Music Ministry Archives - Page 2 of 2

03Mar 2012 by Ray No Comments

Selecting Music For Worship

I was asked to fill in as the band leader for our group this week which means I'm charged with selecting music, arranging the Psalm of the week, helping set up, preparing our lyrics in Media Shout, and rehearsing the group. I thought it might be helpful to read about my thought process behind the songs that I chose this week. The first thing I do is go to the readings. In our church we can go to usccb.org to find the readings of the week. If you are in an evangelical church where the pastor has a theme, then it would be a good idea to find out what verses he or she might be quoting. Many times there will be a line from a song that you'll…

22Feb 2012 by Ray 1 Comment

Music Liturgy Changes During Lent

Music Ministry, Original Music

https://youtu.be/dGi3ntMHK78 I had a question on my review of Matt Maher's Mass of Communion for a Lenten version of his Alleuluia. In the video I offer a suggestion substituting "Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory." If you're using this particular mass setting, it's okay if you'd like to mix in another gospel acclamation. Ed Bolduc's Mass of St. Ann has a Lenten Gospel Acclamation available. In my Mass of Praise, I arranged a Kyrie as well as a Lenten Gospel Acclamation. It's common during this season to sing the Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) in place of a Glory. We refrain from singing "alleluia" until Easter. It's a great idea to change the instrumentation of your group during Lent. Try more of an acoustic set up with…

19Feb 2012 by Ray No Comments

XLT-Praise And Worship Prayer Event

Music Ministry

About once a month our church hosts a night of praise and worship, preaching, and meditation. It's geared toward our youth, but opened up to the entire community and based on a format recommended by Lifeteen they call XLT. This is an example of what we did last week at our most recent event. Whether you are involved at a Catholic or Evangelical church, this format would provide a great evening of worship. 7:30pm Music begins, we welcome all gathered and the band plays about 3 songs. This particular week we did I Will Follow You, Our God, and Open My Eyes Lord. 7:50pm We have a speaker preach. We had a parishioner give a testiony about their faith journey and mission trips to Poland and Kenya. 8:10pm We move into…

12Feb 2012 by Ray 1 Comment

New Song – Breathe Life Into Me by Ray Martin

Music Ministry, Original Music

Ever wonder what must have been going through the mind of the prodigal son when he set off with his dad's inheritance? Luke 15:12 "'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.'" All we really know in this parable is that he "set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation." I doubt he initially thought, "hey I want to go party it up in another country for awhile." Maybe he did, but I'm willing to believe that he had some grand idea. Perhaps he was going to invest in his own business or buy some land that he thought was a good deal and if only he had that money from his dad, he could go and…

11Feb 2012 by Ray No Comments

New Translation – Mass of Praise by Ray Martin

Music Ministry, Music Reviews, Original Music

Download Audio and Sheet Music Download Sheet Music Only [mp3-jplayer list="n" tracks="Glory to God@01-Glory-to-God.mp3, Alleluia@02-Alleluia.mp3, Holy Holy Holy@03-Holy-Holy-Holy.mp3, Memorial Acclamaition@Memorial-Acclamation-Rev.mp3, Amen@05-Amen.mp3, Lamb of God@06-Lamb-of-God.mp3, Kyrie Eleison@Kyrie-Eleison-Mixdown.mp3, Lenten Gospel Acclamation@Lenten-Gospel-Acclamation-Mixdown.mp3"] I talked about the new English translation of the Catholic prayers and mass music in my review of Matt Maher's Mass of Communion. This is my setting of the new mass parts with the revised text for a Praise and Worship band. I'll run through a few brief notes about the different movements. Overall, I tried to avoid getting above a D in the treble clef because that gets pretty high for the congregation. I wanted there to be a lot of continuity between the different parts and so you'll see and…

08Feb 2012 by Ray 1 Comment

How He Loves – Live Variables

Music Ministry, Music Reviews

There are some great songs out there that don't always translate exactly the same for a worship service as the recordings. How He Loves is one of my favorite songs these days. I love John Mark McMillan's lyrics and I have a man crush on David Crowder. How could you not?!? When leading this for a congregation though your goal is to help them pray and sing along. The second verse is tricky. Here's how we led it last Sunday during communion: Verse 1 with just piano and one vocalist. Instrumental riff with electric guitar Repeat verse 1 with other vocals joining and bass Chorus 1 "Oh, how he loves us so..." Instrumental riff again Verse 2- we go almost completely out here and take this way down to just piano…

06Feb 2012 by Ray 1 Comment

Priorities of a Praise Band

Music Ministry

Let's say you're starting a praise & worship band. Maybe your church says, "Hey music guy...we want to start a contemporary worship service and we need a band. Why don't you start one?" What's your priority for recruiting musicians? What's the most important instruments to have? I've also run into this situation where you're playing a retreat and all of your band members can't make it. Fortunately, you've got a musician who can fill in on a variety of instruments if need be, but which one do you choose? This situation happens all the time in music ministry, especially when your band members are volunteers. Here's my take on what you need from bare bones up to a full band. It goes without saying that sometimes you run with what…

02Feb 2012 by Ray No Comments

Humility- What My Son Taught Me About Tae Kwon Do

Music Ministry

My son started taking Tae Kwon Do from an amazing couple who are operating a Tiger Rock program in Olathe, KS. Mr. Leopard (pictured) is a wonderfully positive instructor. The first thing I loved about their facility is that you hear K-Love playing in the lobby! During one practice I heard the kids repeating a philosophy about Humility. My son told me later that, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." Wow. I had to hear that a few times to get it! As church musicians, this is imperitive. I spent my first few years as a praise band leader comparing myself to other people. My inner thoughts tore me down by saying things like, "you're not as good as that guy". "You'll never write…

01Feb 2012 by Ray 1 Comment

Worship Music Ministry Goals

Music Ministry

In 2001 I was recruited to start a praise and worship band for the launch of a Lifeteen program at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa, KS. Back then, I had to listen to music on CD's and make my own song sheets. We created song booklets for lyrics because we didn't have programs like MediaShout to display lyrics on a projection screen. This forced us to plan our music at least a quarter at a time. I wrote and arranged service music like mass parts or psalms that fit this new style of contemporary music. Technology has really changed and the ability to listen to Praise & Worship music on an iPod or to send out a link to your band of a YouTube video of a new song…