main cow pic

10.04.11

What worship leaders can learn from Elbow

Filed under: creativity,music,worship — 1:09 pm

Elbow

Since 1996, I’ve had the chance to make a ton of music and lead a lot of worship services with Troy Hatfield. He’s a killer musician, true pastor, deep thinker, and one of the best frisbee golf players on planet earth. We co-lead the worship team at Mars Hill Church for a handful of years, and he continues to lead there today. I think really highly of him.

Troy just wrote an article called “Learning from Elbow” that I think every worship leader should read. (Elbow is a brilliant Manchester band that Troy’s been following for years. They have since become one of my favorites also.)   Anyway, this is a great nudge to all of us who lead worship…

Learning From Elbow (by Troy Hatfield)

09.09.11

Sneak peak at the first New Liturgy…

Filed under: A New Liturgy,creativity,music,worship — 9:23 am

Hi everyone!

As most of you know, some friends and I have been pouring the last few months into a new adventure called “A New Liturgy”.  It’s been harder than I could have imagined, and one million times more fun.

The first liturgy – “God is Love” – will be officially available at a new web site next Thursday, September 15th.  But since you are all so kind to stop by this blog, here’s a sneak preview.  (For best audio quality, after you hit “play”, click the 240p below and select 720p). This is a short section from the first movement…

I can’t wait for you to hear the whole thing!  Thanks so much for being interested.  More coming soon…

09.07.11

Over There, Over Here

Filed under: creativity,life — 9:23 am

Henry, my friend Jason, and I spent a couple hours on Friday wandering around the Art Institute of Chicago.  I love it there, and always leave inspired and stretched and filled up.  But among all the beauty and genius, we stumbled upon this piece from 1919…

Over There Over Here (c.1919)

Basically, this is a propaganda piece from the end of World War One.  And the message is very clear:
It’s terrible over there and great over here.  They are sub-human brutes, and we are civilized winners.  Everything about there and them is bad, and everything about here and us is good.

I’m really glad we’ve grown out of that either/or, us vs. them thinking in these last hundred years, aren’t you?  Can you imagine if we still believed that WE (our country, our political party, our belief system, etc) held all the truth and all the wisdom, and THEY had nothing good to contribute?  What a sad and dangerous world that would be!

Please forgive the sarcasm.  This is something that breaks my heart and scares me.  And it does for two main reasons…  First, this “we’re the good guys and they’re the bad guys” approach is wrecking our country (just look at Washington) and threatening our whole world (consider the Middle East).  Who will stand up and lead us higher?  Is there a grown-up around?  Second, I still have so much of this “us vs. them” thinking alive in me.  And as soon as I rail against “those narrow-minded either/or people!”, I hear the rooster crow and realize that I am one of them.  Or as Fr Rohr likes to say, “I have found the problem, and it is me.”

O God, please have mercy on us today.
May we find Your fingerprints everywhere we look, and Your image in everyone we meet.

08.14.11

How Coldplay saved me as a worship leader

Filed under: creativity,music,worship — 10:55 pm

Chris Martin

First, I must admit that I’m only a moderate Coldplay fan.  “Rush of Blood” was one of the greatest albums of that last ten years, but I’m pretty sure they’ll never reach those heights again.  However, I was watching their performance on the iTunes Festival app recently, and I was reminded how Coldplay saved me as a worship leader.

True story:  In 1998, I graduated from college with a Music Theory and Composition degree, determined to write music that blew peoples’ minds and set the music world on fire  (humble, huh?).
My first job was as a worship leader for the high school ministry of Willow Creek, helping students to sing and pray and connect with the Almighty.

So I began writing songs for us to sing…and not those lame, 3 chord, boring pop songs.  I created epic, complicated masterpieces that soared through key changes, polyrhythms, and time signature changes.  Yes, I was the Freddie Mercury of high school worship music.

The problem was that even though this music deeply connected with me (and a few members of the band), no one could sing along.  In fact, most of my songs crashed and burned with students.  They didn’t always hate the songs. They were just confused.  Yes, I was the Bjork of high school worship music.

But then I heard “The Scientist” by Coldplay.  And everything changed.

How could this ridiculously simple song move me in such a deep way?  My Theory 2 professor would have laughed the predictable chord progression out of class, but I could not stop listening to it.  Or playing it.  Or thinking about it.  This song captured the magic and transcendence that I was looking for in all my complex harmonic adventures, AND it brought the whole world along for the ride.  Stunning.  I had so much to learn.

If you don’t believe me, put on some headphones, turn up the volume, and listen to “Politik” with your eyes closed.  “Oh give me love over, love over this…”

That’s the kind of pop song that can change the world.  Or at least change the way we see it!  A song doesn’t have to be simple OR moving…accessible OR authentic…sing-able OR deep.  It can be a glorious marriage of both.  And by stripping a song (or emotion) down to its very essence, it can become, in many ways MORE moving and MORE authentic.

