Blog

If you’d like to add your comments, just email me on marie@musicademy.com and I’ll upload them.

If you like what you read here, do go to our Members Resources page for more articles on music and worship.

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Ben Cantelon 7 Mike Pilavachi Evening Celebration - 15 Aug 08

We'd like to recommnd the following evening to you.

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More T-shirt Designs - 13 Aug 08

Our T-shirt design competition is still open. Below are a few more entries:

And a suggested slogan to add to our existing T-shirt range:

"Tickle One Man, Many Ivories"

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Summer Festivals - 20 July 08

Its  busy summer for Musicademy. We'e stands (often with free seminars as well) at many of the UK Christian festivals, and Andy is making a trip out to Texas for the National Worship Leader Conference.

We will be exhibiting at:

- New Wine Newark and
- New Wine Shepton Mallet
- Soul Survivor Shepton Mallet
- Holy Trinity Brompton Home Focus (in Pakefield)
- National Worship Leader Conference in Texas
- Christian Resources Exhibition Harrogate

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Musicademy T-Shirt Design Competition - 1 July 08

In our most recent newsletter we launched a Musicademy T-shirt /Slogan design competition. You can win two DVD box sets of your choice - just email ys your slogan or design. The current entries are below:

"Tickle one man....many ivories"

"You can never have too many guitars"

Front "In life we face many difficult choices"

Back - sillhouettes of many guitars

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Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer and The Police at Hyde Park - 28 June 08

Andy and Marie were delighted to be at a couple of fantastic gigs this last weekend. We watched the Police's last ever UK date on the Sunday having seen Eric Clapton (all time guitar hero of Andy's) the previous day. Sheryl Crow and John Mayer were the supporting acts and joined Clapton on stage for the encore of Crossroads. See photo below.

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Musicademy now takes Paypal - 26 June08

we've found a small percentage of customers attempting to buy from our website from North America are having their credit cards refused. We're really sorry abou thi - our bank tell us that its our bank refusing....but frustrating for everyone all round. We do find that most of these transactions can be taken over the phone when we manually input the card details so do either call us (+44 1923 282878) or email us and we'll call you back.

We've also added Paypal as a payment option which gets round all the credit card problems. Judging by the number of payments we've already taken, its a very popular payment method.

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The Way Online Christian Resource Site - 30 May 08

The Way is one of the largest and most comprehensive Christian websites in the UK with absolutely masses of content from newsfeeds to faith and lifestyle areas. You can ask questions relating to Christianity and get a personal reply, buy resources, get free downloads and engage in debate on topis of interest. Check it out at www.theway.co.uk

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New audio CDs available at Musicademy - 5 May 08

We've just taken a a number of audio CDs to be made available on our webstore. The first is the new album by our bass tutor Matt Weeks. As well as multi-instrumentalist, Matt is an accomplished singer songwriter. Here Comes The Dawn is his new album of 10 self-penned, self-played songs that vary in style from the acoustic, singer-songwriter to groovy brass-flavoured funk. There are also three instrumental Interludes which give short bursts of musical variety that reveal Matt's diverse musical heritage.

Listen to a sample here and buy in our webstore

Ken Totushek is an acoustic guitarist and we have two of his CDs available. Click through to the webstore to listen to a number of sample tracks and to buy. We'd really recommend the songs as suitable for using in services, perhaps during communion or prayer ministry.

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Christian Resources Exhibition- 1 May 08

Musicademy will have a stand at the national Christian resouces Exhibition in Esher, Surrey from 13-16 May. On the Friday afternoon we will be running a worship seminar for church musicians.

Admission is normally £5 but we have complimentary tickets to give away. Just click through to our webstore to register to receive your tickets.

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Worship Journal - 21 April 08

Our friend Noel Richards (who you will probably know as the writer of All Heaven Declares, Our Confidence is in the Lord and You Laid Aside Your Majesty amongst other songs) has launched a great new website called Worship Journal. Its a resource containing music, video, art, photography, poetry, teachings and much more, it will inspire you in your worship and help you grow in your relationship with God.

The site includes free access to a growing library of songs, music, chord charts, lyrics, teaching on worship. You can create a profilesso that you can be a part of the Worship Journal community.

The idea is to give an opportunity to all the worship songwriters in the church, both those who are established and those who are not yet published. If you write a song, this is a place to share it, together with chord charts, lyrics and music. Get your material seen, heard and used, and find material from other writers to use in your own church too.

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Newsletter Archive - 2 April 08

We've created a separate archive of our Musicademy newsletters. Click through to read them. If you'd like to be on the mailing list to receive the free newsletter each month then just email us.

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March Newsletter - 4 March 08

Some great articles in our March newsletter. Click through to read.

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Launch of Worship Bass DVDs - 25 Feb 08

They’ve been a long time coming – due in part to the fabulous on-screen graphics – but the Musicademy Worship Bass Course is finally available.

