I would venture to generalize that Christmas time is perhaps the most challenging month for a church worship pastor/music director. Compared to the rest of the year, December has so much emphasis put on it: typically more visitors at the Christmas Eve service, expectations for what songs are done with a modern or traditional approach, all for one month! Even though the congregation grits their teeth when introducing new songs (every week!) I still sing them. They always come around. A typical Sunday morning comment I hear is, "I didn't really like that song the first time you played it, but man, I can't get it out of my head now. It's really good!" Told you.
Christmas feels different though. So much work goes into learning obscure arrangements from desperate artists trying to put their own unique spin on an over-sung carol. Christmas songs aren't easy to begin with! All that to say, in the church world where staff members wear numerous hats and it's already a struggle to look two weeks ahead it feels like an uneconomical use of time to designate so much attention to one month.
The same presents a similar challenge for the touring industry as well, but perhaps the redemption for all of the hard work is that a Christmas tour can offer a large portion of an artists income for the year. The difference between a Nashville Christmas touring act and a church band presents quite a challenge as well. A touring band by profession doesn't need as much preparation or extensive rehearsal time to pull off a polished production like a church band does. Even with extensive practice time and easy arrangements a church band will often still struggle to pull off the polished professional sound of a studio recording or a professional act.
This is a bigger issue than Christmas music alone. Civilians (my composition professor at Belmont called normal, non-musical people) cruise around in their cars listening to auto-tuned, quantized, professionally mixed and mastered tracks which they grow accustomed to and become in their listening ear their standard for normal. The same civilians step into church and as the band fails to sound anything like what they hear pumping from their Bose system in their Escalade they become critical and disengaged. Of course there is the Biblical call to worship that criticizes civilians for not engaging with their hearts and showing up at church for the show and this should challenge us all to worship regardless of the sound, or the professionally musicality of the band.
Our responsibility, however, as worship artists, leaders and bands is to push our musicians and bands to maintain quality and excellence in everything we do. The charge to our congregation to worship regardless of what we give them is great, but we need to step up to the plate and musically help the church keep up with the standard that technology is advancing to. This is more philosophical than practical which is a direction I quickly get over my head in, but being a part of my philosophy of worship ministry I'll mention it briefly: historically the church and Christian industries have followed secular trends which has removed the church and Christian leaders as trend setters and industry leaders, especially in the entertainment world. In our small community in South Bend, IN where my band consists of extremely intelligent hard-working engineers, computer analysts, doctors, steel workers and salesman, my challenge but desire is to slowly set a new standard of excellence at least at Grace that leads our community in a new appreciation and respect for the arts. Pray for me!
I promise I didn't say all that as a disclaimer to this video of some of worship a few weekends ago, but if it helps as one then I'll take it. Here's our attempt at making Christmas carols relevant, fresh, but not overly difficult for the band. What you are about to witness is a "standard of excellence" set by a single standard definition camera and a board mix. Pure beauty. Hopefully the whisper, "hypocrite" doesn't escape your partially opened lips as you watch with a furrowed brow trying to comprehend what's happening. By the way our church name is Grace. Extend it.
Collin
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Happy Birthday Dad
My dad turned 54 a few days ago (sorry dad, the cat's out of the bag). As normal I'm a few days late acknowledging it. I use the excuse that I like to stretch the celebration out, but most people see right through that.
I've learned a ton from my dad.
He taught me how to use my hands and build stuff, how to be my own man and not have to pay other guys to do what I can do myself. He taught me how to use a saw and hammer nails, he showed me a love for the smell of sawdust and fresh drywall.
He showed me that there's a farmer inside of every man and that there's nothing quite like sitting on a tractor thinking about life.
He showed me that wearing Cahartt wasn't a redneck fashion statement, but a necessity. If you were cold after that, grunt and work harder.
He taught me a love for animals. A dog really is a man's best friend and that horses can teach you more about life than any person.
I love you, Dad. Thanks for investing so much into my life and teaching me the importance of having integrity and how to be a man.
I've learned a ton from my dad.
He taught me how to use my hands and build stuff, how to be my own man and not have to pay other guys to do what I can do myself. He taught me how to use a saw and hammer nails, he showed me a love for the smell of sawdust and fresh drywall.
He showed me that there's a farmer inside of every man and that there's nothing quite like sitting on a tractor thinking about life.
He showed me that wearing Cahartt wasn't a redneck fashion statement, but a necessity. If you were cold after that, grunt and work harder.
