diff --git a/agendas/2017-01-03.md b/agendas/2017-01-03.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9b81dc --- /dev/null +++ b/agendas/2017-01-03.md @@ -0,0 +1,280 @@ +### Warm up, getting settled. + +Start practice with the first band member starting some groove, or small piece. +As others come, they join, make up a part, check levels, etc. + +### Quick summary of band goals. + +The main band is optimized for experience musicians. There are some habits that +make it difficult for new members to jump in. For example: + +* Song selection changes on short notice. +* Material is given on short notice and not always entirely accurate. +* There are lots of songs to learn. + +We need new people rotating into the music ministry in order to keep it +healthy, but jumping directly into the primary band is not the an easy task. We +need a different format that gives intermediate players and new members a +chance to get up to speed with the music. That's what this band is intended to +be. We are not creating a new, separate band in the music program but a new +format to introduce new members and experiment with new practice methods. + +This band is pursuing excellence through rigorous preparation. We will: + +* Have songs chosen a month in advance, +* Have accurate material available from the beginning in the correct key, +* Prepare the song order in advance, +* Not make changes to the song selection or material, +* Have an agenda for each practice, and +* Emphasize personal practice for learning parts. + +For band members we will have lead sheets with all the chord changes recorded +and any runs notated. For the vocalists we will have individual parts recorded. +For both we will have reference material. We want to make personal practice +time meaningful so we won't make changes that waste the time our members have +spent practicing. + +Our goal for every song will be first to be able to play it as well as the +recording. Of course it will take time to develop that level, but that is the +goal. First we will learn the music as it was written, and play it as close as +possible to the original. Once we know the song inside and out we may begin to +play with it as a band, but our first goal is to duplicate the professional +sound. + +Ultimately the goals of this band are: + +* To develop a new culture of excellence through preparation at New Life, +* Give new members an entry point to the New Life music program, +* Create a place for people to learn new skills (or learn a new instrument), + and +* Prepare people to transition to regularly playing in the regular rotation. + +### Choose new songs + +### Short summary of my musical philosophy + +There are lots of different approaches to music. I'm going to massively simplify +and distill down to two extremes. There are extremes, not actually what happens: + +1. Musical performance is a highly coordinated effort and the goal is to create + a specific sound in concert. Replicating perfectly a pre-defined part is + ideal. + +2. Musical performance is a form of self-expression and the goal is to + communicate the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the musician. + Creating music that is honest about the feelings of the performer is ideal. + +Classical, orchestral music is the stereotype of the first model. The individual +musicians subordinate their individual expression to the purpose and goal of the +broader band. You have a part to play and you do not deviate from that part. + +Jazz is the stereotype of the second model where an emphasis is placed on the +improvisation of the members. Often the written music serves only as a +guideline or structural base for what the musicians will play. + +Of course, these are simplifications. Actual musical performance lives in +between these extremes. In the orchestral setting obviously emotional playing is +crucial to the performance, but it's happening on the level of the group, not +the individual. And in jazz you still have structure, even if it is emergent: +not scripted. Any time you have more than one person playing you have to have +some sort of syncronization. There is a reason that you very rarely see large +groups of player all improvising at the same time. Look at big band jazz, for +example, and you see a lot of the same structure as the orchestra! + +So where do we sit? Well, close to the middle, I think. We have music that we +are asked to play. But this is not just a performance. We are part of the +worship service so our playing is a personal expression to some extent. Music is +part of how I express myself to the Lord, how I worship Him. A lot of that +happens on the platform here. + +But, we are also leading the congregation in worship. It is not purely about our +self-expression of praise to God, but also about creating an atmosphere that +makes it easy for members of the congregation to express their praise and +worship. We do this as a part of a larger team. I'm working together with the +other musicians, and with the praise singers. + +In many ways a worship team can be more free-flowing and improvisational than a +typical band, because it is this expression of worship. At the same time that +freedom of expression exists within the larger context of the church body. In 1 +Corinthians Paul talked about the body of Christ: + +> **12** Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts +> form one body, so it is with Christ. **13** For we were all baptized by one +> Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we +> were all given the one Spirit to drink. **14** Even so the body is not made up +> of one part but of many. + +> **24b** God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that +> lacked it, **25** so that there should be no division in the body, but that +> its parts should have equal concern for each other. **26** If one part +> suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part +> rejoices with it. + +This truth applies in the context of music as well! + +*Purpose for this section: setup the motivation for growth. Frame the musician +as a thinking, feeling agent in the music-making process. All individually +responsible for the collective end-result.