So for all you fellow music snobs out there, what song or band violates “the rules” of making cool music…and instead makes simple music that moves you?

08.04.11

an update about A New Liturgy

Filed under: creativity,music — 11:35 pm

Many of you know that I’m deep in the thick of working on a new endeavor called “A New Liturgy”, which has me both overwhelmed and deliriously excited.  So many of the things I’m most passionate about are coming together in this grand experiment, and it’s really thrilling.

Basically, each New Liturgy is a 25 minute journey of music, prayers, space, scripture that pastors people on a journey.  It’ll be quirky, progressive, holy, active, beautiful, creative, and honest…hopefully a worship experience for people who don’t always connect with worship music.  Imagine the band Elbow leading a Catholic mass…with lots of piano.

I’m so excited that I can barely sleep at night.

The first New Liturgy is called “God is Love” and will be available mid September.  The second one is called “Blessed to Be a Blessing” and will be available in early October.  I can’t wait for you to experience them.  Here’s a quick video from the night we tracked piano…

07.13.11

Interactive Art on a Huge Scale

Filed under: creativity,music — 7:41 am

Arcade Fire’s triumphant closing set at this year’s Coachella took things to a whole other level.  During the massive sing-a-long closer “Wake Up”, they dropped hundreds of huge, inflated balls with LED lights in them, creating an enormous, interactive art installation.  It was epic…even for Arcade Fire.  Here’s the whole story of how it came together…

07.09.11

What I would love to see U2 do next

Filed under: creativity,music — 8:37 am

“We’re going to continue taking risks,  if you’ll continue giving us permission.”
(Bono, at the East Lansing show)

This blog is the ultimate in back seat driving.  So please accept the ridiculousness of a midwestern church pianist giving advice to the biggest rock band on earth.

If I were talking to U2, I would say:  “Let this tour be the end of an era.  Retire the mammoth stadium tour (which I’ve heard you may do), but more importantly, retire the greatest hits.  No more “One,” “Streets,” or “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”  You’re at the top of your game, and you have nothing left to prove.  Please don’t ever become a Karaoke band of your own hits.  The Rolling Stones are legends, but their tours feel like nostalgia.  Don’t rest on the sure bet of your incredible past, lead us somewhere new.

Just to be clear, you guys are the ones who taught me this.  You resisted to cash in with Joshua Tree 2, and instead “dreamed it all up again” with the brilliant Achtung Baby and Zoo TV tour.  You changed the music world and I believe you can again.

On your next album, keep exploring new places and sounds like you did on “No Line on the Horizon,” even though it’s wasn’t as commercially successful.  We don’t need another “Beautiful Day” (Coldplay will take care of that), we need something we’ve never heard and can’t yet imagine.  And we believe you can take us there.

And then, book an arena (or smaller!) tour and re-invent what a 2 hour music/art/activism journey could look like using only your last two albums.  Make it very clear that this is a brand new adventure – weeding out the casual fans but re-igniting your hard core fans.  This would not be the same kind of concert only with less well-known songs…this would be a whole new communal experience.

If you choose to not do this, I will still come see your next greatest hits tour.  And I will marvel and sing along to every song.  You four have been exploring and innovating for so long, I wouldn’t fault you for taking a few victory laps.  But if you have one more “dream it all up again” in you, count me in for the journey.

Bono and the crowd

06.28.11

Why I love Florence + the Machine

Filed under: creativity,music — 2:56 pm

Two words:  muscular and beautiful.  The music and passion and energy and vibe of Florence + the Machine is both powerful and fragile.  Tribal and tender.  Thunderous and gorgeous.

Muscle without beauty is Creed.
Beauty without muscle is Celine Dion.
But Florence is a spectacular collision.

We saw them perform this week before the U2 show.  Stunningly spectacular.  Even to a half-filled stadium of khaki-pants-wearing U2 fans, they soared (in a quirky way) and created something really cool.  Don’t tell Bono, but Florence was my favorite part of the night!

Florence in E Lansing, MI

A few other observations:
-Florence (the lead singer) looked like she was having a ball, often grinning ear to ear.  She was not too cool to enjoy herself.  And that kind of joy is contagious.
-The band of young, rock-looking players were a great balance to her flowing, red dress.
-Quirky goes a long way.  Florence marches to her own odd drummer, and people seem to appreciate that.  Normal is profoundly overrated.

06.21.11

The new recording of “God’s Children”

Filed under: creativity,music,worship — 9:55 pm

In January I finished a worship song called “God’s Children” that has been burning inside me for months.
The idea that God loves EVERY ONE of his kids equally – no matter our history, nationality, beliefs, sins, strengths, etc – moves me at a profound level.  For nothing can separate us from the love of God…. And not only do I want to see myself as one of those passionately loved kids, I want to see every single other person I ever meet as my brother or sister, engulfed in God’s bottomless, paternal and maternal LOVE.

We’ve been singing this song at Willow for the last few months, and now we’ve officially recorded it for the International Teams “Songs for the Oppressed (vol 1)” project…which came out last week!

