| |
June 2004 Table of Contents
Off The Top Of My Head
Music From The Top Shelf
By Jerry Evans
 Back on January 31, Lillenas Publishing invited us to go to Atlanta and hear the recording of the newest Mike Speck project, which will include a choral book. It is always a thrill to get to be involved in a recording of a choir project, and Lillenas is very excited about bringing Mike into their family, so Kirk, Shanda, Jackie and I had great expectations as we drove way out in the country to get to Midway Macedonia Baptist Church, Villa Rica, GA. Folks, we were out in the middle of nowhere and suddenly we came upon one of the biggest, most beautiful churches you've ever seen. I'd love to tell you about wondering where they would get enough people to fill it up. But just believe me, it seats about 1800, and it was packed an hour in advance.
It's always been thus: Mike Speck= Southern Gospel, and I'm one who believes in the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." After two songs, I was wondering if Mike had decided to go contemporary and make a praise and worship album. At first I was so taken aback by the new Mike, I wasn't so sure that I liked it. By song number three "For the Glory of Christ" (which just happens to be the title of the project), I realized that we were in for a treat of what Mike Speck does best, just sing about Jesus and give Him the Glory. There is a wonderful mixture of Praise and Worship songs along with those that have a Southern Gospel flavor in this recording.
This book will give you the opportunity to use some of your soloist and small groups and it is very attainable. I've said it before and I'll keep right on saying it, if you want your congregation to get excited about Jesus, you have to give them some "Southern Gospel," and this is about as good as it gets.
On a different note, Buster Pray and his Associate Chris Emert at First Baptist Church, Springdale, AR, serve a church that is similar in many ways to most of the churches we serve. We try to lead in services that are worship and praise oriented and not just three hymns and the announcements as was the case too many times in my early ministry. The problem lies in the fact that many of our people (yeah probably my age people) feel a need to sing some of the grand old hymns of the faith that have brought them this far. Many of their younger brothers and sisters are more in tune with the newer sounds of today and as result want their music to reflect this. This, in many cases, has been the cause of what we have come to know as "The Worship Wars." Well, I'm not about to tell you that Buster and Chris have given us the answer to all our problems, but I am going to tell you they have made a giant step in the right direction.
This is a collection of Hymns with new chord structures and new rhythms, but (and this is the most important part) the melody is pure. We have all heard the complaint, when we try to make a hymn sound contemporary, that it's not the same song that I learned as a child. The problem, in most cases is that the melody (the only part they know) has been changed and they feel uncomfortable with it. This is where this project excels. The older people like it because it keeps their melody and the younger ones like it because it sounds like today. It Works!
Now, here is the most exciting part about this project. When you buy it, it comes to you on a CD-ROM. You print out as many of the parts as you desire. Each song is fully orchestrated. There are 15 songs and you can buy them any way you choose. If you buy the entire orchestration and vocal parts for the full project, it is $300. If you buy the orchestrations and vocal parts by individual song, they are $40 per song. Should you only want the rhythm and vocal parts, they are $10 per song, or $100 for the full set. If you only want the 2nd trumpet part for "Fairest Lord Jesus," call us, you can get it. The bottom line is this: "You decide, we provide." Like that slogan? Yeah, I made it up all by myself. (I will not look favorably on your comments concerning that)
The project will be on our website and available for download within a couple of months. I understand we are updating the site to be able to do more projects like this. Buster tells me this is just the beginning and there will be a Volume 2 out this fall.
I hope you can feel the excitement I have for this project. I believe it is way overdue.
Jerry
Email Jerry
Back to Top
|
|
