My Heart Delights yet again.

I always say, if you are trying to write a song, 50 billion versions is hardly enough. 

This is seriously the 11th hour. And 59th minute.  Yet we're still mucking around with the meter. Last night I needed to do a fairly substantial rewrite to lose a couple of syllables from 2 lines in each verse. 

I'm down to two options for each verse.  Thoughts? i.e. vs1X, vs2Y, vs 3Y. I'd appreciate feedback pretty quickly.

OPTION X

My heart delights

that Christ would leave his throne,

and come to earth

to claim us as his own.

The father’s plan

Enter our world as man

God in our form

A child was born

Jesus, Lord through all the ages

God from God and light from light

Came from heaven, brought salvation

Jesus, be my heart’s delight

My heart delights

that God would give himself

Seeking no power, 

no honor and no wealth.

What love and grace!

He suffered in my place!

walking for me

to Calvary.

My heart delights

That I can call him mine

My saviour, king -

God from before all time!

Lord light your fire

Become my one desire

My hope and sight

My heart’s delight.

OPTION Y

My heart delights

that God would leave his throne,

and come to earth

to claim us as his own.

O love divine

Clothed in this flesh of mine!

God in our form

A child was born.

Jesus, Lord through all the ages

God from God and light from light

Came from heaven, brought salvation

Jesus, be my heart’s delight

My heart delights

that God would give himself

Seeking no power, 

no honor and no wealth.

Walking for me

The road to Calvary,

Bearing my sin

So I am free.

My heart delights

that I can live for him

and serve the one

who freed me from my sin

Lord light your fire!

Become my one desire!

My hope and sight,

My heart’s delight.

sar 2012

Who needs drugs when...

... you can smash private schools in debating competitions?

It's official. Students should be able to use social networking websites and school students should be banned from paid employment

Why am I like this?

I get busy. On the outside I'm coping with it. Then I need to communicate something that's easily to communicate with people who I like, who are expecting the communication... And I can't do it.

Just send a simple 2 line email.

If you asked me to go to a meeting on the other side of town I'd get in the car. But I can't send the email.

Why not?

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I think the spambots are off my back! I'll drop the word verification and see what happens.

[I've been getting heaps of very encouraging (This blog is informative and interesting. I'll be visiting it again.) and helpful (Check out my blog - Male Enhancements.) comments on my old posts. If a post is more than 2 weeks old, they come to me for email checking first. It was getting tedious.]

The Cake Is A Lie

All my year 6s and 7s have to write me a song for assessment this term. They need to make up a song, type up the lyrics, do a rough demo vocal recording (on an iPod or phone or something), have a go at chording it up, and write out the music for four bars of it. After they are handed in, I work with them to fix up the chords, make garage band recordings, add some auto-tune and make class cds. It's fun.

Joel's song is based on the computer game Portal. He didn't attempt a cliche love song like most of the girls did... though I wonder if he isn't a little in love with GlaDOs - Portal's psycho AI antagonist. There's plenty of passion in his song anyway.

REFRAIN

The cake is a lie

 the cake is such a dirty lie.

The cake is a lie

 the cake is such a dirty lie.

VERSE

 GLaDOs & me, we used to be friends 

& we would play with portal guns together

then one day she said at the end 

there would be cake. The cake is a lie 

I stumbled on this old man’s lair 

I went in there

written in blood on the wall it said 

‘the cake is a lie’ and I thought... what the? 

REFRAIN

the cake is a lie 

the cake is a such dirty lie

 the cake is a lie

 the cake is such a dirty lie 

CHORUS

And GLaDOs said ‘there will be cake at the end’

& i’m like, ‘oh yeah forget about that silly old man’

 then GLaDOs lies to throw me in the fire pit.

 And GLaDOs says ‘there will be cake at the end’

 & i’m like, ‘oh yeah forget about that silly old man’ 

then the cake is a lie, the cake is actually a lie. 

VERSE

I cried & cried cause GlaDOs had tried

to poison me with neuro toxin

she made me kill Companion Cube

my only friend. the cake is a lie

I remembered the silly old man 

Written in his blood on the wall there was

An arrow pointing …. exit  

REPEAT REFRAIN

REPEAT CHORUS

Do looming deadlines make you more creative?

