the shiver test

The "shiver test" has become a very reliable way for me to evaluate a song that I've recorded. When we get it right, and I am really moved by a song (mine or someone else's), I literally get shivers up and down my back.

Today we finished preliminary mixes of all the songs for the new CD. "Shiver test" results? EVERY SINGLE SONG, at one point or another.

And listening yet again in the car on the way home I found myself weeping. Sleep deprivation (from too long spent in the manic stage of the recording/mixing process, not sleeping at night because of loops of songs playing endlessly in my head)...? Inexpressible relief (that it seems like this record is actually going to get finished and be good)...? Overwhelming gratitude (for the amazingly gifted people that have made these songs sound way better than they have any business sounding)...? Moved and comforted and challenged and encouraged by the songs themselves...?

All of the above, I think.

By the way, I'll be on summer blogging schedule from here on in... less frequent and more sporadic than my once-per-week non-summer pattern... wishing you a wonderful summer... come on back for a visit now and then...

the gears they are a-changin'

Well, after a very good (and intense) weekend as part of the North America Stewardship Conference in Toronto (so many highlights... some powerful speakers... Bill Phipps' keynote address on the first night, and Rick Tobias on the next night particularly moved and inspired me), I'm now in the throes (throws?) of the final stages of recording for the new CD (recording some children's and group vocals here at home - last session in the studio this Saturday, with the flute/pennywhistle/clarinet player and hopefully the trombone and trumpet players as well)... and beginning work on the graphic design phase... while packing boxes for our impending move, and getting set for our various summer travels (I'll be heading to Paraguay for 2 weeks as part of the songleading team for the Mennonite World Conference Assembly there)...

And in a few minutes Matthew gets home from his last day as a grade 6 student... looking forward to celebrating that with him as well...

Summer's here!

how many styles in a week?

... let's see...

Thursday morning - recording some bluegrass for the new CD with Darren and Rick at CedarTree.

Friday night - all-ages concert in Alma

Saturday night - performing some Cuban and Andean music with Amos, and jamming with South African jazz musicians at the "World Music Collaborative Concert" at the "Sound in the Lands" festival

Sunday morning - accompanying congregational singing, led by Julie, with our church community

Tuesday night - recording some Amos Lopez originals in our kitchen

Wednesday morning - laying down some accordion parts and pretending to be a Cajun player at another recording session for the new disc...

All in a week's work. Whew! Good fun.

upcoming stuff

I'm involved in some upcoming events that you might want to participate in (you're warmly invited!) if you're in the area:

- this Thursday (June 4) - the Sound in the Lands conference begins, and guess who they have listed as presenting the first workshop...? (Hint: it's on "Community Supported Music: An Alternative Business Model for the Arts")
- also Thursday - Mennofolk (I'll not be performing, but lots of great folks from far and wide will be)
- Friday evening - I'll be doing a concert at Alma United Church in Elora
- Saturday evening - I'll be accompanying Amos Lopez (who arrives from Cuba this afternoon) as part of the "World Music Collaborative Concert" at the Sound in the Lands conference
- Friday, June 19th, I'll be leading worship in the morning at the North America Stewardship Conference in Toronto (here are the presenters at that conference), and doing a concert there in the evening.

In the midst of all that I need to get my May "delivery of songs" out to the members of SmallTall Music (yes, it'll be a few days late this time)... and do a bunch more sessions with different musicians to finish recording the new studio album so that it can be in the mixing stage by the time I leave in July to be part of the songleading team at the Mennonite World Conference Assembly... for which I still need to get a visa (a little something I overlooked)...

Yikes!

It feels kind of daunting at the moment... but at the same time, I'm also very grateful... it's what I love to do... and it's wonderful to have so many vivid experiences of being part of a global "body" together...

in awe

Recording the new album is going so well, and I'm having so much fun doing it, and I'm in such awe of the incredible musicians that are collaborating with me on this project... I'm having trouble thinking about anything else.

friends converging on "sound in the lands"

I noticed on Trevor's blog that he posted the "abstract" of what he'll be presenting at the "Sound in the Lands" conference... sounds interesting, and it looked like a good idea, so I thought I'd do the same and post the "abstract" of my presentation at the conference as well:

Community Supported Music: An Alternative Business Model For The Arts

In this digital age it has become a truism that “the music industry is in trouble,” and there has been an explosion of “innovative” approaches to the creation, marketing and distribution of music. My presentation will articulate an alternative business model for the arts that is based on a different set of assumptions than the “tour! tour! tour! sell! sell! sell!” mainstream model. The “Community Supported Music” (or CSM) approach is built on the “Community Supported Agriculture” (CSA) model, a different way of structuring the relationship between “producer” and “consumer” as partners in a vital community process. Having operated a CSM since 2006, my presentation will invite reflection on the potential of this model for artists seeking to live out their artistic vocation in a way that is more healthy and sustainable in personal, relational, spiritual, ecological, and economic terms.

In addition to the afore-mentioned Trevor, I've also heard tell of other friends from far and wide who are coming to partake in the festivities, not to mention many more from closer by (some of whom will be performing at Mennofolk as well).

