by Louie Giglio (blog.worship.com)
Worship is simply about value. The simplest definition I can give is this: Worship is our response to what we value most.
Worship is that thing we all do. It’s what we’re all about on any given day. Because, worship is about saying, “This person, this thing, this experience (this whatever) is what matters most to me…it’s the thing I put first in my life.”
That “thing” might be a relationship. A dream. Friends. Status. Stuff. A name. Some kind of pleasure. Whatever name you put on it, this thing or person is what you’ve concluded in your heart is worth most to you. And whatever is worth most to you is—you guessed it—what you worship.
Worship tells us what we value most. As a result, worship determines our actions, becoming the driving force for all we do.
And we’re not just talking about the religious crowd. Christians. The churchgoer among us. Or the youth group attender. We’re talking about everybody on planet earth…a multitude of souls proclaiming with every breath what is worthy of their affection, their attention, their allegiance. Proclaiming with every step what it is they worship.
Some of us attend the church on the corner, professing to worship the Living God above all. Others who rarely step inside the church doors would say worship isn’t a part of their lives because they aren’t “religious.” But everybody has an altar. And every altar has a throne.
So how do you know where and what you worship?
It’s easy. You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your loyalty. At the end of that trail you’ll find a throne; and whatever, or whomever, is on that throne is what’s of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship.
Sure, not too many of us walk around saying, “I worship my stuff. I worship my X-Box. I worship this pleasure. I worship her. I worship my body. I worship me!”
But the trail never lies. We may say we value this thing or that thing more than any other, but the volume of our actions speaks louder than our words.
In the end, our worship is more about what we do than what we say
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Learn Your Neck
by Israel Doria
Like many of you, I learned to play the guitar on my own. This means that I simply learned chord shapes and scale shapes that were unrelated to each other. I learned fret numbers instead of note names and tablatures instead of music notation. These are all good things to know, but its also very important that we, as guitar players and musicians, take the time to learn theory and apply it to our playing. It is imperative that we learn the notes on the neck, key signatures, chord tones and put them all together to make music that works.
MUSICAL ALPHABET
The first thing we need to get under our belts before we start hammering away at memorizing these key signatures is the musical alphabet.
There are seven letters in the musical alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Once you reach the end, it starts over and continues in each direction infinitely. Go ahead and play these notes on your guitar.
You'll notice that some notes are two frets apart where other notes are only fret apart. These are called whole steps and half steps.
Accidentals
In addition to these notes, we have what are called accidentals.We will go over three kinds of accidentals: sharps, flats and naturals.
A sharp sign(#) raises a note a half step.
A flat sign(b) lowers a note a half step.
A natural sign(♮) cancels out any other accidental.
Chromatic Scale
Now its time to put the two together. The chromatic scale is a scale that includes every note within an octave. In the key of A, it would look like this:
A - A#/Bb - B - C -C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A
This scale is the same in any key. Lets take a look at E:
E - F - F#/Gb - G -G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E
Application to Fretboard
The chormatic scale and understanding of the musical alphabet and accidentals will help you learn and memorize the fretboard. In order to get a point of reference, we need to memorize the open strings. The 1st string is the thinnest one and the 6th string is the thickest. The names of the strings are:
1 - E
2 - B
3 - G
4 - D
5 - A
6 - E
Now you can figure out any note on your guitar's fretboard! For instance, if you want to know what the 7th fret on the top string is, you know the top string is E and if you could seven half-steps up from E you'll see that the 7th fret is B. This may seem tedious and boring but it is imperative to your playing that you memorize the fretboard. Next time, we'll talk about key signatures and how to control the vast range of notes
that the guitar provides.
RESOURCES:
Musical Alphabet
(http://www.guitartutoronline.com/index.php/Beginners/The-Basics/musical-alphabet.html)
Sharps
(http://www.guitartutoronline.com/index.php/Beginners/Learning-The-Strings/sharps.html)
Flats
(http://www.guitartutoronline.com/index.php/Beginners/Learning-The-Strings/flats.html)
Like many of you, I learned to play the guitar on my own. This means that I simply learned chord shapes and scale shapes that were unrelated to each other. I learned fret numbers instead of note names and tablatures instead of music notation. These are all good things to know, but its also very important that we, as guitar players and musicians, take the time to learn theory and apply it to our playing. It is imperative that we learn the notes on the neck, key signatures, chord tones and put them all together to make music that works.
MUSICAL ALPHABET
The first thing we need to get under our belts before we start hammering away at memorizing these key signatures is the musical alphabet.
There are seven letters in the musical alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Once you reach the end, it starts over and continues in each direction infinitely. Go ahead and play these notes on your guitar.
You'll notice that some notes are two frets apart where other notes are only fret apart. These are called whole steps and half steps.
Accidentals
In addition to these notes, we have what are called accidentals.We will go over three kinds of accidentals: sharps, flats and naturals.
A sharp sign(#) raises a note a half step.
A flat sign(b) lowers a note a half step.
A natural sign(♮) cancels out any other accidental.
Chromatic Scale
Now its time to put the two together. The chromatic scale is a scale that includes every note within an octave. In the key of A, it would look like this:
A - A#/Bb - B - C -C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A
This scale is the same in any key. Lets take a look at E:
E - F - F#/Gb - G -G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E
Application to Fretboard
The chormatic scale and understanding of the musical alphabet and accidentals will help you learn and memorize the fretboard. In order to get a point of reference, we need to memorize the open strings. The 1st string is the thinnest one and the 6th string is the thickest. The names of the strings are:
1 - E
2 - B
3 - G
4 - D
5 - A
6 - E
Now you can figure out any note on your guitar's fretboard! For instance, if you want to know what the 7th fret on the top string is, you know the top string is E and if you could seven half-steps up from E you'll see that the 7th fret is B. This may seem tedious and boring but it is imperative to your playing that you memorize the fretboard. Next time, we'll talk about key signatures and how to control the vast range of notes
that the guitar provides.