No.

But if you have a certain kind of personality that is high in openness to experience, you'll have sweet spot with an intermediate amount of time pressure that will make you more creative.

Read the study here.

For Anthony and Alistair

Calvin: "You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood." 

Hobbes: "What mood is that?" 

Calvin: "Last-minute panic."

On the sabbath

Our church is studying Deuteronomy at the moment. 

A couple of weeks ago, when we were looking at the ten commandments in chapter 5, a penny dropped. Read this:

¹² “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they never got a break. They never had a holiday. The point of the Sabbath is that they are no longer slaves - they have days off now! Free time! Public holidays to sit in the sun, sipping their honey flavoured milk...

Centuries later, the Pharisees had completely missed the point. All of the rules they set up made people slaves to the Sabbath, you can't do this, you can't do that. But the Sabbath was given for them to enjoy. It was meant as a sign of their freedom. They should revell in it! Sit back, relax and bludge! You are not a slave, so don't act like one.

So what about this commandment and us? Two things:
1. We're not Jews. It was never given to us. 
2. We were slaves to sin but we've been freed from that. We can show our freedom by not sinning. 

I think I'm getting my blogging mojo back.

But did I lose my readership during my bloggy winter?

Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services

I read this book today. It's about doing the Sunday service well. It's written by Nelson Searcy, who pastors a church in New York. He is into:

• everything being linked to the message in the bible talk, 
• 'excellence' in everything, 
• worship pastor and teaching pastor being on the same page, 
• planning the preaching calendar a year out, 
• having Sunday sorted by Thursday night, and 
• creativity. 

It was annoying and helpful at the same time.


Annoying, because:

1. He keeps telling us about his church. 
His church is called the Journey Church. I find this hard to take.

2. His writing style is irritating. He keeps putting in these dreadful dialogues between 'David' (a young pastor) and 'Tim' (an experienced pastor who runs his life according to the letter of this book and has a booming successful church and no problems at all). He also loves and overuses acronyms (RTLs = Radically Transformed Lives) and alliteration.

3. He is on a different page theologically.
His theology of scripture, the spirit, church, worship... All different to mine. (And therefore wrong!)

4. He thinks he has got it all worked out.
He's the man and he knows it. But I think this kind of goes with the territory. Who else writes this sort of book?

5. I want to not like it because of reasons 1-4 above, but it has a lot to offer.

Helpful because:

1. The idea of having Sunday sorted by Thursday night is inspiring. Imagine how much less stressed we'd be!

2. I love the idea of pastor and music leader being on about the same thing in a church service. Practically, though, it's hard to manage. I like that this book offers a way to do it.

3. It prioritises long term planning of the preaching program and makes everything else fall under that. I'm a fan of this in theory. Good to see what possibilities it opens up.

4. It values creativity in service planning.

Has anyone else read it? What did you think?

Plumb lines for music ministry

I've been reading Sticky Teams by Larry Osbourne. I like it a lot.

He talks about 'plumb lines' - organisational proverbs that we write to clarify exactly what we value in a particular ministry area. They are a tool of alignment - when someone new comes onto your team, you share the 'plumb lines' with them to make sure that they are on the same page as you. They don't represent the only way of doing ministry, instead they represent your way of doing it.

I really like the idea of plumb lines so I thought I'd try to write some. Here are some that represent the things that I value in music ministry in church. These ones cover general stuff and how we play. I've not written any yet on how we choose songs. Any thoughts?

Plumb Lines for Music Ministry

General

Playing an instrument or songleading in church is not about being on a roster, it’s about ministering the word of God to people. A roster is about sharing the load so no one has to do more than their fair share. A ministry of the word of God, it’s about helping people know God better, better understand the gospel, and better love and serve Jesus. We want to do this as well as we can. Thoughtfully. Skillfully. Helpfully. Prayerfully.

Our job is to facilitate the singing of the congregation. We lead the music in such a way so that the congregation sings heartily. The measure of our success as church musicians is not in how good we sound, but in how well the congregation sings. 