* + +### Attitudes of the Musician + +* Humility: we are all in service to the music. +* Curiosity +* Playfulness +* Tastefullness/Discernment + +### Paying attention/levels of thinking. + +There is this guy, Benjamin Bloom, who categorized educational goald into six levels of thinking: + +1. gathering knowledge +2. comprehending and confirming +3. applying knowledge +4. analyzing: thinking about a whole in terms of it's various parts +5. synthesizing: putting parts together to form a whole, many parts into a new + whole +6. evaluating: making comparisons and judgements. What worked best? + +I know a lot of what I'm sayin some of you already know. It's easy to zone out. +I know because I catch myself doing it all the time. Instead, let's pay active +attention, even to the things we know. Work your way up the levels. If you've +already mastered what I'm saying, be analyzing it, or evaluating it. Maybe you +have something to contribute. + +### On Practice + +*Discuss my views on "Natural Talent" vs practice & hard work.* + +Effective practice: + +* has well-defined, specific goals, + + Aimless exploration has a place, and just playing for fun has a place. Those + are great, and I'm not saying you shouldn't do them. I probably spend just as + much time playing for fun as I do actually practising, because I like playing + music. But that's not practice. The point of practice is to improve something. + + When we do sit down to practice, we should have a clear, measurable goal. For + example, I want to learn the chorus pattern from Glorious by Martha Munizzi. + Or I want to improve my sense of rythym. Good goal, how are you going to + measure it? I'm going to choose some rythmic pattern and play it along with a + metronome. I'll record myself and that's how I'll judge my progress. + +* is focused, + + Practice is not always fun. Y'all are all adults, so this is probably + something you have already learned. I learned to enjoy practice because I + enjoy the results. I try to choose things the practice that I like doing. But + even then, often I don't want to get started. Practice needs to be focused, + with effort. + +* incorporates immediate feedback, + + Again, the whole point of practice is specifically to improve something. The + time we spend practicing affects how we play. When I was in band in school we + had practice logs. You had to practice so long a week and get your parents to + sign off on your time. You would sometimes see these kids who would have a + full sheet, but still play horribly. + + "Did you practice?" + + "Yeah" + + "How did you practice?" + + "I don't know, I just played the music." + + What happened is they just mindlessly played through the music over and over, + not paying particular attention to how *well* they played it. They'd practiced + for hours playing it poorly, so of course when they performed they played it + poorly. When you are practicing, if you make a mistake, stop and immediately + correct it. This is why many teachers tell you to play it slow first until you + have it correctly, then speed up. You will play the way you practice, so make + sure you practice it correctly! + + But this goes beyond just am I playing the right notes. This is where + tastefulness and discernment come into play. When I personally practice I am + constantly asking myself, "Do I like what I just played?" or put another way: + "If I was in the band recording this for a record, would I be proud of it?" + How does it compare to the original artists? Does it sound good? Is it good? + This requires that you have good musical taste and discernment! + + It's also very subjective, and I've found that there is a difference between + how things *feel* while you're playing, and how they *sound* as a listener. + So, one of your best practice aids is a small audio recorder. Record yourself + as you practice, then play it back and listen to yourself critically. Be mean! + This requires courage! You have to be able to say, "OK, that sucked, but I'll + get better." Don't quit playing. It can be easy to get drowned in all the + things you did wrong, but if you can learn to ignore how far you have to go + and focus on what--specifically--you can improve, then you are in a good + place. Comes back to humility. + + Here are some of the kinds of things that I have noticed in my own playing + when doing this: + + * My timing is off. + * I'm wrong on some of the notes in that run. + * It doesn't feel like it does when Y plays it. He sounds so smooth, my run + sounds jerky/stilted/not grooving. + * I'm not getting the dynamics quite right. + * He's playing some other stuff I missed when I first learned this. I need to + go back and re-listen again now that I know the line better to pick up + those subtle differences + * They're voicing this chord a little different than I am. + * The tone of his bass is different and sounds better in this situation. What + is it about that tone and how do I replicate that? Is he playing that part + higher on the neck? + + Then you identify how to fix that, and work on it. This is where a teacher, or + others can help. I'm happy to offer ideas about how to practice things + + The key is, you need to