Because of our daughter's huge wedding we recently staged, I have not had much time to play my oboe. The wedding went well, with about 400 guests. It was a stressful, but good time. I told my daughter that the wedding was important, but it's the marriage that interests me more. The kids should do well in their marriage, by the grace of God. They are in love, but they also really like each other and are good friends. Anyway...
My musical involvement is taking a bit of a different turn at this time. The worship leader in our church wants me to be involved in one of the two teams he has going. We are a small church, but we have some pretty fantastic musicians. Ben, our worship and youth pastor, is a classically trained pianist, and a fantastic jazz saxophonist.
So, this Sunday is my debut with the team. Ben wants me to sing harmony on two of the songs, which is fun. I have to make up an alto part, but that's not hard to do on worship style music. I am playing flute on 3 or 4 other songs, and also have to improvise my parts pretty much. It's a bit different reading off of a lead sheet that consists in the words to the songs and the chords. As long as I stay in the right key and play notes compatible with the chords, I'm Okay. I was able to find the music to some of the songs, but in a way, it's easier to just "wing it." I'm glad for the jazz lessons I took a few years back. I'm not being very adventuresome at this point in time, keeping it pretty simple.
I have to say that it is a lot of fun to play on a worship team. It is not what I am used to, but it is always good to branch out.