The music is the first thing that a visitor notices about a church. We want our music to say that we are passionate in our love for Jesus, committed to biblical truth, contemporary but historically aware, and appropriately polished in our presentation.

How we play

The more often we play in church, the better we will get. It is unhelpful to be on a music roster only once a month. 

The more a particular group plays together, the better they will sound. So the same people play together as much as possible.

The more into a song we are, the more convincingly we present it to church. Before introducing a song to church, song leaders and band members make sure that they know it well and are able to articulate what the song is about and what it contributes emotionally and theologically to church.

The congregation will not be more into a song than the musicians are. We pray for the ability to feel the content and emotion of the song and to communicate it with our instruments, with our voices, with our faces and with our bodies.

The chart is servant, not master. We choose the key, the introduction, the tempo and the arrangement that suits our congregation. We work hard at developing our musical skills so that we can adjust quickly to changes in style and key.

I love the Ekka Holiday

Yesterday, while the world was working, Brisbanites got the day off.

The weather was beautiful. The boys went for a bike ride with Andrew while I went for a jog. Then we went down the coast to see my sick grandmother, then across the border to have a wonderful afternoon with friends.

Praise God for fairy floss and dagwood dogs and crowds and rides and smelly animals because these things warrant a public holiday.

I'm feeling refreshed and optimistic about life.

What fabulous weather!

Bring on spring!

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Flourish post #5 - NFC, NFA and music in church

[You'll need to read this post first to understand what I'm talking about here.]

Okay, so there are real differences between people in terms of their need for cognition (NFC) and their need for affect (NFA). But how do these differences affect which songs we like to sing in church? Here are 13 ideas.

1. High NFCrs need there to be clear logical progression between the lines of a song. It needs to make sense. High NFCers will notice if it doesn't make sense. For low NFCers, it kind of making sense is good enough.

2. The perception that a song might be complex is enough to turn low NFCers off a song. They've done experiments. You give exactly the same thing to two groups of people. With one group you hint that it is simple, with the other group you hint that it is a little complex ('You'll need to think about this.') If told it is complex, the low NFCers are likely to hate it - whatever it is.

3. Low NFCers love the familiar. Chord progressions that they've heard before, phrases they have heard before. If a song sounds like every other song, high NFCers will probably hate it and low NFCers will probably love it.

4. If a song is thought to be successful and popular, it is more likely to appeal to low nfcers.

5. High NFCers are not going to be moved by a song that doesn't satisfy their need for logic, depth and nuance.

6. Low NFCers are not going to be moved by a song that isn't 'safe' cognitively. (i.e.. familiar, predictable.)

7. Low NFCers value social clues. If others are getting into a song, they will like the song more.

8. High NFCers have higher verbal intelligence than low NFCers. This makes a difference in how quickly and fully certain lyrics will be understood. [note. Verbal Intelligence is only one type of intelligence. There is no difference between high and low NFCers on other types of intelligence.]

9. High NFCers like nuance. Lower NFCers generally prefer absolutes.

10. High NFAers are greatly influenced by mood. There's been experiments. Two groups. With one, you manipulate the environment to put them in a good mood (lighting, welcome, smells, whatever) and then present something (in the experiments it was a product or an idea but it could have been a song). With the other group you manipulate the environment to induce a bad mood and then present the same thing. The high NFAers assess the product much, much more positively when in a good mood than in a neutral or bad mood. And they think they are being objective in their judgement. Not so with low NFAers. So creating the right mood in church really makes a difference to how songs will be received.

11. High NFAers are looking to be moved by a song, so are more likely to be moved than lower NFAer.

12. High NFAers will get into a song more if there is a story attached to it.

More thoughts on emotion and music in my next post.

Flourish post #4 - NFC, NFA, WT***

Time for explanation about the stuff I presented at a conference a couple of weeks ago - and in the blog posts below.

If you answered the questions in the posts here and here, you'll know your scores on two tests: Need for Cognition and Need for Affect. These tests were developed by psychologists and are used fairly extensively, particularly among advertising psychologists.

