Comments for DaveMerkel.com

Comment on Preludes, Postludes and Talking by Dave

Dave — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:57:58 +0000

As a follow-up, I received a number of responses to my questions via email and the “contact” page here, on my personal facebook page, and as part of a larger message thread on a membership board. I’m planning on writing a post from all the feedback, all of which was useful and insightful. I appreciate everyone’s participation in the conversation!

Be grace and peace -
Dave

Comment on Rediscovering Worship by Elaine

Elaine — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:02:25 +0000

We worship at a “contemporary” United Methodist Church. It is a rock concert atmosphere. The music is loud, louder, or loudest punctuated by an enven louder drumbeat. We sit near the back of the church and have observed that almost no one sings but rather just stares at the words on the screen. Oh how I miss good Methodist congregational singing!

Why do we stay? Because … our choice seems to be the church rock concert or the church moribund.

Comment on Rediscovering Worship by Dave

Dave — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:05:04 +0000

Thank you, Kathy.

Comment on Rediscovering Worship by Kathy Young

Kathy Young — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:59:03 +0000

This is very helpful, Dave. I wonder how long I’ve been missing your blog wisdom? Not any more!

Comment on Spirit of Christmas: Giving is About the Giver by The Simple Gifts of Glacier National Park | Pastor Piano Man Dave

The Simple Gifts of Glacier National Park | Pastor Piano Man Dave — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:23:14 +0000

[...] we call The Spirit of Christmas Concert. There’s more information about it in my blog post Spirit of Christmas: Giving is About the Giver. The financial beneficiary of the concert in recent years has been Flathead CASA for Kids; a [...]

Comment on Transcending the Music by piano lessons

piano lessons — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:48:31 +0000

Dave,

This is a controversial topic and I appreciate your undertaking of this assignment. You have done an excellent job in writing this post.

The calling to serve in the music ministry is a special one. It takes years of preparation and learning to become a great musician. An anointed musician can move the congregation and bring people closer to the Lord through the music.

A good performer can make people feel good about the music but does nothing to help ones experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit. It’s merely self-glorifying.

Thanks for the thought-provoking article!

Comment on Transcending the Music by Dave

Dave — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:44:02 +0000

Amen, Taylor. Well spoken. Thanks for the link. I will definately give it a listen.
Dave

Comment on Transcending the Music by Taylor Burton-Edwards

Taylor Burton-Edwards — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:40:41 +0000

David,

Thanks for your careful and caring ongoing reflections on this.

I agree with you. If the message being sent is “everyone needs to go out and hire professional musicians for worship to be relevant” that’s not all that helpful or even truthful.

On the matter of what it takes to get “beyond the page” (here via improvisation) you might find the All in the Mind Podcast from July 16, 2011 of interest. This podcast– which includes interviews with musicians, musical improvisation teachers, and a neuroscientist who is also a musician and improviser– describes this phenomenon more helpfully than anything I’ve seen or read elsewhere.You can find it here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2011/3238562.htm. You can click on the page to read the transcript, but really you’ll want to listen to it, since it’s so much about music and includes a number of musical examples along the way.

One of the findings when looking at the brains of musicians as they’re improvising is that, indeed, a part of their brain that sort of locates their musical activity in time and space seems to be suppressed. This might correspond with your description of “going beyond the page.”

But what is also pretty clear in the research is that it takes quite of bit of practice of the basic vocabulary of music– and indeed of a particular musical style/vocabulary– in order to go “beyond the page” successfully without having to “think about” every single next move.

Which gets to the point I was trying to make (but perhaps made unsuccessfully) in my response cited in part in your blog. What feels “authentic” is what we know how to do, and do perhaps so well we no longer have to think about it. We can just go with it… and it starts to carry us “beyond the page” as you put it. So again, I agree it’s not that our congregations need more pro musicians to “be authentic.” It’s that whatever music we offer in worship, we– the gathered community– need to know it well enough that it has gotten enough into our bones that it is an authentic part of who we are, and then we can indeed go well beyond the page with it.

Peace in Christ,

Taylor Burton-Edwards

Comment on Saturday Night vs. Sunday Morning Music by Susan March

Susan March — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 04:28:06 +0000

And I believe that Wesley put his words to bar tunes as well! And he went to where the people were. Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow!

Comment on Saturday Night vs. Sunday Morning Music by Ed Folkwein

Ed Folkwein — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 03:48:00 +0000

Music certainly speaks to people. Folks who have memory loss, Alzheimer disease, and such respond to music from earlier years. Kids dance and move to music whenever they hear it. So why not ALL kinds of music to infuse and active motions of spirit in churches, parks, parking lots, stores and concerts too! I also believe “orthodoxy” in the church prevents lively expression of emotion and feeling that has always been part of religious experience. Why even King David danced and gyrated into the city! So let’s not limit certain music to bars or churches or concert halls. Enjoy and by all means respond to music that charms your heart. Oh, that includes church music in bars.