Amos Lopez, a friend from Cuba, will also be coming, staying with us for a few days, making a presentation and singing some songs, and I believe the plan is that I'll join him for a few. He also sent me an e-mail suggesting we go into a studio for a day and record an album together. A bit startling, but a rather refreshing approach, it seems to me, as I'm in the midst of a very different kind of recording process...

Anyway, we'll see what happens. Should be interesting.

newsflash: macs crash too

I guess they won't be inviting me to be on one of those smug "PCs crash but of course Macs never do" commercials...

Got the call this morning that I'll be getting a brand-spanking-new hard drive for my Macbook, courtesy of AppleCare. Considering my well-known (at least to my family and a few close friends) inclination to throw offending technology out the window (physically) when it doesn't work as it should, I think I'm holding up pretty well.

Don't get me wrong. I still like my Mac, I've certainly been more than impressed with the AppleCare folks each and every time I've needed to contact them (yes, it has been a few times), and I am grateful for the relatively hassle-free way this process seems to be unfolding (so far)...

This morning I took advantage of my suddenly-and-unexpectedly-more-available-time to write a new song and do an archaeological dig on my desktop (the physical one). I had forgotten what it looked like a few layers down...

song circle

This past weekend, after a session at the studio on Saturday (more on that later), we were in London, Ontario with Valleyview Mennonite Church and dear friends Kendall and Charleen... and we got to meet little Tobias (12 weeks old) and be part of his dedication service. A very joyful occasion!

On Saturday we did a "song circle" with some worship leaders, song leaders, christian education leaders, and other interested folks. This was the second time I've done this (the first was here in the Markham-Stouffville area), and I'd like to do lots more. An informal evening exploring the songs they've been receiving as members of SmallTall Music. It's always fun to see the light bulbs go off as people catch on to what's going on with this music... and as we explore different ways that we can sing together...

And the refreshments and conversation afterward were great too!

a different place

This was a different kind of weekend, as I had 5 different sessions with folks from Trinity Mennonite Church just south of Calgary. That's more than I often do in a congregational weekend, and I was also rather surprised that quite a number of the same people showed up to all 5 events! What a difference it makes when there's a chance to get to know people better, and to have more than one chance to connect with them through the music...

It also made me realize just how limited I've had to become in my song selection for my typical one-hour "all-ages interactive concert." By contrast, over the course of this weekend - according to some quick back-of-the-envelope math - we probably did 35 different original songs...

I know this is no big deal for people that have been doing this for a long time, but for me it was something of a revelation... not to mention lots of fun.

A particular highlight was the session that I was most hazy and uncertain (and anxious) about. Saturday night was billed as an "informal singing time with Bryan" - and I wasn't at all sure what that meant, since I'd done a "concert" the night before (which, of course, included plenty of "singing along"), and was going to be leading singing during Sunday school the next morning, as well as speaking/singing during the worship service... so I didn't want to repeat myself or "steal my own thunder"...

Anyway, I didn't really know what to expect, but people brought their instruments, and their voices - it was a much bigger group than I expected - and we had a blast singing and playing whatever the people wanted to sing, with a few of my originals thrown in here and there for some variety and to get people moving and to give them more time to come up with another favourite. Three pre-teen girls naturally took on leadership in a few of the songs, and that was great to see/hear.

And Shannon brought her flute and accompanied and played a solo on the new bossa nova (it's going on the new CD - can't wait for you to hear it!), and WOW! I was blown away.

What a treat, and a blessing.

nice to hear

Apparently MPN's "Catch The Spirit" 2009 VBS curriculum has been selected as a "Top Pick" by the Center for the Ministry of Teaching of Virginia Theological Seminary (CMT)... The article says that "the Center’s evaluation highlights the curriculum’s focus on worship and the original music by Mennonite composer Bryan Moyer Suderman as particular strengths."

Nice to hear...

new recording and "upper body injury"

NHL hockey players are not the only "tough guys" that battle through physical injuries during the grueling "second season" of the Stanley Cup Playoffs... it turns out that recording artists occasionally have to "take one for the team" as well...

Last week we began the recording sessions for my new CD (the 4th to be released on my SmallTall Music label), and I'm very excited about it! So excited that it seems I somehow injured my shoulder (was it the vigorous guitar playing all day Monday as Darren laid down those drum tracks...? Or the continuous tossing of various backpacks and instruments over my right shoulder while getting on and off buses to get back home after the session? Or perhaps it has something to do with my now 40-year-old body and all those tennis games over the weekend - the first of the spring...)

Anyway, I find myself nursing what the doctor calls (please pardon the melodramatic medical jargon) a "mild shoulder sprain"... trying my best to ice it regularly and down enough anti-inflammatories so that I can play through the injury and heroically head into tomorrow's recording session and fight through the pain to do a bunch of guitar tracks...

It's tough being a tough guy, but I'll do my best. Better watch some more playoff hockey, to draw inspiration from those that grind it out and give 110% and play it one game at a time and leave it all on the ice and don't let such minor things as broken bones and facial scarring get in the way of a good playoff run... and if I can avoid fisticuffs in the studio, that would be great too (so far so good), although Rick at CedarTree Studios has been telling stories of various bands (such as The Police) for whom such activities were all in a day's work and part of "the creative process." Maybe I should give it a try.