I'm interested in these tests because they help us understand why we like what we like.

Need for Cognition measures the extent to which we seek out and enjoy cognitive stimulation. It is not a measure of intelligence. It's a measure of cognitive motivation. Very clever people can score low on NFC. High NFCers, though, do tend to acquire more knowledge over time.

Here are some characteristics of people with high NFC:

 - have high intrinsic motivation to engage in effortful cognitive endeavors

- use central path (information, reasoning, logic) to persuasion, rather than peripheral paths to persuasion (short cuts - do I like the way speaker looks, sounds...) 

- unstressed by cognitive tasks

- base judgements and beliefs on empirical information and rational considerations

- more likely to be curious

- more likely to desire new experiences that stimulate thinking

- perceive social issues to be personally relevant or involving

- desire to maximise information gain

- more likely to be open to ideas, actions, feelings and values.

- Tend to have high verbal intelligence but NFC is not related to abstract reasoning ability.

- tend to be low in neuroticism, low in external locus of control and low in social anxiety.

- much better long and short term  ad recall than low nfc

- uses attitude moderation - see shades of grey

- in team work situations, are much less likely to 'loaf'

Here are some characteristics of people with low NFC:

- much lower motivation to engage in effortful cognitive endeavours

- use peripheral paths to persuasion

- anxiety levels measurably increase if confronted with a task they perceive to be intellectually challenging

- use social comparison clues in decision/opinion making

- value factors such as attractiveness and popularity in one’s identity,

- tendency to ignore, distort, avoid new information

- preference for order and predictability

- decisiveness 'this is just how it is.'

- tendency towards dogmatism

- find comfort in the familiar and predictable.

There is no gender difference with NFC.

Need for Affect, similarly, measures the extent to which people seek out and enjoy emotional stimulation. NFC has been highly researched and used extensively for the last 30 years. NFA is still in the development stage, but here's what's been established so far.

Need for Affect is a different thing to NFC. They are not opposites. You can be high in one and low in the other, you can be high in both, you can be low in both.

Here are a few characteristics of high NFAers.

- high NFA people are influenced by mood. For example, put them in a good mood (through a sunny day, a warm room etc) and they are much more able to be persuaded to do or buy or think something. Not so with low NFAers.

- high NFAers experience narrative transportation to a much greater extent that low NFAers. They get drawn into a story. This can be used very effectively to persuade them of something.

- high NFAers are more open to feel emotion, so have lower trigger levels for things that will make them feel something.

- Women tend to have a higher NFA than men. 

Our NFC and NFA are pretty much stable. There is no point judging each other on this or trying to change each other. We are what we are. It isn't a sin thing. 

It's about how we naturally process information. You can consider your NFC and NFA scores together and find out what kind of processor you are.

NFC - greater than 107 = high nfc. Less than 107 = low nfc

NFA - greater than 85 = high nfa. Less than 85 = low nfa

Low NFC, Low NFA = passive processor

Low NFC, High NFA = feeling processor

High NFC, High NFA = combination processor

High NFC, Low NFA = thinking processor

Now, I find all of this fascinating, but it's particularly interesting when you use it to think about music in church. Thoughts on that will come in another post.

What kind of processor are you?

My Heart Delights, version 3 billion.

Last chance for comments, guys. It gets recorded soon - probably this week. 

My heart delights

My heart delights
that Christ would leave his throne,
and come to earth
to claim us as his own.
God from eternity
shared our humanity!
Our God in flesh adorned
A child was born!
Jesus, Lord through all the ages
God from God and light from light
Came from heaven, brought salvation
Be alone my heart’s delight

My heart delights
that God would give himself
He sought no power, 

no honor and no wealth.
What love is this? What grace!

He suffered in my place!
He walked the road for me

To Calvary.

My heart delights
That I can live for him
And serve the one
Who freed me from my sin
Oh Spirit, light your fire!
Make him my one desire!
Burn through the coldest night
My heart’s delight.

sar 2012

Sorry for the silence

There will be a big post soon with what's going on.

trying to finalise a song

My Heart Delights. Remember it? I think 2 lines have survived. We are up to tune 30 and lyric version 563.

