Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Free Drum Kit Clinic / Workshop
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
Bloke Playing Bass
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
Global Day of Prayer, London
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.
Uploaded a couple of videos from Pentecost Festival
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.
Psalm Drummers in Camden Town
What an awesome weekend! As part of the Psalm Drummers team we were involved in the Pentecost Festival.
On the Saturday a small group of about 12 met in Camden Town at the canal. We walked playing our drums along the high street pavement. It was crowded! I don’t think I’ll ever say that Belfast is crowded ever again.
For me there was a strong sense of joy as we walked and played. Many people stopped to take photos and videos and smiles from many said it all. Many walked by and showed no expression but many were clearly moved by what they saw and heard. The motto for the Pentecost Festival was “Ladies and Gentlemen. The Church has now left the building“. The whole idea of the festival was to make an impact in our communities by being more visible, not locked away in a building, but visible; helping out practically in community work, taking its music to the streets, pubs and other gathering places. I feel this is what we did. God is a god of Joy and delights in music. There was a colour about what we did – bright t-shirts, loud, infectious rhythms and smiling as we did it.
The best bit for me was when our team leader motioned towards the entrance to McDonalds as we approached it, so we walked in and played an impromptu set for about 30 seconds and walked out!!!! I think we stopped just about every conversation!
If you were around that day and saw us please leave a comment here and let us know what you thought.
Jeremy part of Psalm Drummers team at Global day of Prayer (London)
I’m really chuffed to have been asked to be part of the Psalm Drummers team that’s participating in this year’s Global Day of Prayer in London. If you’re around it’s on May 11th at Millwall Football Stadium. Doors open and worship: 2.00pm, Main programme: 3.00-5.30pm. See the GDOP London web site for more details.
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