Dispatches from Gospel Music Fest 2010

Overstimulated after a fantastic evening at the annual Chicago Gospel Music Fest with church peeps. Lugged my camera but was too immersed in the present to bother taking pictures, which I now regret. But here are some quick observations:

1. Even decked out with a cream suit and white and turquoise fedora, Richard Smallwood will always look like a down-to-earth high school teacher. He looks like an average joe who just happens to be a musical virtuoso. Even from far away you didn’t ever get the vibe that he was this slick artist. One of my friends Belena said he looked like Fried Chicken, which somehow made sense to me.
2. Smallwood used only 9 vocalists (3 per part) and yet the choir sound was overwhelming and mesmerizing.
3. In between Smallwood and Fred, they had a lengthy and often redundant announcement times. In between announcing sponsors, welcoming special guests, you had the sense, they were just totally doing everything on the fly. Everyone who gave an announcement spontaneously sang something.

Worship Log: The Yuletide Disco Hurdle and Congregational Thermometer

Led worship two weeks ago, fun times. I had a keyboard player, so I could focus on my voice and vocal leadership. Here’s was the set:

• O Come Let us Adore Him

• O Come All Ye Faithful (Traditional)

• My Life Belongs to You (Israel Houghton)

• Que Todos Los Pueblos Te Alaben (Marco Barrientos)

• Total Praise (Richard Smallwood, Fred Hammond arrangement)

• O Come Let us Adore Him

• Offertory: Light of the World (Matt Redman)

• Response: Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)

• Exit: His Name is Jesus (Fred Hammond)

O Come Let us Adore Him

We kinda did it like the link above, but I think this is one of those choruses that’s good for any season… and its one of those song speak for itself. I said a few things about how we are welcome into the presence of God, but in hindsight, I wonder if I should have just shut up and SANG. Its a beautiful, timeless melody and lyrics that just say one simple, profound thought, “O Come let us adore HIM.” Slam dunk.

O Come All Ye Faithful

The perilous Christmas carol. I’ve been at numerous places of business (I’m thinking Starbucks, Cheesecake factory where pop arrangements of well-known Christmas hymns made me want to puke in my armpit and then eat it.) So every advent, while I’m excited to sing my favorite Christmas carols and lead others in adoring Christ through them, I also feel a little nervous, I don’t want our church to be LIGHT FM 93.9!

Prob the best way I could describe my arrangement was a feel similar to that of Matt Redman’s “Knocking on the Door of Heaven,” but faster.

If Chris Tomlin grew up in Detroit instead of Texas… reflections on Gospel worship

I have my personal differences with Chris Tomlin (maybe I’ll recount my run-in later in my blog…) but as a worship leader and a song writer, I think he’s done the Church an incredible service by writing a whole host of thoughtful, Biblical and singable worship songs with a beautiful melodies and relatively high levels of production.

But I a came across this video on YouTube of a TBN worship special hosted by a Gospel all-star cast of Donnie McClurkin. Fred Hammond, Kim Burrell and Kirk Franklin on keys (!). Its a wonderful medley of “I Surrender All,” a classic hymn of the church, followed by Tomlin’s, “How Great is Our God” which is perhaps one of his most famous songs.

Here’s Chris Tomlin’s original version of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud0kaWLHEd4

I don’t know about you, but I am really thankful for Gospel music because I think the worship leaders from the Gospel tradition demonstrate a unique way of ministering to people through music, song and their voice. Not that I have any problem with the contemporary Christian method for worship leading (which consists of the worship leader singing the melody in a very clear fashion, and occassionally speaking instructions for the congregation to sing along). In fact, the contemporary Christian method is the way that I grew up most engaging through worship. And I don’t want to take anything away from Chris Tomlin’s ministry.

Yet, I cannot help but be blessed by this group as they take a two wonderful songs of worship and really bring people into the throne room of God’s grace.

Here are some things that stuck out in my mind:

1.) TEMPO

They aren’t in a hurry. You see Donnie waving his hands signaling to Kirk on the keys, “take it easy, take it easy.” And once they lock in to the tempo, that’s it. I imagine a triumphant procession up the mountain of grace– steady, deliberate but firm. I’m amazed at how locked in each singer is to the tempo the rythmn… and for me that’s when music comes alive. When you feel the beat to the depth of your toes. And to me, that makes the lyrics sing. “All to thee, my blessed Savior. I surrender all.” Each syllable is locked in and speaks a story. (Another great example of this deliberate style is the song “Bow Down”… Marvin Winans gives an amazing rendition here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3bgbcrNHg)

Watch the singers’ bodies, esp. their hands, and you see that they are one unit locked in. Sometimes they wave their hands, sometimes their hands go in circles. But there is one tempo, one sound. Even as the depart with their separate spontaneous melodies. How often do you hear songs that slow, yet that locked in in contemporary Christian worship music?

