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I participated in a local 'Worship Music Jam' in these parts and...Oh my...This was a city wide concert where all the worship bands in the area played and I have rarely spent so long with my eyes glazed over. Wow! If there is a problem with local spirituality, I may have found it! It's not that the bands were terrible or that the songs were terrible...well...yes, some of the songs were terrible...(This one band got up, and I kid you not, they sang a song consisting of five minutes solid of rhythmically wailing 'Jesus.'...o dear...)
I think ours was the only band that played songs from outside the elevator. The others played some nice songs, but when you have like four hours of ethereal, thoughtful music...one after another...after another..You do get thoughtful, but maybe not in the manner intended. All I know is when our turn came and the bass player took the opening riff on 'Dancing Generation' the whole audience got up and...well, started dancing. I think it was out of sheer relief.
We did one song I really like, "oh How he loves'...You know the one that starts, "He is Jealous for me.." Has the sloppy wet kiss line in it, all that? Bouncy little tune. It does easily lend itself to a merry little improv, so I did one and on a couple of other songs. And when the singers were quiet during worship time, me and the piano guy sort of improv'd by the spirit.
I know the girl who runs our band said the worship teams weren't in that great a shape. But I had no idea. And you could sit there and spot how each team could make it better. So maybe there will be a time and place to help out.
Speaking of helping...I don't want to help the way this one lady tried to help me... I gotta tell you about violin girl. Lol!
You know I love the violin and violinists, right? Well, one of the downfalls of 'my people' is our outrageously sized ego's. Let's face it, to play the fiddle, you need one. But it can be pretty funny sometimes. Ok, this middle age lady at the back of the hall kept stepping out of the back room and playing her violin as if supporting a particular band on stage. I figured, what the heck, maybe it's her way of talking to God. No problem. Her violin sounded pitiful..and I was completely sympathetic, having played a crummy instrument for so many years. Her playing sounded scratchy. I could see she had a stiff right wrist, which causes that. But her intonation wasn't bad, and hey, I'm all for the whole Joyful Nosie thing anyway.
But then, she spots Max's case and wanders over to me and says, "I have been using my gift to serve the Lord for over 25 years. How long have you been playing?" I explained I had had to take time off due to injury, but that lately I'd played about a year and a half. She gave me this weird look and said, "A year and a half? Are you sure you're ready to be up there? Would you like me to hear you and let you know?"
I shrugged and said, ok. I let her lead me out into the hall and she tells me first what a pretty violin I have. I agree, it's a nice one. Then she asked if I had memorized much of the "Lords music." And I admitted that no, I haven't. So she starts in on how I'll get there someday, and maybe play things like...And she started playing 'Nearer My God to Thee..' All I could think was that they played that on the Titanic while it sank. So when she finished she said for me to go ahead and play whatever I 'could handle.' I buzzed through about the first ten measure of the "Devil Went down to Georgia" and asked if that was okay. She got mad and said I'd been playing longer than a year and a half. I pointed out that I said I had taken time off and said I knew how to fix her right wrist. She harumphed, said she didn't want my help and stormed away.
After the concert she found me again and goes, "I asked someone about you and they said you're Michele Archer and you've been playing forever. Why didn't you even say your name?"
I told her I couldn't get a word in edgewise, pointed out that I said I took a break and asked who SHE was. She got mad and walked away again.
Sigh. Eh, we'll end up being good friends. Well, friends at least... I can tell.
In the meantime...gotta do something about that music!
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