Posted by Bryan Moyer Suderman on Nov 2, 2011
One of the delights of “doing what I do” is when someone else teaches me my song. This happens so often, and in so many ways. It happens in the recording studio, when we’re crafting an arrangement of a song that, in many cases, I’ve been singing for a long time. But then one of the musicians I’m working with will bring something new to the table – an instrumental riff, a structural tweak, a change of tempo or “feel” – and suddenly the song is new for me and will never be the same again. I have been taught my own song, by someone who has picked it up and played it in their own way. This is how Steve Hogg “taught me” Listen Up People (the picking pattern/counter-melody that forever changed the way I play/sing it), and how Darrin Schott “taught me” New World Coming (the little guitar “tag” at the front end of that song that has now become a “hook” that I use throughout), how J.K. Gulley and Rick Hutt “taught me” Take Heart (the slowed-down tempo and slightly revised structure that salvaged the song from the dustbin and landed it at the heart of the new CD). Even more amazing and fulfilling, to me, is when I am “taught my own song” by a community that has embraced it, and sings it, and adapted it in whatever way to become part of who they are as a community. I’ve just come back from two weeks on the road (one week in Ohio, and another in Manitoba), where I experienced this repeatedly: – in Stryker, Ohio, where they “taught me” Take Good Care as a simple refrain sung by the children, with actions… and “Peace Be With You” – again with their own actions and way that they have developed to use this song to bless one another. – in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, with the request to sing “God’s Love is for Everybody” as part of a sending/commissioning service for a family moving to a different community… the moving way this commissioning was done brought out multiple meanings and levels in the song that I hadn’t realized were there… – in Brandon, Manitoba, where the community sent me out after the concert by singing to me, as a congregation, my own “Sending Song,” as a blessing on my way (and a blessing for each concert-goer on their way)… – in Archbold, Ohio, where after the concert the pastor approached me and asked for notation and words for the song “For Just Such A Time” because she wanted it sung at her ordination service the following week. It had become her song already… – and on and on and on it goes. A few years ago I was doing a concert in Saskatoon, and a little girl was in the front row with her family....
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Posted by Admin on Oct 5, 2011
It’s here! The new CD has arrived! You can: – download the album from iTunes. – buy the physical CD online with credit card (via IndiePool). – buy the CD over the phone (via MennoMedia: 1-800-631-6535). – buy the CD with a cheque via snailmail, directly from SmallTall Music. You can read some more about the new CD here and here… Can’t wait to get this music into your hands (and ears, and hearts, and families, and...
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Posted by Admin on Sep 19, 2011
Here’s an article that appeared in Christian Week a bit ago.
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Posted by Bryan Moyer Suderman on Sep 13, 2011
I have been invited to lead music in worship at a conference next May in Washington DC called “Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity.” The event is being organized by Dave Csinos and Brian McLaren, and here’s the event’s home page, with a video clip of Brian McLaren introducing the theme. Contributors include Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Jim and Joy Wallis, and others… I’m guessing that if you’re reading this blog you likely have an interest/passion for this agenda as well… I’m looking forward to it and I hope you can come...
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Posted by Bryan Moyer Suderman on Aug 26, 2011
Here’s a sneak peek at the cover design for the new CD… working on the finishing touches of the audio and graphic design… should be released in a few weeks (you can pre-purchase the record here)… What do you...
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Posted by Bryan Moyer Suderman on Jun 27, 2011
Wednesday is the last recording session for the new CD… then it’s on to mixing and mastering, design work and manufacturing… The CD is available for pre-purchase (at a crazy low price for multiple copies) here. Pre-purchasing the record helps to fund it “up front” (much appreciated!), guarantees that you receive the first copies (aiming to have it ready by the end of August), and by pre-ordering multiple copies you can help to spread the word and get this music into as many hands and homes and hearts as possible. This is my fifth album of “songs of faith for small and tall” and I’m very excited about it! Where my last CD (A New Heart – 2009) was probably my most ambitious recording to date in terms of instrumentation and arrangements, this album has a more “stripped down” and rootsy acoustic approach. Singing scripture in new ways, these are songs that help us to explore and internalize how we are part of the ongoing story of what God is doing in the world. From the blistering bluegrass tune “New World Coming” to the evocative “Make Room”… from the playful “Detectives of Divinity” to the stark “Lofty Words”… from the fun sing-along “Fruit of the Spirit” to the vivid storytelling of “Take Heart,” this is a collection of songs that bring us face to face with the realities of our day-to-day life in light of the scriptural story, in a way that gets “small and tall” singing and talking and laughing and praying together. Scheduled for release in August. Available for pre-purchase now –...
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