the musical gifts God has given them.
@ThadCockrell has written amazing songs both for @V21Church and in his career as a singer/songwriter. His latest full length cd, “To Be Loved”, is out of this world. His songs honor God both from a lyrical and musical standpoint, and the ways in which God is using Thad has been a blessing to witness. These are unbelievable melodies, and the production on these albums is perfect – you actually feel the songs!

Thad’s show is this Friday, September 11, at the Pourhouse in downtown Raleigh. His band will take the stage at 10:00 pm. This is an opportunity for us to support Thad and the stage God has given him, as well as invite our friends and neighbors to see Vintage21 Band leaders (Mike Simons and @JoshBain are in his band) put on the best show of the year. I kid you not, his past two shows at the Pourhouse have been two of the best live concerts I’ve seen in years. Bring extra money – you’ll definitely want to pick up his cd.

Invite your friends to Thad’s show on Facebook.
Visit Thad’s myspace to hear several songs.

See you there!
- Matt Stevens

No one exhibits this attitude more than the Band Leaders. I ask a lot of them, and in the past week I am encouraged by their humility and service. On both nights of band auditions they were gracious towards each person and positive throughout. In addition, we had Band Leader training Sunday night, at which we discussed the first five chapters of Worship Matters. In this time they were humble, encouraging towards one another, and candid. @V21Church is blessed to have these band leaders. I love these men and wouldn’t trade one of them, not even for this guy. Or this guy. Maybe this guy, though.

Stay tuned this week – we’ve got a new song coming, and a few new bands we’ll be introducing!

The fact that people would step up, work on the songs, and come out for an audition is a humbling thing to me. It can be such an awkward process, so we seek to be as humble, relaxed and straightforward as possible. It always charges me up when we have auditions and people come prepared, and it’s clear that they are called and ready to serve in this area. Last night showed some promise, and I’m already charged for next week’s audition. I have a deep love and loyalty to the musicians who serve at @V21Church, and my hope is that we’ll continue to grow the ministry, allowing people the chance to serve in a way that doesn’t cause burnout, and that also brings a greater representation of Jesus Christ to the church.

Beautiful things on the horizon, don’t sleep through it!

February 16, 7-10 pm and February 23, 7-10 pm. Half-hour slots for each audition.
Email matt dot stevens at vintage21 dot com for more information.

This morning as I walked several blocks to the office, God’s faithfulness and provision was amazingly clear. He didn’t replace the people, because they are unique individuals, and with them we were a unique band. Instead, he did more than I imagined; he grew and changed the vision of the band. Now, when looking at the band, and realizing the changed vision God’s developed in my heart, it’s mind-blowing. The people we have in the lineup and the new vision fit beautifully. God gave the vision, and then provided the people.

When will I learn?

Why, when God has been nothing but faithful, loving and merciful, do I lack trust? What evidence has he given that would cause me to quickly doubt?
As I look back over the past six years there are several times when I thought, “What will we do? This person is leaving, and I rely on him/her so much. Are we Vintage21 Church without them?” That is nothing short of idolatry. The thing that makes us the church is Jesus Christ. No single person, founding and lead pastor Tyler Jones included, is what makes this @V21Church. I asked God to forgive my lack of trust, my replacement of him with others as the most important person. Otherwise, as Hebrews 11 and the verse below so beautifully illustrate- we’re burdened with weight.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2

In regards to the music of our Sunday service, we consistently rotate songs in and out. Of the top ten songs we sung as a congregation in 2007, half are no longer in our rotation. Not that they were bad songs, but we have better songs now. In addition, instead of keeping a large list of songs in the rotation, we now sing fewer songs. My goal is that we’ll always do the best songs we have in all of the following areas – those most true to Scripture, the most singable, the best melody, the best groove.

With the new band model, we have four active bands, and each band leader was asked to devise a set list, based on the songs that work best for their band. This is where the advantage comes in. For years I led every week, which meant I sang and led between 40-50 songs. At best I could do half of those with excellence in terms of style, range and execution. The reality was probably more like 15 songs clicked, where it made sense that I was leading those songs, and the band just really nailed it. Dividing the songs up between three other bands means the band I lead can do the songs that work best with our vision and ability. So not only does this model allow bands to become familiar with songs, but to choose the best songs for that band.

Rehearsal is tonight, and I’m excited for a new approach with old songs and old friends. Sunday is going to be beautiful, and it’s amazing that it’s just the beginning.