He taught me a love for animals. A dog really is a man's best friend and that horses can teach you more about life than any person.
I love you, Dad. Thanks for investing so much into my life and teaching me the importance of having integrity and how to be a man.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Christmas Memories
We're slowly working through our second Michiana winter. If you've ever experienced lake effect snow then you know exactly what I mean by "working through." Being from Colorado Jenna and I scoffed when locals or other survivors tried to prepare us. Before the ice age last year I asked one of our office staff members if the snow sticks around all year. I received a short blank stare and then immediate peels of laughter from her and everyone who overheard my dumb question. That was not the first time I thought to myself, "Where in the world are we?"
Evidently there is a thirty square-mile section of land on the south-eastern tip of Lake Michigan that gets the brunt of all of Lake Michigan's fury and South Bend, IN sits right in the middle of it. It's like Lake Michigan has some serious emotional baggage and choses to take it all out on South Bend. Maybe it's mad because it gets all of Chicago's pollution first, or maybe because it's farthest from the ocean, I really have no idea. Either way, we get to experience Lake Michigan's yearly winter temper tantrum in all it's glory. If you have a two year-old you understand what I'm saying. If you have a two year-old and live in South Bend you probably need drugs and counseling. I'll give you some numbers.
Anyway, last year even the locals said the winter was bad. This year, however, we are nearly to Christmas and we've only had but a dusting. I'm thrilled! No, ecstatic! Ironically, in Nashville we nostalgically pined about a White Christmas when we we cruised around in our two-wheel-drive air conditioning, and now I'm attempting jumping jacks while bundled up in Carhartt in my F-150 that I contemplated leaving chains on all last year. Funny how seasons change.
With all the talk about snow and Christmas I am reminded of my childhood. Granted, the old memories often get sweeter with time, but I had to dig out a few pictures of Colorado winters to see if the sky was as blue as I remembered. Turns out my memory's pretty good.
I have albums and shoe boxes full of photographs that my dad took of us growing up. As a professional photographer he beautifully captured almost every important moment and season of our lives growing up. In a memory and tradition filled season like the one we're in I find myself thoughtfully thumbing through those albums and boxes. It's like I'm looking for something. I still haven't found it, but what I am finding is quite simple - I'm growing up. I get to be Santa now. (Sorry kids). I get to establish traditions and memories for my family.
My parents divorced a little over a year ago after thirty years of marriage and in seasons like this I find myself emotionally trying to pick up pieces. What I also see in a box of pictures is broken promises, forgotten memories, an incomplete legacy.
While we were singing Christmas carols in church this morning I was challenged by this: Christmas cannot be only about memories, traditions, and nostalgia. We must maintain the gospel-centricity of Christmas. Christ didn't come to fit into the clever rhymes of our carols, He came to save the world. When I remember this I'm embarrassed that I make it about my childhood memories and that I feel let down by my parents, and honestly that I complain about the weather and always want what I don't have.
There's a greater picture being painted that I want to have eyes to see. Just like the grey lake effect skies clouds my memory of brilliant blue sky, I won't let my own memories make me forget about Christmas.
I'm going to go drink some egg-nog now.
Evidently there is a thirty square-mile section of land on the south-eastern tip of Lake Michigan that gets the brunt of all of Lake Michigan's fury and South Bend, IN sits right in the middle of it. It's like Lake Michigan has some serious emotional baggage and choses to take it all out on South Bend. Maybe it's mad because it gets all of Chicago's pollution first, or maybe because it's farthest from the ocean, I really have no idea. Either way, we get to experience Lake Michigan's yearly winter temper tantrum in all it's glory. If you have a two year-old you understand what I'm saying. If you have a two year-old and live in South Bend you probably need drugs and counseling. I'll give you some numbers.
Anyway, last year even the locals said the winter was bad. This year, however, we are nearly to Christmas and we've only had but a dusting. I'm thrilled! No, ecstatic! Ironically, in Nashville we nostalgically pined about a White Christmas when we we cruised around in our two-wheel-drive air conditioning, and now I'm attempting jumping jacks while bundled up in Carhartt in my F-150 that I contemplated leaving chains on all last year. Funny how seasons change.
With all the talk about snow and Christmas I am reminded of my childhood. Granted, the old memories often get sweeter with time, but I had to dig out a few pictures of Colorado winters to see if the sky was as blue as I remembered. Turns out my memory's pretty good.