There are three 2-hour DVDs for Beginners and three for Intermediates. The Bass Song Learners will be out in a few months. We’ve had huge demand for these products from aspiring and existing players as well as guitarists who are keen to transfer to bass. We don’t think you will be disappointed but if you want to check out the free trailer, click here.

The DVDs are taught and presented by one of the UK’s top Christian session bass players, Matt Weeks. Matt has played with Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Chris Tomlin, Brian Doerksen, Paul Baloche, Graham Kendrick, Stuart Townend and many others.

There is also additional practical advice from worship leaders David Ruis, Stuart Townend, Chris Bowater, Leeland Mooring and others as well as input from professional bass players including Jesse Reeves from the Chris Tomlin Band.

Go to our webstore to buy.

  

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Feburary Newsletter - 4 Feb 08

Click below to read our latest newsletter :

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IT in the contemporary church -24 Jan 08

If you are interested in the role of IT in church then you might like to take part in a survey being unertaken at Warwick University, Click here to find out more. Its aimed predominantly at the UK church but feel free to have a look if you live elsewhere.

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January Newsletter -3 Jan 08

Click below to read our latest newsletter :

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Funky Drummer -2 Jan 08

Here's a link to a new website set up by a great drum tutor and player, Stu Roberts.

Stu is running a drum clinichosted by St Marys Church in Marylebone called "Even The Rocks" for the church drummers and they have kindly agreed to open it up to Musicademy people. The date is 31st January at 7.30pm in St Marks Church which is next to the St Mary's church office at 245 Old Marylebone Road

Stu says " Music is one of the most controversial subjects in the church.  As drummers we not only have to deal with cultural views on music but also have to balance our own creativity and cultural influences when we serve the music in a church environment.  In this drum clinic I will be looking at the drummers role within the music as well as sharing some tips on practical skills and music thought process.  

Practical elements will include working with clicks and loops in a live environment and developing musicality."

            

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HeMustIncrease.com -18 Dec 07

He Must Increase is a new online network for UK worship leaders and musicians. There are forums, groups (including a Musicademy group) and lots of opportunities to hook up with other worship leaders and enter discussion of current worship issues. This looks to be a really useful site so do take a look around. i'm sure that non UK worship people are also very welcome!

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December Newsletter -1 Dec 07

From the feedback we've been receiving today this is the most popular newsletter yet so click through to read and enjoy.

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All About Worship -27 Nov 07

We've just discovered a new resource site for worship musicians. All About Worship has interviews with and podcasts from writers and worship leaders and looks set to be a useful resource. We loved this quote from Vicky Beeching “Trying to describe the Eternal using earthly words is like trying to scoop up the whole ocean into the palm of your hand. It’s like trying to count every star in the endless midnight sky. All of our words fall so short; every melody failing to capture the true beauty of the Heavenly.” The fantastically named Wisdom Moon, host of the site is interviewing Tim Hughes later this week - you can send in your questions by email.

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Mission:Worship Conference -26 Nov 07

Back from a fantastic conference in Eastbourne with Mission Worship. As well as running our stand (see photo of Marie in the wonderful McPherson Guitar T-shirt below) we filmed a series of interviews with Mission Worship writers Chris Bowater, Aaron Keyes, Stuart Townend, Geraldine Latty, Nathan & Lou Fellingham, Godfrey Birtil, Kelly Minter and Andy Bromley. These interviews will be published on the Mission Worship website in their "Story Behind the Song" feature. We heard some moving stories which really made the songs come alive later in the conference. What really impressed us about all the writers was the degree to which their work is grounded in the local church. A few photos of them below.

Kelly Minter                          Geraldine Latty

Aaron Keyes                        Nathan & Lou Fellingham

Chris Bowater

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Mission:Worship Conference -15 Nov 07

Musicademy is taking part in this weekend's conference run by Mission:Worship in Eastbourne on the UK's south coast. We'll be running guitar and vocals seminars as well as selling DVDs in the marketplace. 35% of all the proceeds from DVD sales will be going to Mission:Worships' charity Ray of Hope which works with children living near the Amazon in Brazil.

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Optical Illusion -14 Nov 07

We haven't blogged for ages - been sooo busy with end of year accounts, teaching and all sorts of other admin. Andy ran some seminars at the Christian Musician Summit in Seattle and he's now in California filming worship leaders for our forthcoming drums and bass dvds.

THought you might like the optical illusion below. Relax and concentrate on the four dots in the middle of the picture for 30 seconds. Now look at a blank wall, blink you eyes a few times and see who emerges.

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November Newsletter -1 Nov 07

We've increased the number of "Ask the Expert" questions in the newsletter this month. Click on any of the titles to read the content.

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Website Recommendation for New Songs -17 Oct 07

We've come across  RESOUNDworship.org. This web site features brand new songs, with free-to-download mp3s, lead sheets and chord charts.  Each song started life in a local church context, and has been honed in peer critique to ensure strong biblical lyrics, usable themes and engaging, singable music.