Then consider their rendition of “How Great”… the melody is about a tempo to Tomlin’s recording. Yet, there is a completely different feel. I think there are two main reasons for this… while there’s a similar tempo. The Gospel feel Kirk Franklin brings out totally adds a different shade to the tempo. Chris Tomlin’s version: rock ballad intensity. Kirk Franklin: syncopated pop. Take a listen to the moment Fred Hammond comes in with the melody. “How Great….” Kirk takes breaks and then adds a syncopated two sixteenth note riff right after Fred first sings “How Great…” (in musical terms that comes at the “and” and the “ah” of beat two). That little syncopated riff to me makes all the difference in the feel. That little 16th note riff makes your head bob. And for the rest of the way Kirk offers a rhythmic piano line that has movement, but isn’t altogether fancy. Even harmonically, he doesn’t deviate much from the original chords until the tag ending. Yet there’s a “pop” to the song that you don’t get in Tomlin’s version. I’m not saying ones better, but different. Rock ballad in one, Syncopated POP in the other.

2.) Shared Leadership

One of the distinct differences I’ve noticed between Gospe worship and contemporary Christian worship leading styles is the role and number when it comes to worship leader(s). Notice that in this clip there are six different worship leaders. Most CCM (contemporary Christian music) worship venues offer one MAYBE two worship leaders. Now as one who has mostly led in the CCM style, there is HUGE value for a congregation in having a singluar worship leader, it helps the congregation focus on one person and it gives them one person to follow rather than having to figure out which voice to listen to for the melody.

But I think there are some distinct blessings to having multiple worship leaders even in one song (as this clip represents). Now, I’m gonna say that its a rule that gospel worship features multiple leaders, I’ve been in situations where that isn’t the case at all. However, the deeper issue (and the deeper blessing) for why multiple leaders is more common in Gospel arenas has to do wth the role of the worship leader. As you can see in the clip, the role of the worship leader isn’t just to sing the melody and have people follow up along, but lead people in worship using one’s unique God-given voice and personality. Each leader brings something different to the table and as they take these wonderful, timeless Chorusus and repeat it they bring something new each time. Its in the long blues/jazz tradition of theme and variation… and for me its an amazing dynamic experience of worship that brings the songs alive and ministers to our souls in a powerful way. ANother great example of this is using the very common song, “Great is Your Mercy” led again by Donnie McClurkin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmHMKfD_iY.

3.) Song Form – Repetition

Which brings me to my last observation. SONG FORM. Now don’t get me wrong. I LOVE CCM music. I grew up as a worship leader on a steady diet of Matt Redman, Delirious, Brian Doerkson, Ruben Morgan and assorted Passion folks. And CCM offers a wonderful structure for song writers: Verse/Chorus/Verse2/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus. And if you’ve ever seen me lead worship… I’m indebted to past CCM worship leaders for giving me a helpful structure to lead people in worship songs. Yet, there’s something so simple and brilliant about what this clip shows. No verse, no bridge, no special. Both of these songs have verses that are nowhere in sight. There’s a simplicity yet utter intensity about using these two choruses as well as the special. You don’t need a power point. You probably didn’t even need to know the song… its very inviting.

And I think the power of theme and variation that I described above really brings simple chorus to life. And let’s be honest, isn’t it enough for us to sometimes just sing “I surrender all” or “How Great is Our God”… maybe we don’t need endless words and babbling sometimes, but just to really own and embrace these simple lines. I walked by a church today and they had a sign that read, “Its easier to preach 10 sermons than live 1 semon.” True dat. Likewise, its easier to sing 10 praise songs, 10 verses, 10 bridges than to honeslty truly sing “I surrender all.” And as a worship leader and more importantly a WORSHIPER, I don’t mind parking on that line over and over again to let it marinate in my spirit, to let my mind mull over what those words truly entail.

–

Anyways, when it comes to music and esp. worship music. I’m always thankful for different styles in the same way I’m thankful that there’s so many different types of food out there. Having experienced what I’ve experienced, I’d be sad to worship solely to Gospel or CCM in the same way I’d be SAAAAD to eat only Thai food and never Indian food or Mexican food.

And just like I love taking people to my favorite restaurants, hope you enjoyed the clip as much as i did.