I have albums and shoe boxes full of photographs that my dad took of us growing up. As a professional photographer he beautifully captured almost every important moment and season of our lives growing up. In a memory and tradition filled season like the one we're in I find myself thoughtfully thumbing through those albums and boxes. It's like I'm looking for something. I still haven't found it, but what I am finding is quite simple - I'm growing up. I get to be Santa now. (Sorry kids). I get to establish traditions and memories for my family.
My parents divorced a little over a year ago after thirty years of marriage and in seasons like this I find myself emotionally trying to pick up pieces. What I also see in a box of pictures is broken promises, forgotten memories, an incomplete legacy.
While we were singing Christmas carols in church this morning I was challenged by this: Christmas cannot be only about memories, traditions, and nostalgia. We must maintain the gospel-centricity of Christmas. Christ didn't come to fit into the clever rhymes of our carols, He came to save the world. When I remember this I'm embarrassed that I make it about my childhood memories and that I feel let down by my parents, and honestly that I complain about the weather and always want what I don't have.
There's a greater picture being painted that I want to have eyes to see. Just like the grey lake effect skies clouds my memory of brilliant blue sky, I won't let my own memories make me forget about Christmas.
I'm going to go drink some egg-nog now.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Winter Wonderland
We finished it! In my biased opinion I don't think these pictures do it justice, partly because the room is so big! I'm so thankful for Brandi and Eric Freel for helping me pull this together, I'm so thankful for their collaboration and hard work.
I saw these trees at a display at Ikea, showed this pic to Eric and he fabricated the trees from styrofoam.
I saw these trees at a display at Ikea, showed this pic to Eric and he fabricated the trees from styrofoam.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Everyone Needs a Cabin
I was looking for a photograph in my LightRoom library the other day and ran across this picture I took last March when we were home in Colorado.
I grew up sharing a room with my older brother and by the time I turned fourteen I decided I needed my own room. Even though we didn't have an extra bedroom in our house, in a moment of ungrateful, junior high attitude I felt like my Dad needed to do something about it and get me my own room. In addition to many life skills, probably the three main character qualities that my dad stressed during my childhood were, responsibility, integrity and obedience and he never missed an opportunity to instill these principles. This scenario was no exception and I remember him looking at me for a second with this perplexed look and then said, "Ok. I tell you what: if you want your own room you can build it." After a few days of feeling like my feelings weren't validated I decided that I would do just that. Build my own room.
I know well the two opinions on John Eldridge and have read many of his books. While some argue his theology and Biblical basis, I've found that he has some wise insight to the way a man thinks. In "The Way of The Wild Heart," a book he wrote as a follow up to, "Wild at Heart," he explains the stages of manhood and says that young men need to be allowed to be "king" and rule over something in their lives. He says that young men will learn about life, natural consequences and responsibility through owning pets, building forts, getting hurt, having a place that is all their own. I'm glad my parents understood this principle and gave me numerous opportunities to take on great responsibility. This is one of the biggest reasons my parents advocated homeschooling and wanted us to learn valuable, practical life lessons.
Anyway, my dad is an artist, creative, and an excellent carpenter and I grew up constantly building and rebuilding projects of various sizes. We had recently rebuilt a deck and my dad said I could have all of the old redwood scrap. After spending a few months drawing up plans (I can't find them, otherwise I would show one to you!) I showed them to my dad, picked a corner of our five acre lot as far from the barn and house as possible and went to work.
Over a process of more than two years I proceeded to build my little house funded from left over material from local developments and whatever I couldn't find, I bought myself using money I earned at dinner music gigs I played piano at throughout Colorado Springs. I insulated, wired and drywalled this the entire 96 square feet and believe it or not spent many nights in it. I heated it with a small antique wood stove that now holds my printer in my studio.
God uses everything in our life for a reason. Even though I was in junior high and this was not whatsoever a life changing event, I ran into a closed door when my dad said I couldn't have my own room. I remember being mad and upset, but what came out of my sweating, bleeding, applying myself, spending much time, money and energy was a lifeskill I don't think I could have learned any other way. I'm thinking now of the mountains in my life now that I really just would rather give up on and say it's not worth it. Is it really not worth it, or is this just a cabin waiting to be built?
This is my Dad's cabin that he built with his brothers in the mountains of Colorado. Every man should have one. There's your challenge: what's the cabin in your life? Go build it.
