Thursday, September 20, 2007
hey guys, cant believe it. my internet has been down like half the week. thought i'm missing out on stuff here. especially the internet computer at my office is down too. end up come here. nothing updated at all. no new posts, or even new tags on the tagboard. what the heck manz.
dunno abt u guys. maybe u guys losing the spirit. i'm not sure how many of u still practise ur instrument or even think about music at home nowadays. and whether u guys r becoming excited about things happening using our talents, especially for God.
but i've been reading this book that came with a "Delirious" CD i bought. its the biography about Delirious and how they came about. its really amazing and inspirational. it helped me discover what i really want in music 4 life.
almost towards finishing the book in a few days. but my opinion of our band now is "if we cant even get our relationship with each other well, we dun even have to think about becoming a band, much less a christian band."
cos its true, in band practices sometimes, it gets so serious, our main purpose is on making gd music. and thats our goal. we can do it in a fun way but ultimately, we still want near perfection for it and to grasp the best out of it. if ur vision of our band practices, even jamming sessions didnt have that in mind, i think u should rethink doing music. music, true, its fun. but if u want to do good at it, u have to take it seriously.
Delirious made it out by having gd relationships established with each other. they could connect well in their relationships, understood how each other are, and understood what their goal was. and this should be our goal too. its called the "All or nothing" vision.
really, its either All or nothing. either u do ur best, either u aim and strive to be a gd band out in the world, or else, dun do it at all. dun waste ur time. truly. i'm not arrowing anybody, i'm speaking to all of u. and myself too.
christian bands usually just wanna sound like acceptable in the eyes of others and just stay according to the bible and play safe with their words. and most of their music stays in church. stays in christian events. and influence only christian pple most of the time. other than having a christian event and pple invite others. but Delirious did something different. they went mainstream with their christian music. see what appealed to the pple out there that were listening to the radio. do catchy tunes and stuff.
sometimes we think its wrong to play super cool music and stuff. u think christian music is all about urself and God. its not true, its about the world out there. and to really influence pple out there, u have to get ur music OUT THERE. even if they went the rock way and did everything that pple like in the pop scene, its not wrong. because the main reason and what i mean by spreading the word thru music, is really getting everyone to hear it, even if its just because the sound is nice, then bring a message thru the music. cos when pple like the song, they will hum it, then eventually sing it. how do u sing it? with lyrics of course.
u wont be singing a song u like alot and not understand the meaning to it. at least most pple will understand what they r singing. and especially once u get ur music out there, pple will like ur band. come for concerts. if by then, they still haven gotten the msg of ur music, its then that in the concert, u shout the msg to them. u transfer it to their heads and make sure they know what u r about.
this is something we as christians never do think abt. worship can be for us to sing to God. but if u want to do it in the music scene and u want a great influence, at the same time fulfilling the Great commission of "Go forth and make disciples of all nations" and spreading the Word with music, the only way is to influence the world. not just encourage the churches like how Hillsongs and Streams of Praise are doing. and thats really inspirational.
and realistically, as a christian, even if u want to go full-time into ministry, money is gonna be a big problem. ur salary is very important too. unless u want to stay single all ur life and worry about money issues all ur career for God. so by going into the music scene, not only u get to non-christians and pple out there. we get the cash into our pockets too. not meaning we have to be rich and stuff. we just have to be sufficient to put food on the table everyday, the rest if there are excess, use them for God. setup concerts and stuff that will reach out to pple.
i know as much as i say now, u guys may not be feeling me. because maybe dreams like this, are too big that only i have them. for u guys, it may just mean it stays in the church and playing music is just for fun. i'm not sure about u guys. but my vision is to use music for God. in every way possible. i know the prom thingy will not be very important, due to it being for entertainment value only. but i really dunno. if u guys arent even gonna do ur ministry to God thru service on sundays and the camp, i'm not sure what u all are up to.
i've gotten all of u in the church band already. Michelle will start on backup vocals when october starts. Pris will start back on guitars after O levels but with the band that does not have koh peng and arthur, but soon u will have to learn to work with different pple, thats a fact of life. while yuqian will be under mentor by either me or luther or edwin for band practices on saturdays for service on sundays. but thats whether u have the time. while marcus, yangkai is willing to teach and mentor u for it. its whether u have the time and the passion only.
the church pple see our priorities and see how actively we are involved. and our lives and how we interact with others. dun blame pple for not allowing u all to perform or serve God when all along, u haven been a gd option for it. i can try as hard as i want to battle for the things. chances are there. i can convince them that ur ready, but really, are u? truly think abt it, and the test of already having a chance to serve God and how u react to the chances, that will prove whether u really have the heart of worship.
true, serving God requires alot of time and requires alot of strength sometimes too. but isnt He worth all that? and u putting other things over doing it, shows how much it is worth. until u learn to even give time for our band, ur not gonna play for the church band. because if u cant even give this casual band time for practice and everything, how would u fair doing it seriously in the church band?
pple do see stuff like me staying back and sometimes just pple dun stay back together to practise together and me being super disappointed abt it when i'm already stressed out with the band arrangements and stuff. and no one's supporting me. thanks yuqian for staying last week. but the whole band still not being there, it was still upsetting. maybe sometimes i'm strict to u all, but i try not to be. and sometimes i might be stern and talk to u all seriously and stuff, but have u ever felt how i feel to do that to pple i really love? its my last choice to scold someone. especially pple in this band, which i specially chose because i really think we can grow in love together.
stop brooding abt what has happened and how messed up we r now, that serves no purpose. think about what we can do and what we should do from now on as a band to really do our best in our music. its our passion? i may be angry and stuff that u all aint doing it properly, but i do give chances for change. when do u feel that like marcus or somebody comes late for a practice or something that i'm angry and end up not wanting to play or anything. i just forgive, my main objective is to still get things done. because i believe u all are old enough to realise whats wrong and why i'm angry, so i try not to elaborate abt it, unless its done far more than a few times.
ever thought how hard its to being me?
i dunno but really, i have limits to myself. i really dun wish to end up deciding that this band isnt working out and i have to do all these stuff by myself. i'm really okay with that, cos i've been working alone most of the time in my music life. but thats what i really want.
i'll be there on sunday for practice no matter the attendance. i'll practise by myself even if it means just alone. my music aint gonna get screwed up by others, because i know my vision. and its not gonna be decided on anyone and not gonna be affected by anyone. only shared with pple of same views and same destinations and goals.
pen off.
(frontman.CiFf)
7:16 PM, & i live by faith and not by sight for you
