Lovely Day at Project 7

Hay... just got back home. Spent all day today at the Church of Christ at Project 7. Naglead kami (Praise Theme) ng Praise and Worship Seminar duon this morning and this afternoon. We were only four when we started this morning: ako, si Ate Abbie, Kuya Wayne, and si Jerome. Humabol si Ronald shortly before lunch. Ay, technically pala, i didn't spend all day there kasi from 6-9 pm I checked midterm exams at Starbucks while waiting for the time to meet Nats (and bring him food, he's on duty kasi eh, poor guy).

Anyway, today was a very lovely day... the sun was out and the sky was blue all morning, plus I'm really happiest kapag music and worship ang ginagawa ko :D. The seminar for today was for the worship leaders and vocalists of the church. Most of them were so young! Seeing them participate and take on the responsbility for leading worship in the church is so inspiring to myself who's been in this ministry for so many years already.

I was assigned to lecture on two topics: Singing in Harmony and Music Theory. Singing in Harmony is focused on backup vocalists, providing them some tips and guidelines how to sing harmonies with the lead vocalist or the worship leader. Actually, naging parang disc jockey lang ako dito sa lecture ko kasi most of the time, I had them listen to examples of good back-up singing from CCM artists like Avalon, 4Him, Point of Grace, Mary Mary, etc. Music Theory naman is a crash course on note-reading and understanding musical expressions (a.k.a. what-are-those-italian-words-on-the-choral-pieces) for vocalists.

I realized today that, more than ever, choir members should know how to play the piano, at least on a beginner level. Reading music on music sheets really isn't anything, if you think about. That's just reading, nobody's making any music just yet. It's when the sound of music is heard that music is created, and ergo, enjoyed. There are two ways to do that: either to sing the music or to play it on an instrument. If a choir member wants to know how to create the right sound of music, it's best also to know the more accurate means to do so, and that's through an instrument, the most accessible of which, and most appropriate to teach vocalists new songs, is the piano. Hence my suggestion.

Teaching is really my element, more so for this particular teaching kasi it's about two areas I really am passionate about: singing back-up and reading music. Most singers take these for granted. Sa back-up singing, most of them simply duplicate the melody. My personal opinion is that this is being redundant. Sayang ang pagkaback-up singer mo kung hindi mo ie-enhance ang tunog ng grupo by doing the harmony. Sa music theory naman, if music is a universal language, then the theories of music prescribe the rules on how to use this language--and so all of us who want to "speak" this "language" properly must master these rules.

If we're in the music ministry, our talent comes with responsibility, so the desire for excellence in the musical arts most be stronger kasi it's for our Divine Audience of One.

Sometimes I think, dapat talaga nag College of Music na lang ako. But as it is, I am also definitely sure that the God who gave me the talent and passion for music is also the God who sent me to the work in the College of Business Administration. And His reasons are always just and, frankly speaking, I am not in a position to question them. Having said that, I am thankful that despite my hectic schedule and gargantuan workload, God still gives me opportunities like this to enjoy His gifts of music, ministry, and fellowship. And even more than that, He makes it very possible for me to participate by giving me the time and the resources to do so--otherwise the opportunity might be there but not the means for me to grab it. In this case, God blessed me with both, and I'm so grateful.