. . . a very good place to start. So this is the start of my music blog series. For those of you who haven’t heard, I’m going to spend the next some odd days sharing my thoughts, ideas, concerns, views and everything else about the musical aspect of worship. I’d like to share with you ways to think about music, things to think about when leading worship, and stewardship of the gift of music(you’ll be hearing alot about that).
First I’d like to give you some of my credentials. Not because I want you to see how great a musician I am or anything, but to let you know I’m not just throwing out opinions out of the blue, but beliefs that come from a lifetime of music. I began playing piano in third grade, which was the start of my journey in music. I now have a degree in music education, and am qualified to teach k-12 in general music and choir/voice. I was student conductor of the mens choir in college for one year. I have three years experience as an assistant teacher of beginning band. I play piano, guitar, electric bass, clarinet, flute, saxophone, and sing. As for my worship experience. I began playing with the worship band at my church in 8th grade, which gives me 10 years of being in a worship group, six of those leading. Currently I lead worship for the youth group at my church, Sunday morning worship for our childrens group, and any time our college class gets together to sing. And none of this could be done without the Lord. I can’t even begin to tell you how daunting all of this was before I did it, and only made it through with His guiding hand.
Now that I’ve taken up most of my first post, I’ll just start you off and tell you this: music is for everyone. If you have no music experience, music is for you. If your voice cracks everytime you open your mouth, music is for you
Psalm 100:1
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the Earth!
Notice it says make a joyful noise. Not a joyful perfect musical sound. My old music minister used to say, the question isn’t can you sing, the question is do you have a song? Don’t think that you don’t have a part in music because you’re not talented, or there are other people who are better than you
All God’s peole have a place in the choir, some sing low, some sing high, some sing our loud on the telephone wire, some just clap their hands(random old song I don’t remember where it came from).
So if you think that there is nothing here for you, please think again. Everything I write here is for everyone . . . until I get to the more advanced stuff.
Next time I’ll talk about why we use music in worship, why we should, and where it fits in the whole of worship. I think.
