Many Hands Many Rhythms

Writing pop music percussion parts from the kitchen table may not seem like much but I learned a long time ago it's in the attention to the little things and the love that one puts into something that really does make it all count in the end.

I had studied a "Nashville Songwriting" handbook to learn that every song has got some pattern to it, for example: intro, verse, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus, tag.   Armed with this I could creatively orchestrate my own percussion contributions so as to play one rhythm for the verse and another rhythm for the chorus, perhaps substituting a shaker for the drum during the chorus, perhaps hitting a bell somewhere else, etc.

I would even take the time to document all of my parts for each song on sheet music that I would later display on stage with me on a music stand, sometimes to the amazement of my band mates - percussion parts are simple and repetitive who needs sheet music?

The band was called Divas and Cavaliers and there my brother Marc and I were again, just another cover band for hire, among hundreds of others.  Playing somewhere in Spicewood, Texas one summer evening during 2009, there came to the floor a young lady along with her aged companion, a  physically handicapped man, could have been a father daughter combination, to dance, perhaps for the last time, to one such song, a song where I had worked out all of the parts in advance.  Small parts, seemingly insignificant parts, but at that moment, parts contributing to a something far greater than what I could have ever imagined, a divine dance, the goodness of God made manifest.

"God desires man to flourish, to become who he is meant to be by sharing in the divine life" writes Bishop Robert Barron in his study book on Catholicism (http://www.wordonfire.org/).  "Yet this requires humility and a receptive spirit on the part of man." 

Finally, after years of practice, late night excursions, multitudes of shows and gigs I had experienced something meaningful, the million dollar payoff; a moment of depth, the epiphany that made the whole pursuit worthwhile.

Here's my contribution Lord Jesus, perhaps meager, a little effort, but just like the two fish that you turned into 5000 meals, I'm confident that my small efforts will be magnified into something meaningful and for your greater glory.

Our work, our efforts, it's not for God - God doesn't need it, nothing can be added to God; God does not exist in parts and pieces, God is everywhere all at once - omnipresent, THE source of all goodness and love.

It's really for you and me, each an orchestrator of our own life before God, tasked to make our own music with beats that will reciprocate our love back to God because God so loved us first. 

My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ I pray that in your life too, the beat goes on.

D&C on the outdoor stage at Angel's Ice House, Spicewood, TX, Summer 2009