Tim Hughes is apparently a fan - he says " RESOUNDworship is a highly engaging and fresh new website packed full of new songs to resource and equip the church in worship. Sign-up and enjoy!" 

Some of our tutors who are also worship leaders ae already using this site and recommending it - one of our students is also a contributor. We like the ethos behind the project which is run by a group of British based songwriters who are seeking to resource the church with heartfelt, crafted, accessible worship songs.

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October 2007 Newsletter - 30 Sept 07

Click on the links below to access the articles from our latest, new look, e-newsletter.

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Student Workbook launched for guitar DVD -22 Sept 07

We've just completed a 27 page workbook to help students get the most out of the worship guitar DVDs. We’vealso incorporated several features exclusive to the worlbook:

  • More strumming patterns that develop your rhythm skills
  • Exercises for developing the speed of your chord changes
  • Exercises to make best use of the backing tracks and drum grooves
  • Chord charts and diagrams with lyric cues for each song
  • Links to online video lessons of rock and pop songs using similar chords that you can learn at the same time
  • Three new worship songs not shown on the DVD – How Great is Our God, Jesus Holy and Anointed One and Lord I Lift Your Name on High

To buy the handbook just click onto our store to purchase and download it. Volumes 2 and 3 will be coming in the next few weeks.

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Great quote form Martin Neil -19 Sept 07

We werew interviewing Martin Neal (Kevin Prosche's drummer) the other day for our drum DVDs and he gave a great little quote "Churches are like swimming pools - most of the noise goes on in the shallow end". You'll have to wait for the DVDs for more of the same but we thought you'd enjoy pondering on that for now.

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Encounter Events - An Evening with Tim Hughes, a Family Prais Party with Duggie Dug Dug -10 Sept 07

We're really pleased to let you know about an event taking place at the Wycombe Swan Theatre (High Wycombe UK) with Tim Hughes and Doug Horley on Saturday 22nd September

In the morning there is a family praise party with Doug Horley - a fast moving mixture of wacky action songs, funky dance tracks, tricks, illusions, hilarious puppets and praise and worship.

Tim Hughes will lead worship and speak at the evening celebration. You will need to book soon as these events are normally sold out.

For more information, please see www.encounter-events.org


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September Newsletter -10 Sept 07

Click below to read our newsletter. We've fewer but longer articles this month and they are all written in response to requests from our subscribers.

In this edition:

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Premier Radio Interview and Competition Week -5 Sept 07

Andy and myself (Marie) have just taken part in a radio interview on John Pantry's Breakfast Show on Premier Radio. We talked about how worship styles have changed over the years and the role of the worship leader today. Premier's shows are available retrospectively on their website so you may even be able to listen into a recording of the interview. Premier's online TV is also well worth looking into, particularly their interview with Nooma's Rob Bell.

Premier are running a competition throughout the week to win a selection of Musicademy DVDs.

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Online Worship Training - the Worship Teleseminar -3 Sept 07

Over the summer we took part in the Worship Teleseminar. This was a free online worship training programme with teaching from some 22 leading worship leading professionals. including some very big names.

The seminars are available as MP3 downloads from the Worship Teleseminar website. Do check it out - there are some really good resources available free of charge. To date some 3,900 peoplw have participated from 72 countries around the world and the feedback has been really positive.

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Fuel for the Fire Conference-2 Sept 07

We've been asked to run a couple of worship vocals workshops at a conference called Fuel for the Fire. It will take place on Saturday 20th October in Oxford at St Aldates (where Martyn Layzell heads up the worship ministry.

Tickets are only £10. Go to the Fuel for the Fire website for more information.

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Behind the scenes filming our drum DVDs -14 Aug 07

We've just completed the filming of our worship drum DVDs. The photo below shows Colin Brookes our tutor/presenter and Tim Neeves, cameraman extraordinaire. Tim is more often seen in Africa and Asia filming people like Michael W Smith for Compassion International and we were delighted to have him working with us. Colin Brookes was the original Soul Survivor drummer and has a wealth of experience having played with worship leaders such as Chris Tomlin, David Ruis and Matt Redman. He as been an inspiration to many younger drummers starting out and is a fantastic communicator.

We all went out to a resturant one evening and while round the table Colin had us all demonstrating digeridoo circular breathing - you'll have to wait for the DVD to see for sure how ridiculous this looked!

The DVDs should be available towards the end of 2008. Email us to go on the waiting list.

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August Newsletter -6 Aug 07

Click on the links below to access the articles from our latest, new look, e-newsletter.

We're currently considering content for future e-newsletters and have lots of great ideas sent in by subscribers. If there is anything you would particularly like to see covered please let us know. Thanks!