RESOURCES:
Musical Alphabet
(http://www.guitartutoronline.com/index.php/Beginners/The-Basics/musical-alphabet.html)
Sharps
(http://www.guitartutoronline.com/index.php/Beginners/Learning-The-Strings/sharps.html)
Flats
(http://www.guitartutoronline.com/index.php/Beginners/Learning-The-Strings/flats.html)
Thursday, June 17, 2010
How to EQ
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Free Background Loops (I love free stuff)
Looking for a cool background loop or slide to put up on the screen during worship? You can find some helpful resources on "CMD - Church Media Design." It's a great place to find graphic elements to help you in enhancing your presentation.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Being Real is a Big Deal (Part 2)
by Major Warren Dabis
Praise and Worship has always been about God and to God! What are the obstacles you are placing in front of yourself and your team as you worship God? Is it hidden sin that leads to hypocrisy as you sing or play? Is it an ego that places you above others and God as you sing or play? Is it an attitude that tells your peers, “I’m up here and you’re not” or something worse? Is it that you have an unresolved conflict with a peer that prevents them from accepting your leadership in worship? Is it that you want everyone to see you wear the latest fashions rather than seeing Christ in you? And on and on…
Let us be as David in Psalm 51: 10 – 13: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
The progression here is a pure heart, the renewal of a steadfast spirit, a purposeful relationship with God, accomplished through an intimate, personal experience with the Holy Spirit. Consequently, this results in a joyful restoration of the state of salvation and a willing spirit to continue that state!
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.”
Then, this progression is expressed in who we are (authenticity) to those in our sphere of influence!
Being “real” is a ‘big” deal!
Praise and Worship has always been about God and to God! What are the obstacles you are placing in front of yourself and your team as you worship God? Is it hidden sin that leads to hypocrisy as you sing or play? Is it an ego that places you above others and God as you sing or play? Is it an attitude that tells your peers, “I’m up here and you’re not” or something worse? Is it that you have an unresolved conflict with a peer that prevents them from accepting your leadership in worship? Is it that you want everyone to see you wear the latest fashions rather than seeing Christ in you? And on and on…
Let us be as David in Psalm 51: 10 – 13: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
The progression here is a pure heart, the renewal of a steadfast spirit, a purposeful relationship with God, accomplished through an intimate, personal experience with the Holy Spirit. Consequently, this results in a joyful restoration of the state of salvation and a willing spirit to continue that state!
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.”
Then, this progression is expressed in who we are (authenticity) to those in our sphere of influence!
Being “real” is a ‘big” deal!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Being Real is a Big Deal (Part 1)
by Major Warren Dabis
I recently commented on a posting in this blog of a young lady in our Praise and Worship team that came to me to ask to not sing on a particular Sunday morning saying she was not right with the Lord. I had shared this with a group of WMI students and one young man quipped, “What’s the big deal? She was your lead soprano and you needed her! What is Praise and Worship without a lead singer to sing the melody for the congregation?” Good questions and I needed to clarify this before he went back to his Corps team!
Being real or authentic in our Praise and Worship is a big deal! Bigger than our “tight” vocals or instrumentalists, “big” sound, “best” equipment” and “great” lead vocalist! Ooops, and maybe “right on” worship leader! Being authentic is essential to Praise and Worship whether we stand behind our instruments or microphones because we stand before a holy and jealous God in leading people in worship of Him! Someone has said to me, “Be careful what you say (or sing) in His presence!” Our recovering friends say it even better, “You gotta walk the walk as well as talk the talk!” And I say, “You cannot give away what you do not have!”
Authenticity is being who you are! And if we are leading people in worship of God, we had best be “His own!” I want to get into this in another article about being transparent 24/7, but in a nutshell we as worship musicians and leaders need to know and experience intimately the One we are praising and worshipping! Anne Ortland, in her book, Up with Worship: A Call to Quit Playing Church, calls us “Upfronters.” This does mean that we lead from upfront! However, I believe we lead and praise and worship God from the “inside out.” What we do behind the mics and our instruments, must be an indication of what is taking place “inside” of us!
Click here to read Part 2
I recently commented on a posting in this blog of a young lady in our Praise and Worship team that came to me to ask to not sing on a particular Sunday morning saying she was not right with the Lord. I had shared this with a group of WMI students and one young man quipped, “What’s the big deal? She was your lead soprano and you needed her! What is Praise and Worship without a lead singer to sing the melody for the congregation?” Good questions and I needed to clarify this before he went back to his Corps team!
Being real or authentic in our Praise and Worship is a big deal! Bigger than our “tight” vocals or instrumentalists, “big” sound, “best” equipment” and “great” lead vocalist! Ooops, and maybe “right on” worship leader! Being authentic is essential to Praise and Worship whether we stand behind our instruments or microphones because we stand before a holy and jealous God in leading people in worship of Him! Someone has said to me, “Be careful what you say (or sing) in His presence!” Our recovering friends say it even better, “You gotta walk the walk as well as talk the talk!” And I say, “You cannot give away what you do not have!”
Authenticity is being who you are! And if we are leading people in worship of God, we had best be “His own!” I want to get into this in another article about being transparent 24/7, but in a nutshell we as worship musicians and leaders need to know and experience intimately the One we are praising and worshipping! Anne Ortland, in her book, Up with Worship: A Call to Quit Playing Church, calls us “Upfronters.” This does mean that we lead from upfront! However, I believe we lead and praise and worship God from the “inside out.” What we do behind the mics and our instruments, must be an indication of what is taking place “inside” of us!
Click here to read Part 2
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