A little snippet from one of the sessions at our recent 24 hour prayer meeting at church. Playing in spontaneous moments like this isn't as complicated as it can come across. Here are 4 simple steps I use as a foundation to keep moving especially when supporting a ministry moment.
1. Have a steady chord progression going. This keeps you from having to think too much in the moment to come up with new ideas every few bars. The less your mind is cluttered, the more naturally creative ideas will flow out of you.
2. Pick your moments. Learn to adjust the dynamics of your playing according to what else is going on in the moment. If someone is talking, play less so that you don't take centrestage. If there's corporate prayer going on, you can play more to create a building momentum.
3. Fills, lines, riffs are all secondary, never the essential. Only play what comes the most natural to your fingers, and when you know how to lead into and go out of. This isn't really a time to experiment with something you've never played before because otherwise it leads you back to over thinking and that's when things start to sound really random.
4. Pick your sounds well. Don't be afraid of layering, change volume levels. The more busy you play, the less any of your sounds should stay stagnant. Get to a place where you are one with your instrument, the function of it, the effects, etc.
For context, I was playing keys 1 with Piano + organ layered and @kwistale was on keys 2 with bell + strings layered.
Goodbye Caramel. Thank you for 12 beautiful years of loving you and being loved by you. You were part of our family, our wedding gift to ourselves, our first “child”. Sweetest companion, gentle yet so playful, you didn’t need any time to warm up to any of our kids and you loved them right from the get go, and they loved you too. You taught other dogs that visited our home how to behave, and your bravery saved us that one night when a snake entered our house. At the same time you stole candy and chocolate from our pantry, ate food off our table that didn’t belong to you, caused us so much mess that we had to clean. Our home always felt safer and warmer because you were around, no one staying with us were ever truly alone even if all the other humans weren’t home. You were an intelligent one, so quick to pick up tricks and follow commands, but you somehow never learned to poop and pee in the right place. Suddenly I miss the many rounds of bleaching our kitchen floor when that was your chosen toilet, definitely will also miss all cleaning of the rugs at home. I will definitely miss the afternoon naps I’d take on the couch only to wake up to you napping at/on my feet. You slept there and didn’t move as long as I was sleeping. You loved treats, cuddles, pats, and generally were always excited for our company, and I wish we didn’t take that for granted especially in the last couple of years. I don’t think the void you’ve left in our hearts will ever be filled, but maybe for the best because there will only ever be one of you. It’s going to take a while to get used to you no longer being with us after 12 years of not knowing life without you. We love you and will never forget you, our beautiful, furry and beloved Caramel.
Been a hectic but fulfilling few months. Here’s a bit of a BTS of the keyboard set up we had going at the recent Kingdomcity conferences in KL and Perth. Had so much fun setting everything up with my brothers @milton_mushuna and @_carsonhylton from our church in Dubai.
Our setup:
Keys 1 - Nord Stage 4, Roland Juno X
Keys 2 - Roland Fantom 8ex, Fantom 7ex
Organ - Nord Organ 3, Logic stock organ
Synths - Mainstage + Ableton, Omnisphere, Native Instruments
Also big shoutout to Roland Asia Pacific @rapdistribution and @roland_aus for their great support in sending over gear for us to use!
Keeping up with our yearly tradition of a praise medley for the closing of our conference and new year's eve service, from the MD/Keys POV. Audio taken from my IEM mix. Had quite a bit of fun working on this and great team to play it with. Enjoy!
Also big thanks to @rapdistribution (Roland Asia Pacific) for the amazing keys, bass and percussion gear they let us use for this service!
