Making of the Band

So I've been leading a youth band at church. Our beginning as The 8:08 Band--a title taken from the time at which we played every Wednesday night--was pretty rough. Every week's rehearsal was thrown together with a lot of ambition but not with the right mix of music and musicians, and I spent more time trying to get the kids' attention than actually making music. We certainly spent no time reflecting on our reason for playing and singing.

After some "re-org" and a new focus, we have morphed into Heart of Worship--a title taken from a song of the same name. Our first few meetings as a new group didn't really involve singing or playing music at all. Rather, we talked about worship. What it means to worship. Why we worship. Why music should be a part of worship. How musicians have a responsibility/opportunity not to perform, but to reach people on a level that spoken words cannot. We conversed a lot about why music is so unique in its capacity to hit emotional "chords" within the listener.

As we picked out music and began practicing and planning for our big event, new musicians joined, others left, some returned, some did not. But eventually the group filtered itself out to a group of musicians that truly wanted to be a part of H.O.W., and it became a group with a style and a mission and a passion.

Tonight we get the stage. After a couple of months of solid rehearsing, we are performing at the end-of-year confirmation celebration...and we are ready to see what we can do in front of a live audience. Of course I know that looking cool in front of their peers is probably on the mind of these kids, but I know they won't forget all we've accomplished as a group and what it took to get where we are today. The momentum we've started will be a good springboard for our beginning again in the fall.

Be on the lookout for pictures and a re-cap of tonight's event.