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Learn the new Stuart Townend and Aaron Keyes hymn online now -2 Aug 07

Readers of our blog will know that we hooked up with up and coming singer song writer Aaron Keyes in Atlanta recently to record a new Musicademy Song Learner lesson. Aaron has been writing with Stuart Townend - the writer of the hugely popular In Christ Alone and How Deep the Father's Love. They have come up with a new hymn-like song that we beleive is going to be huge. You can hear it first on our website where our guitar tutor Andy teaches you to play the song before a play through and interview with Aaron himself.

The song is relatively complex with changing key signatures and lots of tricky chords but Andy breaks it down step-by-step so that most worship guitarists should find it easy to access having worked through the leson. Do let us know what you think. You can download the lesson on our webstore.

   

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Love One Woman .... Many Guitars - New T-shirts -30 July 07

We've just taken delivery of some great new T-shirts for guitarists, dummers and bass players. There are even some options for girls. Have a browse on our webstore and select thr design for you.

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London-based Worship Vocals Courses in September - sign up now - 29 July07

Our fantastic worship vocals tutor, Gayle Bamberger, is moving to South London this summer which means that we are now able to offer a new Worship Vocals Course there. We have a host church situated on the Old Kent Road between New Cross and Elephant & Castle. We've also had loads of interest form the London and Ketn areas so if you would like to join us please email or phone to register your interest.

The price is £145 for a 10 week course which will run on midweek evenings from the end of September. You can find out more about the course content on our website.

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UK Summer Festivals - 16 July07

We've booked to have stands (booths in American-speak) at some of the Christian festivals in the UK this summer - do pop over and say hello if you are there. We're doing:

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July Newsletter - 5 July07

Our July newsletter has just been mailed out. If you would like to receive a copy please login at the members resources area to join our mailing list. Here is what the newsletter containg:

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Atlanta International Christian Retail Show - 2 July07

Well we had a great time in Glastonbury (see entry for 20 June) despite the apalling British weather - it rained sooo much and we were pretty much covered in mud for several days.

Our next venture is to the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta. We've got a set of meetings scheduled with various US based resellers of books and DVDs - we're hoping to get our products more widely distributed in the future.

As well as hooking up with worship leader Aaron Keyes to film him for a future guitar Song Learner lesson (see entry for 14 May) we're also popping over to Nashville for a couple of days to meet up with more industry contacts and look up a couple of old friends including Bob Weil, the Visual Sound guitar pedals cretor who appeared on our intermediate guitar DVDs.

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Glastonbury awaits- 20 June 07

We're taking a few days off to go to the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world. - Glastonbury.- so bear with us if we're not answering emails as quickly as usual.

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Bass DVD - 12 June 07

We have just finished the filming of our worship bass DVDs. Apart from the months of preparation, the filming itself has taken the best part of two very intensive weeks and the editing will keep us busy for a few months yet.

Our tutor for the course is Matt Weeks. Matt has played bass either as a live or studio player for virtually every well known worship leader you could mention - Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Brenton Brown, Paul Baloche, Graham Kendrick, Brian Doerkson, Vicky Beeching, Stuart Townend and many others. As we worked through the various songs we realised that Matt had played on many of the original recordings, and was even responsible for writing many of the original bass parts.

We've had loads of emails from people saying how pleased they are that someone is finally creating a teaching DVD for bass players - they seem to have been feeling a little left out iby the guitar and keyboard players. We hope to have the DVDs available by late summer.

 

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Keyboard Song Learner Lessons now online - 5 June 07

Our worship keyboard course DVDs were launched a few weeks ago and are getting some great reviews. We've just released some keyboard "Song Learner" lessons available exclusivley online at the Musicademy website. The lessons will help you consolidate the learning in the keyboard DVDs by teaching you new songs and reinforcing some essential techniques.

The songs featured include:

Click on the song above for more information and to go to the site.

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Worship Director post in Edinburgh- 5 June 07

St Paul's & St Georges, a Scottish Episcopalian (Anglican) Church of some 700 members is looking for a Worship Director. If you are interested please visit their website at pandgchurch.org.uk for more information.

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Read our Newsletter and get FREE stuff!- 29 May 07

You told us that you'd like to see some free stuff with the newsletter so this month that's what you've got. Click on the links below to get your voucher for a free online lesson and also to read out new "Ask the Expert" feature - this month Andy Chamberlain's tips on buying an acoustic guitar.

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Rock & Pop Guitar Lessons on You Tube - 24 May 07

We've just uploaded some sample rock & pop guitar lessons to YouTube. These are all available in full on our website but the YouTube clips give a good impression of what to expect. We've selected some classics such as Wild Thing, Imagine and California as well as songs by The Rolling Stones, Chili Peppers and Oasis.

Do comment on them to give us your feedback.

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Christian Resources Exhibition - 21 May 07

We've now returned from a really busy week at the UK's largest Christian "trade" show - the Christian Resources Exhibition. As well as having a stand at the show, our coals tutor Gayle Bamberger taught a couple of vocals seminars. One of these resulted in some TV coverage - a beautiful four part harmony to the song "Breathe".