Happy birthday to our two older boys, Heze who turns 9 today, and Elisha who turned 6 last month. You boys are our delight and so much fun to be around. You are so full of life, love to laugh and run around, and you are both the best big brothers to Ari’el. Each year that passes, the more I realise how much more encouraging I can be and how much more life I want to speak over you boys, all your dreams and everything God has created you to be. We are so proud of both of you and everything you have achieved in life so far. The sky is literally the limit for you. Love you boys.❤️❤️❤️
Happy birthday to my beautiful, incredibly considerate and resilient Radiance. Your name is who you are, and I’ve seen you be constantly that in the many seasons I’ve gone through with you over the last 13 years of knowing you. There isn’t anyone else I know who’s like you, you are unique, special and wonderful in so many ways. I am incredibly honoured to be your husband. You are 35 today and have lived half of the expected lifespan of a human being, but you sound like you’ve lived much longer because of the wisdom and grace you exude in every way. You are a safe place to everyone who is in your life. The way you love Jesus and our family is beautiful to watch and I love you with all my heart. Happy birthday sweetheart.
Just tryna play some shout and bring some people to church! This was real fun with a real killin band! Sorry for all the shouting, hope you enjoy the rest of it. Miss our team from many nations here!
Unfortunately the bass and organ footage were lost so I wasn’t able to post them alone with the rest. Audio taken from my IEM mix.
Keys 1 - @jdpsilas
Keys 2 - @joelthen_
Organ - @mattbolt
Guitar 1 - @_kellyhaha
Guitar 2 1 @josh_then
Bass - @isaac_jpeter
Perc - @dave_rajendrum
Drums - @arthurkamster
Special shoutout to @jarrel.foo and @luke.andreas.s on IEM’s and those killer vocals by @karisma_danita and @gabbylenaanderson
One of my favourite moments from @kingdomcity Conference this year was in Perth when @russell.evans pulled out this oldie at the start of his message. It's always such a joy to minister together with Ps Russell, grateful for how much he's poured into our church and how well he leads our worship team in ministry whenever he takes the platform. Never know what's gonna happen next, but it's always an adventure!
Hope you guys are blessed by this video, audio recorded directly from my IEM mix.
Episode 2 of my conversation with @realelvisgoodluck centred on the topic of dealing with being overlooked is available now for streaming. Click on the link in the profile description to check it out!
FINALLY, A NEW EPISODE IS HERE! Check out this snippet from my chat with @realelvisgoodluck on the topic of being overlooked. Full conversation will be available this weekend!
Happy 3rd birthday to my 3rd child, Ari’el! You are the most adorable human being in the world and the king of pulling faces in photos. You are cheeky, funny, incredibly intelligent and engaging in conversation. I love watching you pull people into your world of vivid imagination, questions and just talking about everything that makes life fun like cars and drums. So thankful for a child who cannot ever put down the drum sticks, loves the company of people more than screens, wakes up with a smile most mornings, and who loves growing up quickly because you can’t wait to be big enough to do the things your brothers do like play football and climb things. You have made parenting fresh again for us after we thought we had just learned how to raise boys. We love everything about you, you are not just God’s gift to us, you are God’s redemption to us as well, our miracle child even from conception and the pregnancy stage as well. Not a day goes by when we aren’t thankful that you’re our son. We are so happy that God made you, YOU! Love you more than words and so excited to see all the giftings that come alive in you in the years ahead.
Also the last two videos feature Ari’el’s biggest heroes and role models in his life - unc @jarrel.foo and unc @arthurkamster
This is a bit of a long one. But I have learned over the years that the role of a music director expands far beyond just being the band leader or calling out the right chords or sections of the song. There’s so much room in what we are doing that can help set the worship team on the right track in terms of heart posture, focus and direction in drawing people’s hearts to a place where they can be vulnerable and whole hearted in their worship to Him, and then stewarding what Holy Spirit wants to do in response to the worship. He can move without us playing/singing, so if we’re gonna be up there we might as well not be a distraction but rather partner with Him by being facilitators of His plans.
A united worship team starts with the MD and worship leader uniting in their pursuit of God’s heart for the room, and bringing the rest of the band to a place where they can also sense those things on their own just as clearly. Those moments, whether scripted or unplanned, breathe freshness and life every single time. Hope this video and my explanations of what is going through my head in those moments bring clarity for anyone who is seeking to grow in becoming a better MD.