I grew up sharing a room with my older brother and by the time I turned fourteen I decided I needed my own room. Even though we didn't have an extra bedroom in our house, in a moment of ungrateful, junior high attitude I felt like my Dad needed to do something about it and get me my own room. In addition to many life skills, probably the three main character qualities that my dad stressed during my childhood were, responsibility, integrity and obedience and he never missed an opportunity to instill these principles. This scenario was no exception and I remember him looking at me for a second with this perplexed look and then said, "Ok. I tell you what: if you want your own room you can build it." After a few days of feeling like my feelings weren't validated I decided that I would do just that. Build my own room.
I know well the two opinions on John Eldridge and have read many of his books. While some argue his theology and Biblical basis, I've found that he has some wise insight to the way a man thinks. In "The Way of The Wild Heart," a book he wrote as a follow up to, "Wild at Heart," he explains the stages of manhood and says that young men need to be allowed to be "king" and rule over something in their lives. He says that young men will learn about life, natural consequences and responsibility through owning pets, building forts, getting hurt, having a place that is all their own. I'm glad my parents understood this principle and gave me numerous opportunities to take on great responsibility. This is one of the biggest reasons my parents advocated homeschooling and wanted us to learn valuable, practical life lessons.
Anyway, my dad is an artist, creative, and an excellent carpenter and I grew up constantly building and rebuilding projects of various sizes. We had recently rebuilt a deck and my dad said I could have all of the old redwood scrap. After spending a few months drawing up plans (I can't find them, otherwise I would show one to you!) I showed them to my dad, picked a corner of our five acre lot as far from the barn and house as possible and went to work.
Over a process of more than two years I proceeded to build my little house funded from left over material from local developments and whatever I couldn't find, I bought myself using money I earned at dinner music gigs I played piano at throughout Colorado Springs. I insulated, wired and drywalled this the entire 96 square feet and believe it or not spent many nights in it. I heated it with a small antique wood stove that now holds my printer in my studio.
God uses everything in our life for a reason. Even though I was in junior high and this was not whatsoever a life changing event, I ran into a closed door when my dad said I couldn't have my own room. I remember being mad and upset, but what came out of my sweating, bleeding, applying myself, spending much time, money and energy was a lifeskill I don't think I could have learned any other way. I'm thinking now of the mountains in my life now that I really just would rather give up on and say it's not worth it. Is it really not worth it, or is this just a cabin waiting to be built?
This is my Dad's cabin that he built with his brothers in the mountains of Colorado. Every man should have one. There's your challenge: what's the cabin in your life? Go build it.
Friday, December 2, 2011
New Pop Screen!
When Blue mics came out with the Blue Spark recently, I jumped on the chance to own a quality mic with the Blue name on it for such an economical price. It has turned out to be an excellent purchase and it looks so cool! I use it for vocals, guitar and piano primarily and it has captured excellent detail in every application. In addition to the superior quality microphones, one thing that Blue excels at is their design and marketing. The extra thought and creativity of their design and packaging are inspiring in this day when utility and economy is typically the goal.
When tracking vocals for 33Miles the most popular mic in Nashville studios tended to be either the Blue Kiwi or the Blue Bottle with the interchangeable capsule which are $$2,000-$6,000 microphones. The Spark uses the same technology from the same manufacturer (obviously), in a smaller, simpler package for $250.
One element of the Spark's creative design is that it comes with this cute little pop screen that showcases the Blue logo. Looks so cool and I thought I was getting a pop-screen with the mic. While it helps attenuate and neutralize some pops, a lot still make through. (Maybe I'm an extra emphatic singer...or that's why people back away from me when I'm telling a story...)
Anyway, I needed a better pop-screen and found Blue's, "The Pop" which I'm thrilled about. With a price tag of $30 on Amazon and it matches the quality and design of my mic, I had to have it. It looked too cool to not share with you!
Let the singing begin! (The soundtrack to the videos on my blog were all recorded with this mic if you want to hear some reference! (Jesus' Power over Death, Jesus' Power over Nature, Jesus' Power over Demons).
I'm going to go filter out some pops!
When tracking vocals for 33Miles the most popular mic in Nashville studios tended to be either the Blue Kiwi or the Blue Bottle with the interchangeable capsule which are $$2,000-$6,000 microphones. The Spark uses the same technology from the same manufacturer (obviously), in a smaller, simpler package for $250.
One element of the Spark's creative design is that it comes with this cute little pop screen that showcases the Blue logo. Looks so cool and I thought I was getting a pop-screen with the mic. While it helps attenuate and neutralize some pops, a lot still make through. (Maybe I'm an extra emphatic singer...or that's why people back away from me when I'm telling a story...)