Worship Log

So one of the things I wanted to do on this blog is discuss worship. I love worship because it brings out some of the best in the human experience– art, creativity, music, technique, emotion, rhetoric– and employs it to worship God.

And as someone who regularly leads worship in numerous different context, I wanted to use some online real estate to catalog and discuss my experiences, how I’ve seen God work, how I’ve grown as a musician and a leader and some of the issues that inevitably come up.

This past Sunday I led worship at my home church for the opening Sunday for our new series “Revolutionary Love”… it was the first Sunday with our pastor back (from a one month sabbatical) and some measure excitement with lots of folks returning for school. We had a pretty full house.

I lead worship at my church just about once a month. And compared to when I used to lead in high school every single week non stop for two years, this is a refreshing arrangement because I invest heavily in each time I lead and feel like I grow enormously since I focus so much on that particular Sunday.

Here’s the set we did:

Opening set

This is The Day (Fred Hammond)

In the Sanctuary (Kurt Carr)

Your Grace is Enough (Chris Tomlin)

Holy, Holy, Holy (Hymn)

Offering

Speak to My Heart (Donnie McClurkin)

Response

I Almost Let Go (Kurt Carr)

When I Think About the Lord

I think one of the main challenges of a worship leader, and one faced me this week, is song selection. Not only does the worship leader have to pick good worship songs, they have to be appropriate with the topic of that particular Sunday. Being at a church that strives for multiethnic worship, its always on my mind to draw from many different traditions (this Sunday we had 5 Gospel, 1 Contemporary Christian and 1 traditional hymn… we didn’t have any songs in a non-English language which I wanted).

Also the worship leader has to “sell” each worship song. It may sound like a crude term to use… like a salesman selling knives or something… I don’t mean that, but I think the worship leader has to allow the congregation to “own” the song both individually and corporately, so that they are offering it up the Lord with conviction and feeling. The most basic aspects of selling a song has to do with the worship leader liking the song and being able to execute it skillfully. A congregation or individual will have a hard time worshiping to even the most beautiful song if they can’t follow the tune or it sounds horrible (there are exceptions with the Holy Spirit, but obviously, they are the exception). So in most cases, provided that the song is performed decently, people will naturally be able to own the song.

But this isn’t always the case. It especially isn’t the case in multiethnic worship because even if a song is executed well, an individual in the congregation may not be able to own a particular worship song if its it is outside of her comfort zone or familiar worship culture. For example, it may be really hard for someone who grew up in a church that sang only hymns to own the Fred Hammond version of “This is the Day. In fact, that’s what I had a lot of this Sunday, when I opened with that rocking tour-de-fource. Right off the top, even tho I thot the band and choir were doing well, half the congregation was totally with me and the other the other half was just standing their mouth agape.. some not even clapping. And we definitely lost people when we went into the extended guitar solo into a call and response section….

Now I think one fault of mine was in starting off the set with such a raucous tune, but still, the main question remains…. how do you sell a worship song to a congregation where for many it is in a music or worship genre totally foreign? I think I probably executed the song to the best of my ability, but I think there’s more that can be done.

“In the Sanctuary” is another upbeat Gospel number that is a lot more congregational friendly than “This is the Day”.. it has a simple, singable melody and a really easy beat and very repetitive. I think for a Gospel song, it can sell relatively easily to non-Gospel folks. The challenge for me was how to lead it well. You have the choir singing the melody with gusto and intensity. That’s not a problem… but what can I bring vocally to the song as the WL? I ask myself W.W.K.C.D? What would Kurt Carr do?

There are a lot of times when KC just stays out of the way and lets the choir shine and would just interject in between melodies with “uh” and “yeah”… but other times he doubles the melody, other times he feeds the next lyric and other times he would just ad lib a counter melody. Its an art form that I’m just getting introduced to, but when done well it totally can inject a divine exuberance into a worship song…

(Here’s a great example from Marvin Sapp… he gives a clinic on doing this stuff)

After two upbeat Gospel songs, it was time for some good old fashioned Christian rock, courtesy of our boy Chris Tomlin. “Your Grace is Enough” is a classic driving anthemic rock worship… powerful beat, intense
lyrics and chorus that you could sing in your sleep. Immediately after starting that song there was new life in the congregation. There’s something about the quarter note-eighth note rock rhythm that’s so darned singable. Sometimes Gospel can be tricky because of all its syncopation and emphasis on the offbeats. I think for our mostly white and Asian congregation there was this corporate sense of hominess when we hit that song… I noticed hands go up, eyes getting shut and a different climate of worship arise. Interesting, huh?

