charts, charts, and more charts
As I mentioned before, I'm now doing music for not one but two brand-new churches, Holy Trinity Anglican on Sunday mornings, and Grace Anglican Fellowship in the evenings.
Although between and among these churches and Christ Episcopal, from whom they both split, there's a bit of a Paul-and-Barnabas situation, the happy fact is that all three get along surprisingly well, and wish each other well too: they mention each other by name in uplifting prayer, every Sunday; there have been and are going to be at least a couple of joint events in the near future, with old friends from the dispersed congregations getting together.
Since I'm putting together the music for two different services each week, for churches that, for all their shared DNA, have developed their own identities and styles, I've found myself whipping up new charts at an alarming rate. I've got a large body of lead sheets and scores that I've written over the course of 30 years of leading worship in one way or other (you read that right): lots and lots of classic old hymns from the Baptist (and in recent years Episcopalian) bag, tweaked to sound fresh and new while mostly allowing people to sing the harmonies they know if they want; lots and lots of original songs I've written for special purposes over the years, some of which have dated better than others; and lots and lots of popular worship songs from over that period.
But, even then, the distinct needs of each congregation are demanding as much from my quill as from my shelf. I gotta say, it's been such fun putting all this together I didn't realize how much I'd done. In the past month, I've drawn up 27 new charts, representing a solid hour-and-a-half or so.
Whew!
Although between and among these churches and Christ Episcopal, from whom they both split, there's a bit of a Paul-and-Barnabas situation, the happy fact is that all three get along surprisingly well, and wish each other well too: they mention each other by name in uplifting prayer, every Sunday; there have been and are going to be at least a couple of joint events in the near future, with old friends from the dispersed congregations getting together.
Since I'm putting together the music for two different services each week, for churches that, for all their shared DNA, have developed their own identities and styles, I've found myself whipping up new charts at an alarming rate. I've got a large body of lead sheets and scores that I've written over the course of 30 years of leading worship in one way or other (you read that right): lots and lots of classic old hymns from the Baptist (and in recent years Episcopalian) bag, tweaked to sound fresh and new while mostly allowing people to sing the harmonies they know if they want; lots and lots of original songs I've written for special purposes over the years, some of which have dated better than others; and lots and lots of popular worship songs from over that period.
But, even then, the distinct needs of each congregation are demanding as much from my quill as from my shelf. I gotta say, it's been such fun putting all this together I didn't realize how much I'd done. In the past month, I've drawn up 27 new charts, representing a solid hour-and-a-half or so.
Whew!
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