Playing and singing gospel music

PittPastor

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And I have actually done "Amazing Grace" in 6/8 swing time much like Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things".
Chords only, no fancy stuff, because I basically want to singover it.
:friendly_wink:

Well, first off, regarding the Amazing Grace in 6/8 time... um... SoundCloud (or YouTube Video) or it didn't happen :tongue:

And my favorite Amazing Grace goes from traditional, into "House of the Rising Sun", and then back out.

That's what's great about the classics... they are so well known, you can bend them without breaking them.

Maybe we ought to have a new thread: "The Amazing Grace Challenge"
 

idealassets

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I'm going to post and then go back and read it all, so I don't forget a few things to post first. The most phenominal thing I ever heard was while being a choir usher at Billy Graham's 1987 appearance for a full week in Denver, CO at Mile High Stadium. I seated the singers and handed out the song sheets for one night. I believe there were 6,000 seats for singers. It was quite a thing to hear that volume at the start, during, and end of that evening.

I have played in various churches in the last 5 years, and describe it as an "uplift" of the soul, spirit, and persona. As fate would have it nearly everything in my town is based on the grand piano. Its not all bad. Nearby towns rock out more. As for me my guitar playing ended the first time I was put on drums. This is because of creating modified or original parts depending on the vocalists or piano part (sometimes for a good bass part, but not often.)

It is quite nice when the mood really comes together, and the "congregants" are enthusiastically singing along. I love creating a drum part especially to the old hymns. As stated earlier the acoustic guitar often just gets turned off (there for looks only?) Of course everything is pre-rehearsed and published with time stamps, and the normal modes are Opening, Praises, Prayer, Communion, and Closing songs; or some variation. This is one that went nicely (electronic drums), with actually a good bass part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwfwMRYXG44

These parts to me are just as nice to play as rocking out. We discussed and on this 6/8 song, an unusual snare beat on the "2" is the preferred one out of several experimental beats that we practiced.
 
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Westerly Wood

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It is quite nice when the mood really comes together, and the "congregants" are enthusiastically singing along. I love creating a drum part especially to the old hymns. .

yeah, i love playing the old hymns. i do not pay hardly any attention to the new music, i am sure there is good stuff out there, but the old hymns, which a lot really were pub songs to start as that is where all the people met and were. so they added the words to pub songs. such a joy to play.
 

idealassets

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Dare I introduce the relatively new term of the "mega-church". They are now all over the place around here. I can only wonder what church members have been depleted in order to find such large crowds rushing to the brand new mega-churches.

My problem was the first time they came out with the smoke machines it went right to my throat and began a horrible irritation. That was the end for me, so now back to the normal thing (without dark lit rooms and smoke machines).


One more to enjoy, Come Thou Fount: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zbnaeOU5w
 
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PittPastor

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My problem was the first time they came out with the smoke machines it went right to my throat and began a horrible irritation. That was the end for me, so now back to he normal thing (without dark lit rooms and smoke machines).

I agree with that. I don't know how the singers do it. I couldn't sing in the smoke.
 

fronobulax

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Here's an old song from the 6th century done by Van Morrison, "Be Thou My Vison." Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/bFoxzg2h16g

You weren't prepping for Saint Patrick's day were you? It seems like everyone I have talked to who was in a church yesterday either heard that as an anthem (like our choir did) or sang it as a congregational hymn. The other biggie is "Saint Patrick's Breastplate" ("I bind unto myself this day...") but with 8 verses and no obvious way to cut any and preserve the integrity of the text you need a congregation with stamina and a large church for a long procession :)

+
 

idealassets

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Suddenly this St Patrick's day, he was given more acclaim than I was ever aware of previously. Meanwhile it was also the Catholic celebration of lent this weekend. I tried to take my mom to the Friday night fish fry at the nearby Catholic church, but it was such a huge crowd as to be in probable violation of fire codes, and a waiting line out into the street. So we ended up at Ruby Tuesday instead.

Such a festive weekend definitely brought out the crowds. We even had an un-announced wedding right after church, and I was astounded that the band quit and turned on some recorded music for a few minutes, instead of "donating" a few songs to the happy couple. Apparently this was a low budget wedding, so they got recorded music, and not much of it.

There is one aspect that is difficult to get around, and that is that you get what you pay for. A few key people are usually paid a living wage for organizing this gospel music, with everyone else as a volunteer. I may have been criticized a few times by church folks for accepting payment when it was offered me in order to play in a wedding or special event at a church. However in the business world that is the normal practice, of being paid for services provided.

I give kudos to anyone who is playing and singing Gospel music. I only do it occasionally any more, as really, it has become a lot of work to make all the rehearsals, and to get it right. The defect/ turnover rate of the other performers has been major lately. This is due mainly to the fact that there only so many songs anyone knows by heart, before you really have to work at each and every new song.
 
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dreadnut

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"Amazing Grace" also works with the Gilligan's Island theme song, among others. Our church's youth group (years ago) adapted it to the Eagles "Peaceful Easy Feelin'."
 

fronobulax

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In the hymnal of the Episcopal Church (and perhaps others) every hymn has some kind of notation describing the rhythm/rhyming scheme. CM (for common), 77.77, 76.76, 87.87, 11.11.11.11 and so on. This means any two hymns with the same notation can swap words or music. Quite fun when the goal is to challenge people. The practical use is when particular words support the theme of the service but the congregation is not comfortable with the "assigned" tune so a familiar tune is used instead.
 

dreadnut

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Sounds like fun, Frono! Many of the Psalms in the Bible have the same type of caveat, i.e. "To the tune of such and such."
 
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