I know this song has been out for ages but I love it so much I thought I’d post it up here.

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I’ve finally managed to finish a piece of music. I have so many unfinished pieces and so I’m really pleased to have finally completed something. This is a short instrumental piece of a solo Harp. I don’t play harp myself but composed it on the computer using Garritan Personal Orchestra, recording via MIDI keyboard to Cubase Studio 4.5 and mastering in Adobe Audition 1.5. I am in the process of writing a lot of songs and instrumentals for use on a forthcoming video I am filming and editing. This is one piece I intend to use as a short bridge between video clips. Hence I have called it ‘Selah‘. Selah is a biblical Hebrew word found a lot in the Psalms. According to Wikipedia:

“Selah (Hebrew: סלה‎) may be the most difficult word in the Hebrew Bible to translate. Selah is probably either a liturgico-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, something like “stop and listen”. The Psalms were sung accompanied by musical instruments and there are references to this in many chapters. Thirty-one of the thirty-nine psalms with the caption “To the choir-master” include “Selah” so the musical context of selah is obvious. Selah notes a break in the song and as such is similar in purpose to Amen in that it stresses the importance of the preceding passage. Alternatively, Selah may mean “forever”, as it does in some places in the liturgy (notably the second to last blessing of the Amidah). Another interpretation claims that Selah comes from the primary Hebrew root word [calah] which means “to hang”, and by implication to measure (weigh)……It is translated into today’s general language with the meaning: ‘think about it’ or ‘praise [the Lord]‘”

Please have a listen and leave your comments. I’d appreciate any constructive feedback about the actual music, recording and mixing quality etc.

Listen:

Buy It:
File size = 1.16 mb.Format = ZIP file. Audio quality = 144kbs. Format = MP3.

Cost = £0.60 (approx. $0.90)

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I came across this song by accident while searching the Internet.  I’ve never heard of Apryl Lynn before now but if all her other stuff is like this I think I’ll check out some of her other stuff.

Hope you like it too.

Apryl Lynn “Shadow Of Your Wings” from sarahlongnecker on Vimeo.

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I wish I could play guitar like this!

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A couple of weeks ago I was at the 1st ever Psalm Drummers Summer School, held in St George’s School Windsor. 3 days of worship, frantic drumming, training and friendship and it was nice to escape the rain in Ireland and head for warmer climes!. (Why is it always raining every time I fly from Ireland???).

The emphasis was very much on practical hands on training. I found this very helpful as I really went wanting to improve my technique. There were 3 strands:

1. Drum kit course
2. Percussion
3. Children’s course

The quality of the facilitators was top notch with such people as Ed Freitas, Bono Hodge, Calum Rees, raul D’Oliveira, Stew Smith (ex Delirious) and others.

I was on the Percussion course, which was led by Mike Simpson of Inspire Works. This was awesome especially the session on using percussion for effect (as opposed to laying down a groove), ie. using instruments such as cymbals, shakers, tambourines, etc.

At the end of this Mike read out Psalm 23 line by line and we had to respond by playing in a way that reflects that line. It was quite remarkable that this sounded good as with about 10-15 people there it’s likely that each will have a different interpretation of each line. What I liked was that it was possible to have different instruments playing at different volumes and strengths and it didn’t sound a mess.

For example, verse 4 says:

“Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.”

Some people were banging a frame drum with increasing volume, symbolizing a victorious proclamation, while others were gently playing a shaker seemingly displaying a quiet confidence in God’s promise. Awesome creative stuff!!

Ed Freitas’ session on warm ups, sticks and heads was very welcome as not being a kit drummer I confess I haven’t a clue about how to even hold a drum stick! I didn’t realise that you needed to do warm ups before playing. You can even apply that to percussion instruments so that’s something practical to take away.

One of the highlights was the Strike the Drum Celebration in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Around 50 drummers gathered to play along dancers from Movement in Worship. Suffice to say that something like that has never happened there before! I could physically feel the ground shake and rumble as we played. No idea what all the tourists thought of this. It’s a shame we were not allowed to record anything there (apparently it is illegal to film the tomb of a dead Monarch). From there we played in procession from the Castle through the town.