get immediate feedback and address it. Working with a + teacher is great because they can offer feedback based on their greater + experience, but to maximize the effectiveness of your practice you need to be + evaluating yourself as you practice. + +* pushes the boundaries of your comfort zone. + + If you are practicing something that you are already really good at then you + are not improving. The point of practice is to improve something. That means + you have to work on something that needs improvement. + + Howver, it is possible to overreach. You need to work something that is far + enough outside your comfort zone that you have to strecth, but not so far that + you can't reach it at all. We want to fail, but be able to learn from the + failures. + + You can and should adjust the difficulty of your practice on your own to find + the sweet spot. Too easy and you don't progress. Too hard and it's no fun, + it's frustrating, you burn out, and you don't progress. + + Learn to simplify. For example, if I'm learning a new song on drums, first I + may try to get the basic pattern and stick to basic fills. Then when I can + easily keep the tempo steady and navigate the fills without drifting from the + tempo, I'll learn the accents that the drummer who recorded it added. Then I'll + work on the specific fills they used. + + Or on bass, first I'll learn the basic bass line based on the chord + progression. Then I'll listen for alterations the original bassist added. Then + I'll work on unison runs they do. Then I'll listen for ornamentation that the + original bassist added and try to learn that. + + If I'm learning a run or a hard passage, I'll slow it down to where I can play + it comfortably. Then I'll bump it up 5bpm at a time until it's hard but + doable. Then I'll practice that, correctly. If it's too fast for me to play + correctly, I'll slow down until it is easy at the slower tempo and possible at + the faster tempo. Keep going until it is easy at the original tempo. Now I + have the lick, and more generally, I've added all the patterns from that lick + to my muscle memory. I can re-use the lick, or parts of the lick in other + places. Maybe I'll even practice that. + + Practicing time: practice with a click. Set the click to 1-2-3-4. Practice + your rythym. Now put the click at half the tempo, and make it only 1 and 3. Do + it again. Same tempo, but put the click on 2 and 4 now. Do it again. Half the + click again, only on 1. Again, only on 2, then only on 3, then only on 4. Take + these excercises and vary the tempo. How slow can you go (in small increments) + and still keep the tempo steady? How fast? It's not about showing off to + yourself, it's about pushing your boundaries. If you feel like you have really + solid time, push yourself more. Can you put the click on just the 8th after 1 + and 3? Move it around on other 8ths. 16ths? What if you combine these with + other excercises? diff --git a/Rehearsal Band.txt b/notes/Rehearsal Band.txt similarity index 100% rename from Rehearsal Band.txt rename to notes/Rehearsal Band.txt diff --git a/notes/first-meeting-recap.md b/notes/first-meeting-recap.md index d9a0c72..037d19f 100644 --- a/notes/first-meeting-recap.md +++ b/notes/first-meeting-recap.md @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ Welcome to the new life music team! Each of you has expressed interest in working with the new rehearsal band format experiment. For those of you who -were not able to make our kickoff meet +were not able to make our kickoff meeting, here is a summary of what we +discussed: **Why are we starting this band?** @@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ to the reference material in preparation for the first practice. - Start working on the major parts of the song. -Finally, thank you all for your interest in this new endeavour! We am looking +Finally, thank you all for your interest in this new endeavour! We are looking forward to the opportunity to work with each of you. Thanks, diff --git a/music-thoughts.txt b/notes/music-thoughts.txt similarity index 100% rename from music-thoughts.txt rename to notes/music-thoughts.txt diff --git a/templates/schedule-email-template.md b/templates/schedule-email-template.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec61483 --- /dev/null +++ b/templates/schedule-email-template.md @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +Hi Band, + +Here is our schedule for . + +*Practices:* + +* Date 1, 7-8:30pm, +* Date 2, 7-8:30pm, +* Date 3, 7-8:30pm, +* Date 4, 6:30-7pm (sound-check before service). + +Playing for service Date 4. + +*Songs:* + +* [Song 1](link-to-reference-track) +* [Song 2](link-to-reference-track) +* [Song 3](link-to-reference-track) + + diff --git a/templates/set.latex b/templates/set.latex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..469d233 --- /dev/null +++ b/templates/set.latex @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +\documentclass{article} +\usepackage[margin=0.79in]{geometry} +\usepackage{helvet} +\usepackage{leadsheets} +\usepackage{array} +\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault} + +\newversetype{verse1}[name={Verse 1}] +\newversetype{verse2}[name={Verse 2}] +\newversetype{verse3}[name={Verse 3}] +\newversetype{tag}[name={Tag}] +%\newversetype{outro}[name={Outro}] +\newversetype{prechorus}[name={Pre-chorus}] +\newversetype{bridge1}[name={Bridge 1}] +\newversetype{bridge2}[name={Bridge 2}] + +\setleadsheets{ + bar-shortcuts={true}, + title-template = tabular, + verses-label-format={\bfseries}} + +\begin{document} + +\input{../songs//.latex} +\pagebreak +\input{../songs//.latex} +\pagebreak +\input{../songs//.latex} + +\end{document}