I'd rather be listening to Green Day.

Joel's birthday cake.

What do you think?

Flourish workshop 3: NFA

Please answer these questions with a number from 1-9.

1.Very Strongly Disagree

2. Strongly Disagree

3. Disagree

4. Mildly Disagree

5. Neither Agree nor Disagree

6. Mildly Agree

7. Agree

8. Strongly Agree

9. Very Strongly Agree

NFA 

1. I am good at empathizing with other people’s problems. ____

2. I make decisions with my heart. ____

3. I often get too emotionally involved. ___

4. I appreciate opportunities to discover my true feelings. ____

5. I like being around sensitive people. ___ 

6. My feelings reflect who I am. ____

7. I am a feeling person. ____

8. I am more a “feeler” than a “thinker”. ____

9. When I recall a situation, I usually recall the emotional aspects of the situations. ____

10. I prefer a task that is emotional and important to a task that is intellectual and important. ____

11. Feeling comes naturally to me. ____

12. I enjoy trying to explain my feelings-even if it’s only to myself. ____

13. Emotion excites me. ____

Add up the numbers to get your

NFA Score :  ______

I'll tell you what all of this is about in another post.

Flourish 2 - NFC

A questionnaire.

Please answer these questions with a number from 1-9.

1.Very Strongly Disagree

2. Strongly Disagree

3. Disagree

4. Mildly Disagree

5. Neither Agree nor Disagree

6. Mildly Agree

7. Agree

8. Strongly Agree

9. Very Strongly Agree

Write down your answer for these 18 questions. Scoring key below.

1. I would prefer complex to simple problems. ____

2. I like to have the responsibility of handling a situation that requires a lot of thinking. ____

3. Thinking is not my idea of fun.* ___

4. I would rather do something that requires little thought than something that is sure to challenge my thinking abilities.* ____

5. I try to anticipate and avoid situations where there is likely a chance I will have to think in depth about something.* ___

6. I find satisfaction in deliberating hard and for long hours. ____

7. I only think as hard as I have to.* ___

8. I like tasks that require little thought once I’ve learned them.* ____

9. The idea of relying on thought to make my way to the top appeals to me. ____

10. I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems. ____

11. Learning new ways to think doesn’t excite me very much.* ____

12. I prefer my life to be filled with puzzles that I must solve. ____

13. The notion of thinking abstractly is appealing to me. ____

14. I would prefer a task that is intellectual, difficult, and important to one that is somewhat important but does not require much thought. ____

15. I feel relief rather than satisfaction after completing a task that required a lot of mental effort.* ____

16. It’s enough for me that something gets the job done; I don’t care how or why it works.* ____

17. I usually end up deliberating about issues even when they do not affect me personally. ____

18. I prefer to think about small, daily projects to long-term ones.* ____

Scoring.

9 of these items - those with an **asterix** - are reverse scored. You need to adjust your answers. If you had 1, change it to 9. If you had 9, change it to 1. If you had 2, change it to 8. Similarly with 3 and 7, and 4 and 6. Leave your 5s as 5s.

Now add up your answers. And write down you score.

NFC Score : ________

Flourish workshop 1: Hosanna

Listen to this song.

What do you think? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Tell me in the comments.

Flourish workshop done.

It was heaps of fun.

I'm going to run it again, right here for you, blog friends.

Read the posts in order for best result.

And please comment.

Four hour long staff meeting...

We had a lady come in to do a Myers-Briggs assessment on us all.

All good fun. Four hours of being self obsessed.

No surprises. Very clear ENTP.

It was fun seeing what everyone else was.

But tell me, introverts, when you are standing by yourself at a work social thing, trying to hide behind your glass, do you want me to come and talk to you? The woman leading the session said that you are probably happy by yourself and you'd prefer to be left alone. True?

50 shades.

I'm not reading it, but I have been looking at a very funny chapter by chapter review. I've read about 10 chapters of the review, which is about as much as my godliness can take, so I'm stopping now. But I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on the writing style, the characters, the plot line and the issues it raises.