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Assembly Angels - 18 May 07

This week we've had a booth at the UK's Christian Resources Exhibition. Next to us were the Assembly Angels. Assembly Angels has been set up to run RE lessons and assemblies in schools . Themes include respect, self-esteem, making good choices, citizenship and enjoying life. The group uses puppets, drama, flags, dance and mime to illustrate their messages and each is based on Biblical teaching. We were really impressed with their professionalism and enthusiasm.

Assembly Angels have a great set of resources that youth and schools workers can access. Checkout their website for more information.

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Aaron Keyes - 14 May 07

We're working with a fantastic new American worship leader by the name of Aaron Keyes. He's just co-written an incredible new song based on Psalm 62 with Stuart Townend which will appear on his next album Not Guilty Anymore (out in July through our friends at Kingsway's Mission Worship).

We're meeting up with Aaron in Atlanta in July to film a Song Learner lesson of him and Andy teaching the new song. In the meantime, checkout his MySpace site.

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Vocal-Eze Throat Spray - 10 May 07

Having just spent the day teaching with a sore throat and cold I was delighted to arrrive back at the office to find that our order for Vocal-Eze had arrived.

Vocal-Exe is a herbal high potency, soothing herbal spray that offers relief and lubrication for sore or overused throats. Helpful in the case of discomfort, many people who rely on their voices a lot find Vocal-Eze useful as part of their approach to throat management . It contains Echinacea, liqourice root and ginger.

I can report that it has certainly soothed my throat and stopped my need to cough to clear the tickle. But we're not stocking it particualrly to ease sore throats. We were impressed at its claims to smooth out the voice, protecting it to some degree from harm using natural ingredients. We would say that its obviously important that singer, teachers, preachers and others who use their voice a lot take proper vocal training, bu this herbal aid is a useful one-stop solution when your voice needs a little extra help.

Professional users include: Sting, Rachael Warwick, Tin McGraw, and Joss Stone, who reports"Vocal Eze smoothes out my voice. I always keep it close when I perform".

Buy from our webstore.

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Musicademy News - 25 April 07

We've just published our May newsletter. This has been emailed to all our regular subscribers - join via the Members Download section if you want to join that list.

Topics this month include:

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We Love Music - 23 April 07

We've come across a great idea that's been started by one of our local musician friends, Daren Allder. Daren has set up a community music-based initiative under the banner ‘welovemusic’. Its a music-listening club, which brings people together in their locality, connected by a shared love of music.

Groups of 6-8 members meet in a member’s home, each bringing along some of their favourite recorded music, and they take it in turns to play something to the group and discuss why they like it. Its still quite new but their meetings so far have been pretty eclectic – from Bach organ works to the Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ - but they ’ve found that everyone is able to appreciate the strengths in others’ choices. Although a simple social activity in itself, the club provides Christian hosts with an opportunity to meet local people in a non-church environment, and can be a valuable addition to a church’s outreach activity.

If you are interested and would like to see something in your local area, just go to the welovemusic website.


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Why We Sing - 17 April 07

Reading Velvet Elvis (see entry for 16 April) got me researching the church the writer founded - Mars Hill in Michigan, one of the fastest growing churches in American history. On their website I found an articulate presentation stating why they incoporate singing into their services.

"A big group of people singing together is odd. It really is. Other than a baseball game or occasional birthday party, people don't usually stand around and sing. But we do every Sunday at church. Why? For starters it is a part of our history and tradition. We come from a long line of people who sing to and about God. From King David to Martin Luther to Bono, men and women have often expressed their faith, whether in painful cries or through gushing praise, with singing.
The reasons behind this aren't always clear, but the power of music is undeniable. It seems to tap into deeper and more honest places than words alone ever could. It has been said that music is the language of the soul. We believe it.
So when we meet together as a community of faith, it seems only natural that we would try to use this language of the soul to connect with God and each other. Sometimes the songs are directed upward in celebration of the infinite love and greatness of God. And on those days we sing at the top of our lungs to thank and praise Him for who he is and what he does and also to remind each other that we serve the King of all Kings. Other times the songs are more personal and reflective, giving us an opportunity to connect intimately with our Creator. This looks different for everybody but can involve confessing sin, inviting God to heal us or asking for wisdom and direction, any expression that naturally flows out of our experience. We want our worship to be both grounded in real life and reaching outward to the eternal.
Does music = worship? No. In spite of the fact that 99% of our "worship times" are singing, these words are not interchangeable. Music is to worship as Q-tips are to cotton swabs: one form of a bigger thing. We can sing without worshiping God, and we can worship God without singing. Ultimately, worship is an activity of the heart. Words, songs and actions are simply expressions."

Click here to go to the Mars Hill website to read more.

Dig around on the site and you'll also find podcasts of Rob Bell and others.

Enjoy...

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Velvet Elvis - 16 April 07

I'm just back from a holiday and took the time to read a wonderful book - "Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith" by Rob Bell. You may have come across Rob's short films under the Nooma name. Each film touches on interesting issues with a spiritual dimension in a refreshing format with beautifully filmed cinematography and original musical score.