But then again, given my lack of success with such basic macho requirements as a "playoff beard," maybe not... I can only carry this "tough guy recording artist" image so far...

In fact, maybe I should go the other way and try getting in touch with my "sensitive side"...

Which reminds me, where did I put that ice pack?

location of a song

Two weeks ago I was part of a fundraising concert for MCEC youth traveling to the Mennonite World Conference Assembly this July in Paraguay, where I'll be part of the music team. It was a fun evening - a real treat to play with amazing musicians as part of a band, which I don't get the chance to do very often. And four of my songs that we did that night felt right "at home" in that place - "You're Not Alone" (a solidarity song with suffering brothers and sisters around the world), "Prayer of Agur," "To Be Content," and "Tengan La Mente De Cristo" - a new song I wrote in traditional Andean Huayno style, as a setting for the theme text from Philippians 2:5-11.

Then last weekend I played at the Latcham Gallery here in Stouffville - a really cool event called "what does a piece of art sound like?" where local musicians are invited to write and/or choose and perform a musical piece inspired by one of the artworks showing in the gallery. This is the second time I've participated - these events are the brain-child of Marie-Lynn Hammond - and I think it's a great idea, and a fascinating exercise in "locating" a song (here's a little YouTube video with clips from the different performances). I did the instrumental "Off The Grid" and "Not For Human Consumption" which connect in various ways to a couple of the paintings... next time I hope to get to the gallery earlier and be able to try writing something new based on one of the artworks.

And this past Sunday, Easter morning, I was with the Iglesia Menonite Nueva Vida in Toronto. It's been a long time (well over a year, I think), and as always it was lots of fun and very inspirational to be with that community again. And, thanks to my being confused (again) about the time the service got underway, I was actually able to finish writing the song I had hoped to use that morning - "Rumores de Resurreccion" - and there was something special about writing that song "in location" where we would be worshiping, with that song among others, in that very space. Somehow it was easier to connect with that community by being physically in that space while writing that song.

So I guess songwriting does have something in common with real estate. Location, location, location.

maundy what?

Today is Maundy Thursday. But you'd never know it by the lack of liturgical rigour at our house this season.

In any case, wishing you a blessed Easter.

friends on the radio

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Stuart MacLean played a song by Judith and Simon ("The Land") on The Vinyl Cafe... this past week I heard an interview with The Waking Eyes on Q (Joey of The Waking Eyes has played bass on all three of my SmallTall Music CDs)... and tomorrow morning Alan and Aiden ("Stringer Lake") are going to be featured on Fresh Air.

And just when I was starting to feel left out I got a note from Tony Copple saying that he's going to be playing my "There's a Jubilee a-Comin'" song tomorrow on his "Over My Head" show in Ottawa.

pulled in two directions

As we get started on recording the new SmallTall Music CD (Yippee!!), I find myself pulled in two (at least) directions.

I had a conversation with a close friend last week who said "I don't know if I'm ready for a new CD from you yet, Bryan... I think the last one is so important, and relevant... I'd like to see you ride that one a while longer, and get it into more people's hands and hearts... I'd be sad to see you move on from that material already..."

This would be one representative voice from the camp that has been particularly moved by the songs I've written that are more "adult oriented", that lean more toward the "tall" than the "small"... and that have been encouraging me to write and record more in that vein...

And then there is another friend with a small child who recently told me "I hope your next CD will have some more songs that are fun and playful again..." This would be a representative voice from the camp that regularly tells me things like this: "I have been looking and looking for good Christian music for my children (or "for the children I teach/lead"), and I've been so discouraged by what I find... until I found your stuff. Thank you so much! Songs that are fun and engaging and easy to sing along with, that express a theology that I can support and feel good about..."

The other night I got together with "the band" to explore the new batch of songs that we'll be recording in the next two months, and again it is a real mix of "songs for small AND tall"... some are really fun, rather quirky, with some delightfully silly moments (I've been having fun with these in concert already), and others are more reflective and a couple are fairly dark - one that is even quite "apocalyptic" in its imagery, and another that is an expression of deep pain and hurt.

Can I get away with putting all these songs on one album?

This is not the "conventional wisdom" of how "the music business" - or even how the world of "Christian ministry resources" - works. I really have not been able to find a better label for my music than "songs of faith for small and tall," because that is EXACTLY what they are. The new CD will have songs that are guitar-based folky, a few that are piano-driven, others that are bluesy, jazzy, one that might be bluegrass...

Is it "children's music?" "Christian contemporary?" Gospel? Folk/Roots? Something else?

Too bad iTunes and music awards don't categorize artists by theology, ecclesiology, and missiology rather than by "genre"...

In any case, I continue to be pulled in different directions, as from a "marketing" perspective I'm sure it would be more "effective" to pick a "category" and release songs that way... and yet I continue to resist that approach, because what I do really is for the CHURCH, which is an intergenerational body, and I continue to be driven by the question "what do we need to SING together?"

If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.