Scott Jones:
Grace Church Christmas 2001
A very special Christmas performance of the "Little Drummer Boy"
A collaborative arrangement by drummer Mark Miller and myself, with percussionist Ron Krause and a team of 25 percussionists.
The timeline:
Three months before, planning the Christmas Service, an already existing instrumental arrangement of mine is determined to be the prelude.
At the time, it is suggested and approved to take the song to a percussion feature performance level and we end the meeting with that in mind.
6 weeks before, I mention to Mark the concept, and request his assistance in bringing the piece to life.
4 weeks before, Mark makes some phone calls to various Colleges, schools, and the owner of the drum store at which he teaches, to secure a wide variety of instruments.
3 weeks before, Mark and I meet for 3 days and concept the intro that will precede the band instrumental. Including some time on marimbas and developing motifs and harmonic content for the intro.
It is determined how the intro will develop from one drum to many, eventually leading to the band's entrance, with continued featured percussion, and detailed brainstorming is documented.
I hand the reins to Mark.
Mark spends countless hours securing not only the instruments, but the players.
His hand extends to many within the church, including vocalists, youth band members, and tech personnel who are former percussionists and beginning percussionists, until the desired amount of bodies is assured.
Two weeks before, Mark and many others drive from place to place picking up the instruments which include: 5 Gongs, 5 Tympani, 2 sets of Tubular Bells, Crotales, Concert toms, roto toms, a rack of 4 snares/hi-hats/china-types, 2 Full-Scale Marimbas, 2 Concert Bass Drums, Djembes, Woodblocks, and countless varieties of international percussion instruments.
6 days before (Sunday, Dec. 16), rehearsals begin and Mark relays by showing, teaching, and example, the parts he has come up with, to the various players over the course of one evening, and with the percussion loops and tracks which were programmed and recorded by myself to mini-disc to enhance the overall texture and layers within the band portion, including my own guitar parts, so I could play live percussion with the ensemble.
5 days before (Tuesday, Dec. 18), the first rehearsal, with the band for the first time and also the tracks. A handful of the players are given earbud earphones with the tracks to stay on target while in performance. Many stay until very late, past the band leaving to keep working on parts with Mark.
Ron Krause (actually the Technical Director) and Mark Miller rehearse during every spare second, the marimba parts they have arranged, while Krause juggles his other duties with patience, grace and skill. (In fact many of our tech are pulling double-duty, so well in this, that the only explanation is that God gave them some supernatural energy, because none of them were ever pushed too far, and everyone stayed on track, always keeping their primary duties at the top, while finding time to remain involved in this piece).
Another extra rehearsal is planned for the following day (Wed Dec 19) to iron out any wrinkles before the final dress rehearsal on Thursday.
3 days before (Thursday, Dec. 20), the percussion ensemble, the full band with all auxiliary instrumentalists (2 horns, 8 strings, flute) rehearse for the first time together.
Pastor Ron hears the piece for the first time, and while he is understandably, a little scared by its scope and dramatic, edgy nature, he does respond to it with optimism and we all are excited to have played it for him.
People have been staying late to listen to the rehearsal each night. People not involved, security, outside tech, actors, singers. All have been moved, overwhelmed, and generally, the feeling is good. It will be good.
Ron and Mark are up until 3 or 4 am working on their Marimba section.
Mark is forever working on the choreography, the blocking and staging of each player and each grouping of players...forever tweaking.
Friday, we are off, but Mark and Ron practice more and more.
Saturday's rehearsal goes extremely well, and we are excited.
Our first performance on Saturday night at the 6:00 service is anointed, extraordinary. The piece receives a standing ovation. God is glorified.
The other elements of the service are nothing short of amazing on every level, blessing all who were there.
The next day, it is predicted that people will return to see it again, and bring others.
It happens.
Between the morning and evening services, the local NBC affiliate news station receives word of the event, and pays a visit to Grace. I am interviewed. Mark is interviewed. Much footage is shot of the performance, and of other elements in the service. A very gracious 5 minute spot is nicely edited and shown on the evening's news, after the last performance.
It runs again the next day, Christmas Eve many times, creating a buzz and an interest by many many callers to Grace, wanting to see it. Sadly, it is over, but it is determined a huge success and it is estimated that over 7000 people attended the services over the weekend.
I've chosen to show what this one piece was like to produce (from concept to development, to final product) because it was so different, so impacting on so many, and I thought it was an interesting story.
This is not to diminish in any way, the rest of the service, it wasn't just the one piece of music.
The whole service was amazing, God was there in everything. God used, specifically, each song, each drama sketch, each word in the message, to reach out with the Hope of the Gospel to those who were there. This prelude, I believe, God used (more in spite of us, rather than because of us) to set a tone of majesty and worship, so that the rest of the service was of a heightened awareness and expectation of what God would do.
So many others were so giving of their time and talent, from vocalists, to actors, to tech, to parking lot attendants, to children's workers, to food service...it was a real community building event overall, and God honored it. He was certainly glorified through it.
I have to acknowledge Mark's brilliance here...without him this would have NEVER happened...at least not on this scale. His tireless and selfless efforts blew me away every time we got together. His vision for the piece was focused and inspired. His leadership turned a rag-tag group of guys and gals hitting things, into a community of excited and world-class performers, whose hearts were set on God, and doing their best for Him. Yes, I arranged the band portion, but it was a mere drop in the bucket, to the overall vibe Mark brought to the piece, with his heart and professionalism.
And Ron Krause. Wow. A College percussionist of 10 years ago, he really worked his marimba chops back to a level beyond my wildest dreams. Another guy whose heart was set in the right place, and it showed. His collaboration with Mark was a day to day event for 2 weeks...just blew me away.
And everybody else. Tom Schneller, Sharon Riley, Kris Stellar, Kevin McDonald, Tim Arnold, Steve Haydon, Wayne Henderson, Doug Flagg, Lynn Verbrugge, Dave Gaddy, Joe Stevens, John Nester, and so many more that my aging mind can't recall all of them. I am honored to have shared in this experience with each of them. They, too, had endless enthusiasm, boundless energy, and hearts of humility the entire time. Each person was an integral part, without one of which, none of it would have been the same.
It was our obedience to God and giving back our gifts to His Glory, that allowed Him to take this from a mere spectacle, to a Holy and Anointed time of Worship, that God would use to set the tone for one of the most Spirit filled, stress-free Christmas services ever.
In fact, many on the team were surprised by God and His power in this service. We planned, we thought it would work, but never quite grasped the magnitude of what God would do through us.
Finally, thank you Ron Tucker and the Pastoral staff, for your trust in our idea, and for giving us the chance to do this for God and those who were there. All were ministered to, and all will never be the same, as a result. It built community. It glorified God.
Pictures from the services and rehearsals
Thanks everybody!
God Bless all of you.
Scott