Velvet Elvis is an intelligent and inspiring book prompting us to reflect on how we should live within contemporary society. An advocate of a postmodern approach to faith the writer states that God never changes, nor do the central truths of Christianity. But our understanding of those truths is in constant flux. Christians shold always be exploring and discovering what it means to live in harmony with God and each other.

Here's a quote:

"For many people the word 'Christian' conjures up all sorts of images that have nothing to do with who Jesus is and how he taught us to live. This must change. For others, the painting works for their parents, or it provided meaning when they were growing up, but it is no longer relevant. It doesn't fit. It's outdated. It doesn't have anything to say to the world they live in every day. It's not that there isn't any truth in it or that all the people before them were misguided or missed the point. It's just that every generation has to ask the difficult questions of what it means to be a Christian here and now, in this place, at this time. And if this difficult work isn't done, where does the painting end up? In the basement."

Velvet Elvis contains many thoughful contemporary metaphors and the theme of a questioning journey is predominant. I particularly loved the exposition of well known scriptures where the writer explains the original Jewish context - it opened up a whole new way of comprehending some well known passages.

If you have enjoyed the writings of people like Brian MacClaren then Velvet Elvis is an essential read.

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Musicademy News - 22 March 07

We have just completed our first newsletter mailing and have had a really nice response from recipients. The mailing has gone out to anyone who has either purchased a DVD or CD direct from us in the past, or registered in the members section of our website.

As well as a competition to win some free downloadable guitar lessons, the newsletter features:

Do let us know what you think. People have been sending us recommended websites which we'll feature here in the blog in the near future.

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Amazing Grace - 21 March 07

You are probably well aware that the film Amazing Grace is about to be released. Its been produced by Walden Media whop brought us The Lion, The Witch adn the Wardrobe. The film is based on the life of William Wilberforce, and is set to release on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slave trade in UK.

I (Marie) was part of setting up a charity a few years back now called The Lifeline Expedition. One of the aims was to bring an apology for the role of Europeans (and especially the role of the church) in the Atlantic slave trade and to ask how we can make amends and repair the damage.

The project grew considerably  and a feature of activities have been a number of lengthy walks of repentance with many people choosing to walk in chains as the original slaves would have done (see photo). The current "March of the Abolitionists", from Hull to Westminster completes later this month and the second journey linking the former slave ports of London, Bristol and Liverpool from June 4 - July 11.

Click on the link below for more information.

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Tim Hughes Happy Day - 5 March 07

We’ve been listening to a few tracks from Tim Hughes’ new album and I have to say its sounding very good. He’s been playing Happy Day (co-written with Ben Cantelon who appears on our vocals DVDs) for a few months now but it still sounds really fresh. Listen out for keyboards influences from The Killers Mr Brightside – really good to hear a recent worship song drawing from something other than Coldplay. The album is out in April – well worth a buy.

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Office update - 2 March 07

Its been heads-down the last couple of weeks with some major projects here at the Musicademy office. I’ve been beating the challenges of technology to further improve the look and functionality of our webstore. We’ll even have the capability to charge in US dollars soon. We’ve commissioned a techie friend Mark to work with us on integrating our database and accounting system with a high tech mailing program which means we’ll be able to send professional looking newsletters by email – I’ve written the newsletter but we’re just waiting for all the technology to be in place before we send it out – just login to our members area to join the mailing list.

We’ve been looking through the final edits of our new keyboard DVDs – looking great and due for release in April.

Jon has been editing all the rock and pop song learner lessons – all 70 of them. Just putting all the details online has taken days let alone the editing. Will be available for download in the next couple of weeks.

Andy has been writing the next stage of our rock and pop courses – stage 10 (or mileage 6 as its also known). Currently containing more Beatles, Leonard Skynnard, U2, Dire Straits, Police, ACDC and Metallica. He’s also been making inroads to the home school market for our DVDs – we’re getting great feedback from home schoolers using the products so we’re hoping to do some specific promotion into that market.

The office has also been graced with the presence of a new 20” iMac. Having been pretty PC-bound until now its simply wonderful to be editing and reviewing footage in such a user friendly environment – and the machine itself looks beautiful.

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Job vacancy - 28 February 07

With the launch of our Songlearner online download service, the burden of admin has risen again so we’re currently looking for a part time administrator. Ideally they would live near to Chorleywood in the UK – feel free to contact us if you are interested.

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Christian Resources Exhibition - 26 February 07

Musicademy will be takinga stand at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Esher (UK) from 15-18 May. As well as selling DVDs and answering worship and guitar related questions on the stand, we will be running free singing lessons on the Thursday and Friday in the Arts Theatre.

We've some special price tickets for the CRE available on our webstore - usual price is £7 - pay just £2 through us - and do come and say hello at the stand. Andy and Marie will be available all week and would love you to stop by and have a chat.

