I taught myself the organ in 1963, well enough to play church suppers. I started with a Conn spinet, but bought a Hammond "A", the predecessor of the B3. then a B3. Within a couple of years I was playing church services, and graduated to the director of music for several churches until last year.

During the past 50 years, I played with drummers to a 20 piece band, and whorehouses to 5 star restaurants and everything in between.

I still play out 5 times a week on the average, but I will always cherish my church music stint.

Bernie

Chas.....post it in The Bar so you have free license to "rip" it apart like you have a tendency to do? Does anything make you happy? I never hear anything positive come out of your mouth.

Now, I'm a full-time, professional musician and a Christian and a long-time member of the group, so I believe I have the right to post to "selected members." And.....I'm also wise enough and smart enough to know how to "word" a message!

Would you get as upset if I "pitched a post" to Yamaha Motif owners. I think not!

If I had to post the subject again, unless Nigel objected, I would not hesitate a second. It's an issue that's important to me.

BTW......I don't make remarks like you did on the posts of others. I just "stay out of" what I don't agree with or understand!

MARK

Would you be able to put into words how you knew it was a "calling?" And what prompted you to pursue that "calling?"

When I was in my early 20's I also had a "calling" to move to Europe where I flourished as a musician. I knew nothing at the time about a "Higher Power" but in later years as I looked back, I began to realize that "decisions were being made for me" and that if I went along with them, that I was on my Spiritual path.

Is that how you would describe your own experiences?

MARK

Mark,

I stand strong in the faith and I do believe God leads us down a path. 50 years ago I was a wannabe "Beatle". Just reconnected with my lead guitar player from those days. It really inspired us to find that the Lord led two young "rock and rollers" 40 or 50 years later to be prominent members of their respective church praise teams.

4 or 5 years ago I started to write faith based songs. I had never really written anything before. Suddenly, I am using my God given talents to honour the Lord. The lyrics come pretty easy when you consider the source of inspiration and I have written and recorded close to 100 songs in that 4 or 5 year span.

I can still do all the old country, rock, reggae, R&B and pop stuff but the songs I write are the driving force in my music now. I just made this into a You Tube presentation last night.



God Bless,
Don

Mark, most of your posts have more to do with personal introspection, etc. Maybe we need a separate forum for group therapy. In the meantime, politics and religion usually fare poorly on MUSIC forums and should probably be discussed in a different venue. Sorry if I didn't respond the way you wanted to your introduction of religion (and your personal views on it) into a music forum. I think that's why Nigel provided a BAR for such topics.

As far as "does anything make you happy", I thought it was you that claimed to be sufferering from burnout and depression. As far as "posting to "selected members" and "knowing how to 'word' a message"......has some pretty sinister implications; this is a public and open forum to discuss arranger music, not your personal religious philosophy. There is a reason that Nigel created THE BAR. IMO, that is where your post belongs.

BTW, my likability or lack thereof, has nothing to do with the validity of my posts. Since this is a public forum, I don't believe you have the luxury of posting to a "select few".

chas

back on topic ....

I come from a musical family and we have always been singers whether that be in choirs or small groups. But my first instrument was the guitar because my sister played the guitar and I loved everything about my eldest sister 😃( I love all eight of my sisters by the way ) . But I felt limited with the guitar because in my head I could hear the bass strings horns keys brass . None of these could be adequately replicated on an acoustic instrument . I started playing keys very late in life when I was 28 years old. I have a client who is a jazz piano teacher and one time when I was providing him with advice on his finances ,I asked him to play something for me. He asked me what sort of music I liked . I told him hymns and he started to play abide with me in a jazz style something that I've never heard done like that. I was mesmerised that religious music could be so beautifully reflected through the Jazz form .

So I started taking music lessons from him and I guess his influence helped shape my direction in terms of my musical journey and its adaptation to gospel music.

and I discovered arranger keyboards when I went to a popular music shop in Birmingham and heard a gentleman playing a Yamaha keyboard . but as he was playing the keys I could hear drums and bass, and strings and it was the most stunning thing I've ever heard. he was playing a Michael Bolton song " how am I supposed to live without you " and it blew me away. I decided I had to have that keyboard and I purchased my Yamaha PSR 8000 keyboard soon after. I was a member of the choir at the time and we had a musician that would be very unreliable. Sometimes he would come to practice sometimes he would come very late and sometimes would not come at all.

So I would bring my Yamaha to practice and just play along to the tunes and if he was there I would a play bass Or drums until I got better and could play accompaniment . And then I discovered that I could remix songs instantly using the various styles on the keyboard adding new life to old hymns and all songs. And from there i progressed to being choir leader musical director and a have assisted numerous choirs throughout Birmingham with my now korg PA1X keyboard . Right now as we are going through the Christmas period I have been singing and playing with a small group of friends at various old folks homes Christmas carol services et cetera.

most musicians really don't fully understand how much the music can impact a person's life but as I have gone on my journey playing for lots of different people, the most gratifying experiences have been playing for the old folks. Many of them are old enough to be my parents grandparents. Last night we were at such a home and we performed for about an hour. We sang Christmas carols and religious songs with my arranger and my friends and everybody sang along and got up and danced and jumped and clapped like young people would.

Music can be so powerful and can bring people together in such an awesome way. It saddens me that music is not taught as a foundational course at schools throughout the country. I'm convinced it would have a major impact on the way that communities grow together and how young people interact with one another .

One of the greatest challenges I have had as a Christian musician is using the gift that I have responsibly but that's for whole different discussion.

Very interesting thread, certainly about arrangers and many of us who use them, and very relevant for a lot of us. The title aptly describes what it contains and can be easily ignored by those not interested in it, just as we can ignore posts of those who complain about it.
Merry Christmas to all! Even if you don't believe. I still love you!

Merry Xmas to you too, Don...even if you believe, I still love you too!

Ian the Skeptic

I do and don't believe - not sure of what either. I'd probably be best described, as Aldous Huxley put it, "an agnostic with doubts." So, as far as music goes, I was born with this incredible gift. Trouble is, a 'gift' is, by definition, something given to one. And, since I can't fully ascribe to any deity doing the actual giving, is what I have truly a 'gift', anyway?

That said, I love music of every stripe, exclusive of nothing, and will play whatever the muse dictates at that point - as best as my natural ability will allow.

And a Merry Christmas, if applicable, or whatever you choose to celebrate, to all of you regardless of whether you believe in anything or not.

I don't believe any of us has the complete answer, but we will know soon enough. I'm not in a hurry. I believe there has to be a bigger power than we can imagine. I choose to call it God.
Joe Lewis said: "Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die."
I can't imagine contemplating death if I truly believed there was nothing ahead.
To relate this to music, it would be really hard to do anything but sad songs!