Well I could say much more but if you are reading this I would recommend that if you get the chance you go along next year and see for yourself and learn from some top class drummers!!

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Allister Brown from Lisburn in County Antrim (I used to live there) set a new world record recently by playing the drums for 102 hours and 45 minutes. Yes. I did say hours, not minutes. He previously held the record in 2003 when he drummed for 58 hours and 17 minutes, and in 2004 for 78 hours. All in a good cause as well, raising about £5,000 cash for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

To qualify for the record he had to play recognisable tunes and not repeat any song with 4 hours. It wasn’t quite non-stop as he was allowed a 5 minute break for every hour he played. (Well, I guess he’d need the odd widdle or 2).

See his website for more.

(Photo courtesy of www.lisburntoday.co.uk)

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Date: Saturday 16th August
Venue: High Kirk Presbyterian Church, 65-71 Thomas Street, Ballymena, BT43 6A (click for Google Map)
Time: 10am – 12noon (performance will be in the evening)
Facilitator: Calum Rees (Kathryn Scott, Brian Doerksen, Vineyard Music, TOTPs)

As part of Fuel 08 in Ballymena, Psalm Drummers will be putting on a free kit workshop for drummers involved in playing in church or those who would like to know more about playing drums in worship. It will be facilitated by Calum Rees.

Calum has a great many CD releases to his credit including Vineyard albums ‘Hungry’, ‘Come Now Is The Time’ and ‘Surrender’. He was for many years at South West London Vineyard, but now lives in Vancouver, Canada with his wife Joyce. He is a drum teacher and session player by profession often working in the mainstream recording, touring and doing TV dates. He is also a long time member of Psalm Drummers and has been a regular clinician and workshop facilitator.

It will be a fully hands on workshop and all participants will be expected to take part. Also as part of the Fuel 08 main stage, Psalm Drummers will be performing and I wish to invite you to join with us for this performance.

What do I need?

You will need to bring a small (4 or 5 piece) drum kit, cymbals and sticks. A strap to carry a snare, floor tom or djembé (if you have one) for the evening performance.

If you do not have a kit available to bring but would still like to attend please get in touch. Also if you wish to play percussion (djembé, congas etc) you are more than welcome, however the workshop will be catered for kit players.

Please let us know if you wish to come as numbers are limited. Go to www.facebook.com/pages/Psalm-Drummers-Northern-Ireland/17217154509

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I think this is the most amazing bit of busking I have ever seen! I was walking through London Bridge station and heard this sound in the distance. It sounded like someone playing guitar with a delay effect on, but as I came closer I saw that he was playing a 6 string bass by tapping the strings with his fingers.

What an amazing sound! Cool guy! He’s from Latvia – you can check out his music at http://www.myspace.com/bass50band

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On Sunday 11th May millions of Christians spanning 176 nations prayed for the needs of the world on Pentecost Sunday as part of one of the largest global prayer events to ever take place. On that day I was part of the Psalm Drummers team that took part in the London Global Day of Prayer. Around 20,000 people gathered to pray for London, the UK and the World on a very hot day in Millwall Football Club’s ground.

What really made the day special was that I looked at the people gathered together as part of the Psalm Drummers team and thought to myself “what an ordinary bunch of people”. Also that there were both young and old. No superstars here. I was so amazed at the grace of God in choosing a bunch of people to make a sound that was dynamic, raw and aggressive as an expression of worship.

The day was a little disappointing from a ‘performance’ point of view as we were supposed to be doing 2 pieces – 15 minutes at the start and 10 minutes towards the end, plus a piece with a gospel choir. But in the end we only did 6 minutes and 6 minutes later. But that’s the way it is with live events. Not everything goes smoothly and you get chopped! But there was a real sense that we were contributing to the surge of prayer and worship that was rising, so job done!!!

I’m always really keen to see how we look and sound as when you are playing you are locked in to a groove. If anyone has any video or audio footage from the day please let me know. I find it useful for seeing how things can be improved.

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I have just uploaded a couple of rather rough videos from the Psalm Drummers on the streets of Camden Town on the 10th May 2008. I took these with my Samsung mobile, so I apologise for the quality, but at least it gives you some idea of what happened. You can probably find more over the next few days on You Tube.

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