Anyway, I needed a better pop-screen and found Blue's, "The Pop" which I'm thrilled about. With a price tag of $30 on Amazon and it matches the quality and design of my mic, I had to have it. It looked too cool to not share with you!
Let the singing begin! (The soundtrack to the videos on my blog were all recorded with this mic if you want to hear some reference! (Jesus' Power over Death, Jesus' Power over Nature, Jesus' Power over Demons).
I'm going to go filter out some pops!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Goodbye Living Room, Hello Christmas...Almost
As Christmas approaches this year I'm reminded of this this time last year when I originally transformed the worship environment in our sanctuary. What I walked into when we moved here sixteen months ago was a sterile, white open space that had been untouched for over twenty years. I also discovered a surprising attitude toward the feel of the space reminiscent of, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I soon discovered an interesting trend through the exercise of making this space fresh, new and alive. When people are used to something being a certain way for a long time and they've grown accustomed to it, they don't like when it's changed. Plain and simple! This brings up an interesting topic for me as a Christian because I'm reminded of how this looks in my walk as a disciple, and how it plays out in different areas of my life.
The idea of sanctification means that we should strive to be transformed daily, becoming more and more like Christ. My prayer is that I would love God more, be more Christ-like tomorrow than I am today! Growing is hard because it takes a process. That process includes struggle, heart-ache, failure, being stretched, admitting that I'm wrong and my pride balks at all of those things and when I avoid them because they're uncomfortable it's easy to remain complacent which negatively affects my growth as a Christian.
Within the realm of visual arts and visual worship we can't ignore the legitimacy of preference. In the same way that different genres of music appeal to different types of people the same is true for what we are visually attracted to: some like a traditional look with rich earth tones and dark wood and others like white, stark, modern minimalism. Some people even like florescent lights!
Regardless of preference, all Christians are called to holiness and I thank the Lord that He has me on a journey and is aware of where I am in that journey. It's my desire to apply this concept to our approach of worship. By simply changing the feel and the look of our environment, regardless of it perfectly matching the current mini-series we're in, causes things to be different. My goal is to creatively reach somebody's heart and create something that makes them think differently, or inspire a thought, or feel differently than they did the week before. People are visual and the secular media has a great handle on that. Just watch TV for 10 minutes and see the messages and emotions that are conveyed and invoked. Why not use the same tool and reach people the same way for the Lord? As we till the soil in our hearts we allow the Holy Spirit to make us think, convict us, and change us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Sorry the long explanation of these few elements I wanted to share:
Goodbye summer living room:
Hello piece of cool white trees that will soon be on stage and look pretty:
To see the complete transformation of the worship space at Grace, watch this time-lapse video:
Thanks for reading. May the Lord inspire you as you think creatively and differently and let Him transform your thinking! Romans 12!
Collin
The idea of sanctification means that we should strive to be transformed daily, becoming more and more like Christ. My prayer is that I would love God more, be more Christ-like tomorrow than I am today! Growing is hard because it takes a process. That process includes struggle, heart-ache, failure, being stretched, admitting that I'm wrong and my pride balks at all of those things and when I avoid them because they're uncomfortable it's easy to remain complacent which negatively affects my growth as a Christian.
Within the realm of visual arts and visual worship we can't ignore the legitimacy of preference. In the same way that different genres of music appeal to different types of people the same is true for what we are visually attracted to: some like a traditional look with rich earth tones and dark wood and others like white, stark, modern minimalism. Some people even like florescent lights!
Regardless of preference, all Christians are called to holiness and I thank the Lord that He has me on a journey and is aware of where I am in that journey. It's my desire to apply this concept to our approach of worship. By simply changing the feel and the look of our environment, regardless of it perfectly matching the current mini-series we're in, causes things to be different. My goal is to creatively reach somebody's heart and create something that makes them think differently, or inspire a thought, or feel differently than they did the week before. People are visual and the secular media has a great handle on that. Just watch TV for 10 minutes and see the messages and emotions that are conveyed and invoked. Why not use the same tool and reach people the same way for the Lord? As we till the soil in our hearts we allow the Holy Spirit to make us think, convict us, and change us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Sorry the long explanation of these few elements I wanted to share:
Goodbye summer living room:
Hello piece of cool white trees that will soon be on stage and look pretty:
To see the complete transformation of the worship space at Grace, watch this time-lapse video:
Grace Church Revamped from Collin Stoddard on Vimeo.
Thanks for reading. May the Lord inspire you as you think creatively and differently and let Him transform your thinking! Romans 12!
Collin
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