God’s Children – listen to sample

If you’re interested, feel free to check out Songs for the Oppressed (vol 1).  You can learn all about the project, check out the artists who contributed songs, and learn how I-Teams will use the sales and momentum to bring hope to some of the most oppressed people on earth.  Please join us!

God’s Children
Aaron Niequist

Father of the beaten down
Lover of the strong and proud
God of every class, from the greenest grass to the underpass
You’re the Maker of us all

Father of each citizen
Lover of each immigrant
God of everyone who has ever been an alien
You’re Creator of us all
Animator of us all

Oh—You love your children, Love your children
Every daughter, every son
Oh—You love your children, All your children
Help us see You in each one

Father of the most oppressed
Lover of the least impressed
God of every kid who has ever hid from being hit
You’re the Seer of us all
Loving Weeper for us all

You bring the rain down
On the good and bad, The good and bad
On all of us
On all Your children

And You make the Sun shine
On the good and bad, The good and bad
In all of us
In all Your children.

We were all once aliens
And we’re all so full of sin
But in Jesus’ name we were welcomed in as citizens

A brand new family, old and young
From every nation, faith, and tongue
A new creation has begun
From every nation, faith, and tongue

———–

<Download God’s Children basic chart>

06.16.11

If Mumford and Sons were a Methodist worship band

Filed under: creativity,music,worship — 11:07 am

My friend Jeremy posted this video yesterday of something that he and his co-conspirators did at Faith United Methodist Church.  I couldn’t possibly love it more!

They took my song “Love Can Change the World” and breathed a whole new energy and life into it.  (The banjo player is my new hero).  Fantastic job, guys!

06.08.11

Day ONE of a new adventure!

Filed under: creativity,music,worship — 6:03 pm

tracking glock in my basement

Yesterday, I officially began recording a new project called “A New Liturgy”.  And it seemed fitting to start by tracking a glockenspiel in my basement.

I’ve been using every spare minute of the last two months to write, arrange, and flesh out the GOD IS LOVE liturgy.  Hopefully, this will be the first in a long series.  I could not possibly be more excited to keep working on it…and then finally share it with all of you.

The goal is to release both liturgy ONE: GOD IS LOVE and liturgy TWO: BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING in September 2011.  Much, much more info will be coming this summer as it all unfolds.  Stay tuned!

05.12.11

THIS is how to start an album!

Filed under: creativity,music — 9:37 pm

I don’t know much about the band – fun. – but this is the ridiculously inspiring opening track to their album.  The other song that kills me is the guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-if-you’re-in-love quirky song “The Gambler“.  If you like these tunes, also check out The Format.  Enjoy!

05.03.11

a Sunday full of monotheism

Filed under: creativity,God's movement,willow,worship — 10:57 am

On Sunday, I had the rare opportunity to spend the morning with Christians, the afternoon with Muslims, and the evening with some Jewish friends. While the packed day of conversation pushed my introverted self a little far, my exhausted head hit the pillow feeling really alive and thankful.  Here’s the day…

the band

As you may have guessed, the morning was at Willow Creek…leading worship with a few of my favorite people.  We decided to do an unplugged Mumford and Sons inspired set at the front of the stage.  It was a blast.  We sang and prayed and pounded floor toms and clapped and tried to lift up The Almighty as highly as we could!  I’m so grateful to be a part of a team who’s willing to try anything – and make it great.

After a quick lunch, I drove out to the Midwest Islamic Center, Masjid Al-Huda, in Schaumburg.  A few weeks ago, after emailing and asking if someone would be willing to meet with me to help me learn about Islam, a kind man named Nazir invited me to their center.  I confessed to him that I was a Christian who lived in the area – but embarrassingly – didn’t have a single Muslim friend, and asked him a number of questions.  We had a great conversation, and he invited me to observe their midday prayer.

Masjid Al-Huda

The highlight of our time was when Nazir said “We honor Jesus.  We believe he was the Messiah, born of a virgin, and we try to obey all his teachings.  But it seems like Christians are way more focused on what Paul said than what Jesus said.“  Fascinating.  (And difficult to disagree with!)

dinner with Rabbi Rosen

Finally, our “Middle East Engagement Team” had dinner with Rabbi Brant Rosen and a few members of his Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston.  These deeply spiritual brothers and sisters have given their lives to peace-making and justice, and our group felt an immediate bond.  We asked what it was like to be them, heard inspiring/heartbreaking stories, and discussed possible ways to work for peace together.  It was a wonderful evening.  Rabbi Rosen’s comment “The best way to fight extremism is to give people hope” seemed to sum up the night…and possibly the entire day!  Definitely check out his bold and insightful blog here.

04.29.11

how Elbow writes together

Filed under: creativity,music — 8:37 pm

Here’s a minute of Guy Garvey (lead singer of Elbow) talking about songwriting as a band. Very interesting…

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