"Keep it simple, silly."
Having said what I said in the previous post, perhaps the other side of the coin is the security to be able to refrain from "showboating."
For decades I have striven from the drumset to do "all I could." Improvising and trying new things all the while; my excuse was that I was using the method of the jazz drummers. Several leaders, including my own son John, have urged me to simplify, simplify, simplify. I had the opportunity to go a bit deeper with Gary, our present leader, and taking the time to listen to his concerns and understanding him better as a unique person but also as one who can teach, if the heart be receptive, has been healthy. So I've decided to try not jazz drumming which tends to be rather cerebral and "Renaissance" anyway, but rather soul drumming which emphasizes the "groove."
Worship music should lend itself to dancing, I have come to sense. Kind of like Duke Ellington's music did. (but not his sacred music which was more operatic)
If I am going to do "basso continuo" (the bass is the least obstrusive of all instruments, when done correctly) maybe I should change my tone!!! "Shrill" is currently in a state of surplus; and seeing how high and loud one can go is no test of competence or taste. Bonhoffer's biographer makes reference to his subject referring a number of times to the relationship with Jesus Christ as being like a "cantus firmus" of a piece of music. "All the other parts of the music referred to it, and it held it together. To be true to God in the deepest way meant having such a relationship with Him that one did not live legalistically by 'rules' or unbending 'principles." Bonhoffer's fabled civil disobedience came out of just such a relationship-- to a Person who is also The Theme-- and which the basso continuo simply undergirds, it calls neither the tune nor the tempo, but refers in all things back to the Center.
Thots?
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Perhaps it's all about humility. I just read this post from another blog on St. John the Baptist - as a model of someone who knew how to "get out of the way" for Christ. http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/1034/Birth_of_John_the_Baptist___Patron_of_Joyful_Humility.html
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that in a way you are speaking of the same thing.
MAYBE SOOOOO--BUT ISN'T THERE A SHORTER ADDRESS? THE MORE LETTERS, THE LESS LIKELY I WILL DO IT PERFECTLY, AS IS REQUIRED BY THE WANNABEE GODS OF THE INTERNET.
ReplyDelete(SEE SCREWTAPE'S COMMENTARY JUST NOW PUBLISHED)
Bill,
ReplyDeleteI hope your are not trying to type URLs by keyboard. You should be copying and pasting the URL into the space where you type an address.
Highlight the URL..
http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/1034/Birth_of_John_the_Baptist___Patron_of_Joyful_Humility.html
by running your mouse cursor over the URL. Once it is all highlighted hold your cursor over the highlighted area and right click your mouse and you should see a copy that you will left click on. This will put the URL in your copy board. Make sure you have deleted what was already in the space before you paste a new URL. Now put your mouse into the address bar and right click again and left click on paste. The URL should appear in the space. Hit enter key and you will be taken to the right site all without typing long URL addresses and the chance of making a typing error.