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Guitar Pedal Heaven - 23 February 07

Any serious guitar player, espcially those of the electric persuasion, will have an impressive array of pedals. The Musicademy record goes to our tutor Jon Mann Smith who regularly plays at St Marys, Marylebone with more pedals than is good for any man - 27 at last count!

We did some work on our guitar DVDs with our friend "Pedal" Bob Weil of Visual Sound. Bob presented a great section on the intermediate DVDs about using guitar effects in worship. Andy has used his H2O, Jeckyll and Hyde and Route 66 pedals for years. Visual Sound also produce power supplies and have just launched a new amp - The Workhorse. Andy got his hands on one in the States recently and reports that its a really great amp for an electric guitar worship player or gigging musician. Its small and light and in his opinion sounds very similar to a Fender Super Reverb sound. Additionally you can power your pedals from the amp - a nice plug and play solution.

Click on the Visual Sound logo for more informatin.

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ANother great website - Ship of Fools - 21 February 07

We have really enjoyed the resources at Ship of Fools. Described  as "the magazine of Christian unrest", it has some really interesting content including mystery worshipper, religious kirsch, virtual church and more. Here's what editor Simon Jenkins says  "We're here for people who prefer disorganized religion to the organized kind. From a position of commitment, we try to look objectively at religious trends in an accessible rather than cynical way. We commend as well as debunk. But we are not a campaign, we're a conversation."

Downloads finally Uploaded - 18 February 07

We have been working on getting some of our lessons available as paid for downloads on our website since last summer. Finally the technology is in place and we've now uploaded each of our Song Learner lessons plus a couple of exclusive videos - Vicky Beeching's Yesterday Today and Forever, and also Holy is the Lord. Go to the online store for more information.

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California Band Skills

Andy is running band skills workshop at the Cornerstone Church in Anaheim California tonight. Cornerstone is a Four Square church and has some 3000 members. Andy will be working with their youth band at one of their rehearsal evenings.

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Baldworshipleader.com - 12 February 07

www.baldworshipleader.com is a great website that is receommended to us a lot . Loads of material on worship leading including a blog, great weblinks and video downloads. Worth checking out.

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Launch of Guitar Song Learners - 8 February 07

Launched our new Song Learner DVDs today with an email campaign and free shipping offer to our previous customers. The resulting demand crashed my email temporarily but its all up and running again now. The South of England has had the highest snowfall for about a decade so driving Andy to Heathrow for a trip to California was fun – it took him over an hour just to clear the drive of snow so I could get the car out.

Derek Williams Worship Resource - 7 February 07

Came across a great new resource today – Worship Revolution check out http://derekwilliamslive.com/

In 1996, Derek Williams began working with worship leader, Tommy Walker (who appears on some of our worship DVDs), in building a ministry out of their church in Los Angeles, California. Over the following decade, he assisted in producing records under this ministry that were sold worldwide generating over $1 million for missions efforts around the world. He has travelled into the jungles of the Amazon, the slums of the Philippines and the bush of Africa partnering with others in sharing the Gospel with a lost and hurting world.

Worship Revolution shares insight into building this type of ministry through three parts: The Dream, The Structure, The Experience. Derek says:

"I've seen a ministry birthed from the local church reach countless lives through creating worship resources and partnering with those who are feeding the hungry and caring for those who in the world's eyes are only a statistic. I want to move your heart and ignite a desire to encounter a ministry filled with worship and compassion. These pages are filled with stories and lessons I've learned along the way on the road of this revolution."

 

Learning about Video - 6 February 07

Spent today at a trade show for people in the video industry. Bumped into one of our old students, Richard Laughlin, who runs a graphic design agency as well as helping various churches develop their audio and visual resources. Attended a couple of seminars on education over the internet as well as lighting techniques and even bought a DVD on the subject – which was kind of ironic as we were researching to improve our own DVDs.

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Lark News - 5 February 07

Here's a link to a website that we love but be warned - you may find some of the humour a little close to the edge.

We dip in and out of Joel Kirkpatrick's book "A Field Guide to Evangelicals & Their Natural Habitat" for light relief pretty regularly, but the website is updated all the time with great spoof articles.

Here's their take on a Worship Leader's Work Schedule:

MONDAY - Day off
TUESDAY - Think of what songs to play on Sunday
WEDNESDAY - Think of what songs to play on Sunday
THURSDAY - Think of what songs to play on Sunday
FRIDAY - Think of what songs to play on Sunday
SATURDAY - Day off
SUNDAY - Play songs

Ouch....

Song Learner Trailers - 2 Feburary 07

Andy and Jon have spent the latter half of the week creating a trailer for our new Guitar Song Learner Series - check it out on the website. This is looking fantastic so we should have something to upload next week. The DVDs are currently being manufactured so it will be all systems go in the next few days.