One of my favorite arrangements for songs like “Your Grace is Enough” that have a pre-chorus is to at the end sing the pre-chorus three times with a gradual crescendo into the final chorus. I do that way too much, but I love it and it always works. I do it on “Blessed be your name,” “All who are thirsty”… and it has a way of really bringing the song to an appropriate climax. Maybe I should copyright some kind of term for it… maybe something like three-peat coda or something like that… haha… im a loser.

Anyways, all that to say that is just another reminder that in worship you can never underestimate the value of those mid-tempo power rock anthems. They are money in the bank!

We ended the set with the hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” This song was written in like the 1820s or something.. and I think there’s a reason why this song is still widely sung 200 years later. I mean seriously, how many people in two hundred years are gonna be singing “Marvelous Light” by Charlie Hall… I’d be surprised if any. There are some songs that endure and some songs that God uses just for a season or a generation. Holy x3 is one of them…. its stinking beautiful has rich, theological deep words and a melody that’s so incredibly simple, catchy and singable.

For the hymn, I was thinking, after three upbeat songs, to do something totally different and sing the whole thing a cappella. That would have been mad pretty, but I reconsidered because I thought it might put undue pressure on the choir, and even having the keys in the background would still garner a similar effect, but also be more inviting for congregational singing. We had Tia sing a solo in verse 1, she was amazing. She has this pure, strong soprano voice that is angelic.

And we ended with the the fourth verse a cappella… which is a device that cannot be employed too often in my mind… there is something beautiful about being a congregation and hearing them all sing… its really a great communal experience. Maybe hearing voices brings a new sense of solidary with the people of God.
But just doing that together was a really sweet experience.

I sang a solo on “Speak to My Heart” which was probably unimpressive vocally, but I hope that the lyrics of the song convicted people. They are just so powerful… and the song is beautiful… if it wasn’t for the profound christian lyrics, you’d think it was baby-makin music.

Speak to my Heart Lord
Give me your Holy Word
If I can hear from you,then I’ll know what to do
I won’t go alone, I’ll never go on my own
Just let your Spirit guide and let your word abide
Speak to my Heart

I think as we were vamping the chorus, the choir was singing the melody, i was trying to lead out, singing counter melodies, feeding lyrics, etc… it made me realize how I have to keep pushing my range and having command of my singing voice to lead a song like this well. The song was in F and Donnie definitely hangs around the high F-C range and sometimes even higher… but I realized that if I can only hang on high F and barely make A in full voice, I either have to work on my falsetto or expand my range. I think there’s something rather boring about just singing the root as opposed to being able to experiment with the third or fifth and some accidentals or chromatics in between.

Pastor preached a great sermon on the prodigal son and God’s love for us and how, contrary to popular understanding, it wasn’t just the younger brother who was lost, but BOTH the younger and older were lost, but for different reasons. He talked about how Christians can be lost if they focus on just rules and regulation (religion) as opposed to a relationship with God, we are just like the older brother who was just slaving away for his father instead of realizing how much he was loved as his son.

As the sermon was winding up, I was prayerfully thinking how to be transition into worship and into communion. Pastor Peter took care of the elements, but then left it at that… invited people to take communion. I made the decision to share something I was thinking about in light of the song we were going to sing, “I almost let go.” I shared how when I’ve sang this song in the past, I usually thought about singing this song from the perspective of the younger brother, imagining a sinful, debaucherous kid who God kept… not a judgmental arrogant religious older brother who God also kept. God kept me.. maybe not from drugs but from my own venomous legalism and judgmental attitudes. He loves me and gave me grace in spite of that… and I hoped that maybe if there were other older brother types in the congregation, this song would take on new meaning for them.

I hope that helped… i was also just debating on going into the song without saying a word because sometimes I like the words to speak for themselves. But I decided to go for it and try to pastor people into the song. I’m glad i did, because I think many people owned the song… and that made me happy.

So with that, I’ll close this first worship log with the lyrics of that great song by Kurt Carr:

I almost let go.
I felt like I just couldn’t take life anymore.
My problems had me bound
Depression weighed me down.
But God held me close, so I wouldn’t let go.
God’s mercy kept me, so I wouldn’t let go.

I almost gave up.
I was right at the edge of a breakthrough but couldn’t see it
The devil really had me;
but Jesus came and grabbed me,
And He held me close,
So I wouldn’t let go.
God’s mercy kept me,
so I wouldn’t let go.

So I’m here today because God kept me.
I’m alive today, only because of His grace.
Oh, He Kept me, God Kept me,
He kept me, So I wouldn’t let go.