Five thoughts on FSOG so far.
1. This is really similar to Mills and Boon, except with poorer writing and kinkier sex. Nothing to see here guys.
2. This is FanFic. So, so much is stolen from Twilight.
3. Although problematic, the BDSM thing isn't the biggest issue for me*. Bigger, I think, is the nature of the relationship. He wants to control every aspect of her life - her clothes, her finances, her food, her friends, her diary, her facial expressions... This is sick, stalker guy behaviour. Why do readers find it desirable? But I guess that there is precedence for this in popular music. What's creepy in real life is romantic when the Police sing it (Every breath you take I'll be watching you...)
4. She isn't allowed to look him in the face without permission. Who made him god? (Or does he think he's an ancient Persian king?)
5. The picture it paints of female sexuality is warped. For our heroine, sexual desire does not exist apart from him. She never felt a twinge of anything till he came along. At age 22. Huh? But this is not unusual in female fiction - Twilight, some Mills and Boon etc feature it. It makes it so that the guy owns the girl's sexuality which is yuck.

My very biggest worry is that aspects of #3, #4 and #5 might be attractive to the people on the far right of complementarianism.

* But maybe it would be if I read on.

50 Shades of Grey

Quite a fuss about it.

Anyone want to admit to having read it?

Veronica Mars - Series 1

6 discs. I just watched it in 5 days - which is pretty good going, considering that I appeared to be living a normal life. "It's okay kids. I don't mind that we've arrived early for tennis today. You go and hit the ball while you're waiting for your lesson. I'll sit here in the car. Look! I've bought my computer..."

It's fabulous television. Anyone else seen it?

Is series 2 as good?

Stuart Townend is coming to Brisbane.

I spammed half our state with this email last night.

_________________________________________________________________

In Christ Alone 

Stuart Townend and Emu Music in Brisbane!

Dear Pastors and Christian friends,

I am writing to invite you and your congregations to hear world renowned modern hymn writer, Stuart Townend, perform at the Old Museum (Gregory Tce, Bowen Hills) on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. 

This is a rare opportunity to be encouraged by one of the most influential church musicians of our time. His songs, particularly How Deep The Father’s Love for Us and In Christ Alone, have taught, moved and inspired Christians across the denominations. Stuart will lead us in singing the gospel together and give us insights into his most popular songs.

As someone who loves to hear the gospel proclaimed in song, I feel that this is an opportunity not to be missed. The Old Museum Concert Hall has a strict 500 seat capacity so we advise that you book quickly to avoid disappointment. 

Event - In Christ Alone With Stuart Townend & EMU music

Date - Wednesday 17th October

Time - 7PM

Venue - The Old Museum, 460 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills

Cost - $27 each or $24 for groups of 10+

Bookings can be made online at twistconference.com

I have attached a brochure to this email. Feel free to print it out or forward it on to anyone who you think might be interested. More information about this event and about our Sydney and Melbourne concerts are available at twistconference.com. Registrations are now open.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions.

In Christ,

Simone

Emu Music

ps. Want a sample of Stuart Townend performing live? Listen here or here!

Andy Gullahorn sings "Workin' Man"

Gary suggested I watch this. Everyone should. It's hilarious.

songwriting with year 6....

Blow Up The Pokies was the song of the week. Needed it to balance out Adele.

Good fun talking through the issues with the kids. More group therapy.

They have now all started writing their own songs.

One group's song begins with the line 'Life is a journey'

Next week I think we'll need an anti-cliche lesson.

Flourish conference. Wanna come?

Friends.

These last few months I've been pre-occupied reading up on stuff for my workshop at Flourish conference Sydney 27-28th July. I'm excited about what I've come up with.

The advertising world has put considerable resources into researching what makes us tick. They have developed scales to measure how likely we are to be moved by different things - be it facts or emotions or recommendations or associations. In my Flourish worksop, I'll be using advertising research to talk about preferences in church music and why it is that a song can appeal to one person but not the next - and what we should do about it.

If you are interested, I'd love for you to come.