I did some more web related work today – re-writing all the metatags and descriptions that the internet search engines use when deciding on where to rank your website. Having updated our website a few months back it was about time that the descriptions actually managed to reflect the page content.

 

Planning the Bass and Drums DVDs - 1 Feburary 07

Had a meeting today trying to nail down the costings and approach for our bass and drums DVDs. These are due to be filmed in May and August but as we are working with other pro musicians/teachers, its important that we are all very clear about the proposals at this early planning stage. We’ve decided to invest in two more higher spec video cameras as well as this will add to the quality of the finished product. Occasionally we’ve hired new HD cameras but its sooo expensive that way. Its tricky to know how big the market is for drums and bass – certainly there are fewer potential buyers out there than for guitar and vocals – so its important that we keep our costs as low as we can whilst continuing to maintain the same high quality content on the DVDs. We’re fortunate to have such good relationships already with some fantastic and also quite well known bass players and drummers. For bass we are working with Matt Weeks. Matt is the UK bass session player of choice for virtually all of the well known Christian musicians including Graham Kendrick Stuart Townend, Tim Hughes, Matt Redman, Brian Doerkson and has even got a track on the Playstation game Gran Turismo!

For drums we’re working with Colin Brooks as the main tutor but will also have interviews and demonstrations from a wealth of other well known drummers. I can’t say who yet as its not cut and dried but watch this space…. Colin is a fantastic presenter and teacher. His current day job is as an Anglican vicar and he previously worked as a worship leader and in a leader/pastoral role for Soul Survivor for several years. Colin’s also pretty well connected – his brother runs Europe’s leading contemporary music college ACM and his sister-in-law Deborah Clarke was our first ever vocals teacher and is featured on our vocals DVDs.

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The Ultimate Event - 29 Jan

Today was spent uploading photos to the website, fulfilling some web orders and having a think about the content for a promotion we are taking part in at The Ultimate Event – this is a worship gathering at a UK theme park – Alton Towers – and we’ve agreed to do some advertising on the big screen inbetween acts.

 Andy’s had a knee injury and spent hours waiting around in hospital for xrays and doctors before they all decided that physio would sort it all out. When he got back he made a call to a prospective reseller in the States who look pretty keen to develop a partnership with us. The US is such a huge market for us and its tricky for us to do more than scratch the surface without working with resellers. Actually, we’ve made some good business contacts with many of them – its strange working with people for years who you never actually get to meet – just exchange emails.

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Some Introductions - 28 Jan

I guess it might make sense for me to just explain the set up here so you know who I’m talking about. Andy, Jon and I share the Musicademy office.

Andy’s the guy I run Musicademy with – its Andy who presents the guitar DVDs. Andy’s job when he’s not creating content for DVDs is selling them as well as overseeing the teaching on our local courses and still doing a bit of face to face teaching himself. Having spent the weekend recording backing tracks for the keyboard DVDs, Andy’s latest project is investigating whether our worship DVD products are suitable for the home school market so has spent the last few days on the phone to homeschoolers and support groups in the UK and US.

                           

Jon is our in-house editor and he spends his days surgically attached to his Mac. He’s not been working for us long but its been so good to have a technical person on hand to help out with the complexities of downloads, FTPs and file conversion. 

                  

I’m Marie and I tend to be the one answering the phone, replying to emails, doing the accounts, marketing the local courses and DVDs and all other admin that emerges.

                           

We’ve also got a great support team that we outsource to. We have a website developer called Rob, a guru of all things marketing and technical called Simon, a designer called Justyn and editor called Andrew. As well as all those, there are a dozen or so teachers that do the teaching on our local courses.

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Canadian Customs Nighmares - 26 Jan

Having collated all the responses I then uploaded them to the relevant pages of the website in a column to the right – take a look and see if you can find your comments!

So in our little three person office I am tapping away on the website, Jon is busy editing our new Song Learner series of footage of the rock and pop guitar material that Andy and I filmed a couple of weeks back, and Andy is working up the sampler/trailer that we produce to promote the Worship Song Learner DVDs which are now just a couple of weeks away from launch. Its all pretty busy.

Just got an email from one of our resellers who is waiting on stock for a worship conference in Canada this weekend. The stock has been impounded by customs as the manufacturer included insufficient paperwork. What a nuisance, we’re now missing a really good opportunity to hit the Canadian market in methods other than cyberspace.

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Blog Launch - 25 Jan

Decided to spend some time updating the website this week so sent an email round to a few hundred previous customers asking for feedback on the various DVDs and CDs they had bought from us. Wow – we were overwhelmed with how fantastic the feedback was. People really like these products and the content is seriously changing their musical abilities for good.

Have emailed everyone back to say thanks for the feedback and that little piece of dialogue, plus some comments about how customers had loved the personalisation of our customer service got me thinking that it would be really good to create a blog page on our site that customers can submit thoughts to and we can just log what we’re up to each week. So here it is – Rob our webmaster has set the page up and I’m now typing in the diary.

 

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