handover live! praise
Sunday, August 23
this was it.
the moment we'd all been waiting for.
the first time ever.
and the very last.
huddling together as a team for the last time, a simple prayer was prayed, lifting all into His hands, inviting Him to come. with an 'amen', we began.
*****
barely 12 hours earlier, the team was just starting our first practice. complications had arisen, forcing us to push back our rehearsal to this unearthly time. last minute shuffles were made to the team arrangement. car pools and parents beckoned musicians to leave, but they begged to stay on. all this while, the school compound remained pitch black, creating an ominous atmosphere and gloom and doom.
with 6 songs to get under our belt, including 2 which many weren't familiar with, we plunged straight into the rehearsal. music blared, filling the tiny cf room with soundwaves of varying frequencies, though all of high amplitudes. our eardrums cringed despite the melodious tunes, and we strained to hear the sound of human voice.
then, we stopped. we hadn't committed the time to the Lord. silencing ourselves for a word of prayer, we asked and allowed God guide us through the rehearsal.
we then proceeded with our music making, which went seamlessly. musicians perfectly replicated sequences and riffs from the original recordings of songs, mistakes were corrected instantaneously, and melodious tunes from each instrument blended beautifully with one another.
it was a race against time. but God was running on our team. whisking ourselves through the 6 songs, we had barely touched the last song before one's car pool had to leave soon, thus cutting short our rehearsal. we played through the last song once, and that was all. but what we had done would suffice for now.
it had to.
*****
2 hours to crunch time.
while the admin and admin elect was slowly filtering into the admin room, the worship team was having problems of their own.
the ce nco had forgot to bring the keys to the ce cupboard (err whoops!), and mikes and mike cables had to be retrieved. to make matters worse, nobody knew where worship was going to be held. a major disaster especially if it wasnt lt4.
if no mike/mike cables, means singing not amplified.
if singing not amplified, means cannot be heard.
if no lt4, means no piano.
if no piano, means need another keyboard.
if no idea where worship is, means no moving of instruments beforehand.
if no moving of instruments beforehand, means have to move later.
if have to move later, means worship is delayed and no soundcheck.
if worship is delayed, means handover segment is shortened.
if no soundcheck, means music may cause coy to have headache.
if all of the above happens, means big big big headache...
in an attempt to save time, we ran back to the cf room to begin practice. as if it came to us naturally now, we began with a prayer.
just as chaos seemed to reign, breakthrough followed. mikes and mike cables were discovered in the cf room, and ms elaine lui was met along the corridor of lt4, opening it up to us, allowing us to move in. only one thing remained to be settled. practice.
but, we were already out of time. inspection was over, and phone calls requested our presence for cohort time. bargaining for more time, we carried on with practice. songs were shoddy in places, but soon improved. acoustics were unevenly amplified, but soon rectified by OUR admin. time flew by, but we never noticed. not until our cohort peeped in through the doors. we'd just completely missed cohort time.
but all feelings of regret had to be quickly stowed away, for the grand entry of our cohort signalled the onslaught of the rest of the company.
above the ruckus of noise created by our cohort, the worship team continued playing our music, tuning out the random shouts typical of our cohort, and focusing intently on our practice. having played each song once through, each member of the team focused on the pieces which gave them most trouble, while others were distracted by the presence of a camera. but before any pictures could be taken, the company arrived. the unspoken message was clear: evacuate the stage.
letting our captain and cooc take the spotlight, we withdrew to be with our cohorts, awaiting the approach of the impending moments on stage, and let time drag on by. when the time arrived, our fingers tingled with anticipation. our hearts pounded with delight.
this was it. the moment we'd all been waiting for. the first time we would lead company live! praise as admin. and yet it would be the very last time.
huddling together as a team for the last time, a simple prayer was prayed, lifting all into His hands, inviting Him to come. with an 'amen', we began.
throughout the music making and worship singing, the Lord was truly present. musicians played wrong chords. musicians played wrong songs. musicians came in too early. musicians came in too late. musicians stopped playing completely in loss. in short, many mistakes were made. but all went unnoticed by the company, as they were busy lifting their hearts to the Lord.
unfamiliarity with new songs quickly vanished as the company sang on, streams of tears flowed endlessly from the eyes of some, voices were lifted high to God, hearts were poured out to the Lord, meaning every word they uttered. God made his presence felt.
*****
it's hard to believe that with the first practice taking place just 12 hours before, and with minimal amount of practice in between, the worship session was seamless. the musicians were not well practiced, mistakes were clearly made, and yet, the Lord made it all work.
it just really goes to show what mighty works that God can do when we continually commit what we do to Him, letting Him take control of the situation and fully trusting Him to make things work. for our live! praise session would have been nothing withour His power and glory, and with His presence in the room.
truly truly, to God be the glory (:
(the best is yet to be XD)
AMEN;
8:04 pm