Details can be found here.  I'm doing my seminar twice - Friday afternoon 3-5, and Saturday morning 10.15-12.45. There's heaps of other stuff on as well.


Simone

tax return could mean new viola soon!

I've never felt such motivation to get it in.

(Not that I have any intention of filling in the form myself!)

Viola update - one term in.

Still playing out of tune.

Still producing a sub-optimal tone

Still fudging alto clef.

Still loving it.

I'm have an excellent teacher who is very encouraging and motivating. Despite the bad sounds (which, apparently, are normal) I feel like I'm making progress. My aim is to be able to play in a community orchestra in a few years. Hanging out to buy my own viola - hopefully in the next couple of months. Perhaps the one in the picture!

neuropsych appointment #1

Joel had his first neuropsych appointment today. Next week we go back for a pile of tests.

Thanks for the advice a couple of months ago.

This is a really good way forward. Wish we had done it years ago.

Adele fest at work this week

I'm having fun teaching songwriting to my six year 6 and 7 classes.

This week we listened to Adele's Set Fire To The Rain, analysed the structure (verses, choruses etc) and talked about what makes it a great song.

Out of that came a discussion about what our songs could be about. Previously, many kids had been saying they'd write songs about random nouns - a flower, a koala, a rainbow...  Here's my rule: The only people who want to hear a song about a koala (or flower, or whale, or teapot) are those under five. For the rest of us, songs need to be about people and, more particularly, about emotions. A song might seem to be about a sunrise, but it's actually about the euphoric rush I get from beauty. It may talk about an empty street, but it's actually about loneliness. The song a ten year old boy thinks is about Minecraft is actually about obsession or fear or anger (when another player griefs) or elation.

We also talked about back-stories: the situation that inspires the song. You don't have to spell it out to the listener, just use it yourself to get into the particular emotion. Adele seems to only have one back-story: I was with this guy and then we broke up and it sucks. But she takes it slightly different places in each song:
Rolling in the Deep - I was with this guy and we broke up and it sucks and I feel frustrated and disappointed because it could have been so good.
Someone like you - I was with this guy and we broke up and it sucks and I'm sad because you've moved on when I haven't.
Set Fire to the Rain - I was with this guy and we broke up and it sucks and I'm sad and angry about it.


Good times. With one class it kind of went into a group therapy session with kids telling me their own backstories of loneliness or rejection. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. Hoping for a few snippets or originality mixed in with the lyrical cliches!

on funerals.

Ever noticed how everyone always says good things about a funeral? It was lovely. It was a beautiful service.

Andrew gets more positive feedback from funerals he conducts than from anything else he does at church.

I've often wondered why this is.

Having taken part in a couple of family funerals in recent weeks, here are my thoughts.

1. People give good feedback about funerals because once they are done they are done. No one eagerly anticipates a funeral. The death part is horrible. The days post-death, organising the funeral, are stressy and tense. But we're so glad once the funeral is over! The relief that we got through it makes us enjoy it in retrospect.

2. People say good things about funerals because if the service is conducted 'well', death is put back in a box and buried. We don't have to think about it so much anymore.

3. People say good things about funerals because it feels good to cry and laugh with others. This is one of those rare situations where it's okay to be emotional. You can let it out. For those away from the centre of the loss (i.e.. those for whom the loss if sad, but not tragic), post funeral you can feel slightly high on the hormones released.

Thoughts?

"I know that 99% of you won't repost this, but I know the 1% of you who will."

I am in the 99%.

I don't care what your cause is. It's not that I don't love aunties, sisters, brothers, daughters, friends, whoever... It's not that I'm not sympathetic towards those with bowel cancer, autism, or herpes.

It's just that I will not repost this guilt inducing, sentimental tripe.

Facebook likes are cheap.

If you care about cancer research, donate some money.

If you love your aunty, send her a card.

If you friend is in pain, go visit her and take a lasagne.

But enough with the Facebook chain letters.

Back At Work

Next time I have a grand idea like writing a musical with eleven year olds, could someone please kick me?

It would be much much much much much much more efficient to do it myself. I'm trying very hard to not too obviously edit their work, but...

Need to mould what they have written into a performable show.