Good advice from Nicholas Tozier includes:

1. Disconnect. Power down your computer–or if you absolutely need the thing for some reason related to your practice and studies, sever it from the internet. Switch off your router. Close all unnecessary windows. You might even consider setting up a new user account with a bare-bones desktop and easy access to the tools you need, nothing else.

2. Banish Television. On your deathbed, will you regret not seeing this particular episode of “Generic Man and his Comical Family”? Alright then.

3. Timer. Every day, set a timer for 5-10 minutes. Within that time, work on a particularly mundane task related to your instrument or music theory. This is perfect for memorizing dry material inside and out over a long period of time, in small daily installments.

My favorite is # 28:  Stop Hitting Yourself.

Full post here.

I received a call from Jay Leach in Southern California a few months ago.  Jay had been listening to his local Christian radio station and heard about Cross International’s work rescuing orphans in Africa and Guatemala, and was moved to call.

Jay and I had a great discussion.  As a professional guitarist, he has been on-call for the American Idol band for several seasons as a “utility man”, playing banjo, pedal steel, and other instruments.  He also has gigged with Dolly Parton and Albert Lee and has published arrangements with Mel Bay.

Jay is also a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, having been involved with churches in the SoCal area for many years and working with some premiere Christian musicians including Kirk Whalum, Abe Laboriel, Justo Almaria, Bill Cantos, and others.

I found him to be  a great guy, humble, possessing an infectious positive outlook and exuding the joy of the Lord through his musicianship.  As evidence, check out the video below (also viewable from his MySpace page).

God touched Jay’s heart regarding the needs of the poor.  He said, “What can I do to help?”

Lord, may You be pleased to increase his number.

Here’s another reason why caring for the poor requires more than good intentions:

Less than 5 percent of the ticket revenue from a Carnegie Hall concert  Sunday night touted as a Haiti fund-raising event will actually go to earthquake relief, reports The New York Times.

A long-scheduled performance by the pianist Lang Lang and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra was turned into a Haiti benefit at Mr. Lang’s request. A sell-out would bring in $190,000, but the costs of marketing, hall rental, and other overhead would leave less than $8,000 for Haiti relief, according to an accounting by CAMI Music, Mr. Lang’s management agency.

In all fairness, The Times article says that sponsors will subsidize the bottom line and the benefactor (UNICEF) is happy for the PR.  But I wonder how many people who bought a ticket know or approve of the outcome of the event?

To avoid disappointment when supporting charitable work, it’s wise to:

a)  Do some research. Do the people involved have experience in doing this kind of benefit?

b)  Read the fine print. Know where your money is going to and how much of it gets there.  Overhead & costs are to be expected, but be sure that they are reasonable and there is a projected goal or amount that goes to the charity itself.

b)  Adjust expectations.

If your church or worship team would like to hold a benefit concert with low overhead and most of the proceeds going to the poorest of the poor in Jesus’ name, please contact me.

HT:  Philanthropy Today

…is all you need, according to Kevin Kelley:

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce.

They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

The hard part:

The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. They are giving you their support directly. Maybe they come to your house concerts, or they are buying your DVDs from your website, or they order your prints from Pictopia. As much as possible you retain the full amount of their support. You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.

Author/marketer Seth Godwin calls 1000 fans “a breakthrough opportunity” for artists and songwriters.

Consider:

1. What would it take for you to acquire 1000 ‘true fans’?
2. What are you doing now to make that happen?

Christopher Hopper talks about collaboration and has five tips @ CatalystSpace on how to affect it:

1. Designate a point person
2. Develop consensus (not unanimity)
3. Compromise promotes ownership
4. Sharing canvases carte blanche
5. Open air policy

These strike me as healthy and achievable, but not easy.

How does your team collaborate?

Good advice here for seasonal choir rehearsals from Michael Smith (no relation) of Clearview Baptist in Franklin, TN.

He includes this ‘backbone of the worship choir rehearsal blueprint’:

• Begin with something familiar
• Put the hard work in the middle
• End with something familiar.

More here.

Thanks Mike!

Bill Gaither on what it takes to become a successful Christian artist:

I think he has to understand feet washing…a real follower of Christ gets down on his hands and knees and washes the other person’s feet…I think that’s the beginning…

Not all (young artists) understand that…kinda hard to understand that when the lights on the stage are shining pretty bright…

Jake Hess used to say that when the lights on the stage are shining brighter than the lights at home, you better go home…

He also has interesting comments on the sacred and the secular in songwriting and what are the most requested Gaither-penned songs.

The interviews starts at 3:53 into the podcast here (stay tuned for the quartet practice backstage at the National Quartet Convention at the end – it’s priceless).

(Photo cred:  Gaither.com)

Interesting snippet of helpful band discussion.

View on YouTube here.

More from Vitamin Z here.

(HT:  WorshipMatters)

Pastor Kevin DeYoung has a great post on Defending Musical Diversity in which he posits four ‘traditions’ of songs we should be singing:

1.  Psalms

2. Hymns

3. Contemporary songs

4. Non-anglo songs

The fourth catagory he admits to being ‘artifical,’ but his points should be considered:  There is great room for Biblical and artistic diversity in music for Christian worship.

Worth the read.

Midnight Friday (July 10) is the deadline for the National Worship Leadership Conference (NWLC) in Leawood (Kansas City).

Otherwise registration is done only as a walk-in at the door.

Michael W. Smith, Mac Powell (Third Day), David Crowder, Paul Baloche, Christy Nockels, Lenny LeBlanc, Leeland and others are among the songwriters, singers, worship leaders, and speakers.

I’ll be leading workshops on worship renewal and serving the poor through music.

Click here for details to register.

Hope you can join us July 20-23 at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood (Kansas City), Kansas.