Check out this great post from Jeff Miller over at Consuming Worship. Jeff contends (and I agree) that worship is more than just music and singing on Sunday mornings.
It’s our attitutude.
It’s our behavior.
It’s our focus.
It’s our lifestyle.
Thanks for the insight Jeff.
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Posted by Ronnie
Lately, I’ve been looking for some new music for Edge of Grace. But I’ve been kind of specific in my search.
We have some incredible female vocalists in the band, but most of the songs that we’ve done over the years have been led by a dude. We’ve done some great songs with the ladies, but it’s probably a 15%/85% ratio overall. Or even less!
Based on the talent we have, I feel like the ratio should be closer to 50/50. But the problem is, we’ve had a lot of trouble finding great rock songs with female vocals. There’s simply far more great songs out there for the male voice.
So I’ve been on a search lately for some great “chick rock“. Songs that can hold their own against the other stuff we do.
After months of searching, I’ve compiled a list of 28 songs that I’m asking the band to listen to and give me feedback. Particulary the ladies.
Here’s the list. Let me know what you think. (And yes there are a few that aren’t really rock songs…
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Posted by Ronnie
I work in a department (and at a company for that matter) that spends a lot of time putting out “fires”. Firefighting is exciting; and when you’re good at it, you sometimes get rewarded or promoted.
Seth Godin had some excellent insight today on how to meet strategic goals despite all the fires that need to be put out. Seth makes the comment “I guess the trick is to make the long term items even more urgent than today’s emergencies.” This reminded me of something I dreamed up a few months ago.
At my suggestion, everyone in my organization has a written objective to find 2 or 3 things to improve this year that directly affect their work. Historically, they’ve all been too busy fighting fires to make improvements.
So I’m trying to take advantage of this rule of organizations: What gets measured, gets done! Hopefully, by holding everyone accountable, they will be able to ignore the fires for a few moments and take time to find a way to prevent the fires from occurring again.
Organizations need to find a way to reward those who prevent fires! I’m still trying to figure out how to do that. Maybe we all need a Smokey Bear.
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Posted by Ronnie
After a flurry of songwriting posts last month, I took a hiatus in order to give you a break. It’s been a month now since I last chronicled my journey to discover whether or not I’m capable of writing a decent song.
Hopefully, you can handle another post now.
I’ve been wanting to learn more about the art of songwriting. So far, everything I’ve written has been based on no real knowledge. Only on my wealth of experience listening to music, and a few years experience playing mandolin and guitar.
So over the Christmas holidays, I picked up the book Songwriting for Dummies. (Please try not to imply anything about myself due to the title…)
Due to the craziness of life, I’ve only been reading it in spurts. But I have to say it’s well worth reading so far. I have learned a lot about song structure, rhyming schemes, etc… that I’ve just been dealing with by the seat of my pants. For example, what is the purpose of a prechorus? I just thought they sounded good sometimes, but musically there is a reason to include one. (Or not to.)
Most importantly I’ve learned about the different kinds of “hooks“, which are something that I’d never thought about before in my songwriting. If you want people to listen to your song, something has to grab and hold their attention. It’s a rather simple concept, but it had never occurred to me. The authors give a lot of great advice about creating hooks for the listeners.
They also highly recommend co-writing lyrics with someone else. I can’t say that I like the idea. Not sure why.
But here’s what I consider to be the downside of reading the book. I guess I’m a bit of a “romantic” when it comes to songwriting. I’ve always thought of it as more inspiration than process. This book is all about the “process” of songwriting. There is also a lot of commercial emphasis as well. How to write songs that will sell - that sort of thing. It bothers me slightly that now I’m analyzing song lyrics when I hear something on the radio or my ipod. Some of the mystery is gone.
Currently I’m waiting for the next piece of inspiration.
Like the next cool song title that jumps out of me.
Or an interesting chord progression.
Maybe a catchy riff that I stumble upon while noodling around on the mandolin.
When something does catch my attention, I think the end result will be much more appealing because of what I’ve learned and continue to learn. I plan on taking that piece of inspiration and running it through the process I’ve learned. We’ll see if it helps.
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Posted by Ronnie
Last fall, my son played soccer at the YMCA. One of his teammates was always brought to practices and games by his grandmother. Every week before the game, she would start stressing that the boy’s mom wasn’t going to make it to the game. Apparently mom wasn’t a very responsible mother…
About halfway through the season, I felt God telling me to encourage grandma. To tell her what a great job she was doing, and that He was proud of her.
I couldn’t do it. I was too worried that she would look at me funny or think that I was crazy “hearing things from God”. Besides, I didn’t even know her name.
A few weeks went by, and this really started eating at me. Finally, I approached her during the last week of the season. I told her that I felt God wanting me to tell her what a wonderful grandmother she was. I spent a minute or two just encouraging her.
She started crying instantly. You see, she was about to appear in court very soon to sue her daughter for full custody of her grandson. She was being torn apart inside questioning whether she was doing the right thing by protecting her grandson or alienating her daughter. She thanked me profusely, saying that it was just what she needed to hear.
Of course, I questioned why I didn’t obey God sooner…
Fast forward to the present. My son is playing soccer again. The same boy is on his team. A week ago, I talked to his grandma at the game.
She thanked me again for the encouragement. She is still battling her daughter in the courts. My encouraging words and comfort have been constantly in her mind this winter as she has ridden the custody roller coaster.
I had no idea that I would have such an impact. I was a little embarrassed actually…
Hopefully, I’ll obey a little sooner next time.
What is God telling you to do? What holds you back from following through?
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Posted by Ronnie
