October 27th

(Timezone still incorrect)


It went well this time. Got rehearsal sorted out and got there on time. I don't think I got any worse in terms of technique, but as usual there's room for improvement. The songs were actually familiar for once, so I kept up with the beat well, and I didn't slip more than once on the day of the performance. Videos have never worked out all that great on this computer the last few years, but if I can get a new one I'll try to film something. In the meantime, I guess it's more still shots.

New Semester (2013-2014)

(I realize that the title of the blog isn't all that accurate anymore, but for some reason it won't let me change it this time, so we'll have to leave it at that. The timezone on the timestamp is probably also messed up, if it shows up.)

So here I am on my church worship team again. The groups got rotated around again, but I've known all these people for a few years now, so it's not too hard to get used to. Now that it's the third year in a row, I've noticed that I've had a few instances of unpreparedness. Forgotten music, forgotten drumsticks, couldn't arrange a good practice time and couldn't attend, etc. I have my group on my contact list now, and I plan to at least get the practice times arranged properly. Trying to reorganize my room so that I have a place to put music that I need later as well.

Personal technique can use some improvement as well, of course, but that's always a given goal to work towards, and getting a feel for it comes with time. Besides, the leader thought I did pretty well on such a short notice.

An Evaluation on My Success

A word and evaluation from the leader of my team, in table form because that's the way it was written when I received it (making tables in Blogger is not easy):

	Observation and Comments
Nathanael gets together and organizes practice times effectively, as well as planning the flow of the performance and other details (e.g. tempo and beat).	Nathanael has been punctual every time. He’s a good listener and teammate as he always attends to others’ suggestions. From his performance over the last 12 months, I can say that Nathanael is willing to cooperate with different people.
He does not feel nervous about speaking to other team members and sharing his thoughts.	Nathanael doesn’t speak much. He usually speaks to one or two particular teammates who have been working with him for a long time. His volume is low. Sometimes, teammates may find it a bit difficult to understand him.
He makes effort to prepare for the worship and participate more in the team.	Absolutely agree. Although he doesn’t speak, from his performance during the worships, I can say that Nathanael does pay a lot of effort at home in rehearsing the songs. This is because we can always find that his performance is much more fluent than we first practice.
He ‘experience’ the joy of ‘serving’ God.	Agree. One of the indictors is that he smiles more than before during the practice. Occasionally, I can hear what he plays is a bit different from what we have rehearsed. I would say that’s because when he plays the drum set, he experiences the presence of God and the joy of music.

It would appear that I have improved on all but the speaking portion, which has always been a personal difficulty of mine. I'll probably keep serving on the team, and I plan to work on this.

Note: The post timezone is still off, but the date and time is fixed.

Early Spring

[I just noticed something weird going on with the post times on the older posts being from the wrong timezone, making all of them set to some random early time in the morning, but they were all pretty much written in the afternoon. I'll probably fix it if I can figure out how]

I said once a month, but we had a special sermon on the week my group is normally in charge of, so now it's actually been two. I was just a bit late to practice this time due to heavy traffic, but it seemed everybody just arrived too. The first few minutes wound up with me trying to troubleshoot the sound output of the drumset, so I had to go ask someone else what we had planned, since they seemed to have agreed on something beforehand. The performance went pretty smoothly, as usual. I still made a few mistakes, but nothing serious. Several of the song's were new, like last time, so again I was surprised how well I followed the music. One piece was very familiar, and was relatively easy, however.

More photos available than expected, too:

Into the New Year

Things seem to be going smoothly compared to last year, and the scheduling is a lot more consistent this time around, so I expect to be able to update once a month at least. I was actually a bit early to practice this time. I managed to put in some of my opinion on the song flow and the tempo we should go at. The performance went pretty smoothly as well. I think I made fewer mistakes than last time, if at all, and considering the fact that I've never even heard of three out of the four pieces we were playing before I think that's quite the achievement. It's hard to match a beat to something you're not that used to, you know?

Anyway, it seems the other camera worked this time, so I have a photo:

Here we go again.

I thought I could do even better, so this year I'm repeating the project (which is why this is still the same blog as before). As before, I'm still on the worship team for church. It's a slightly different group this year, but the routine is generally the same; a one to two month rotation that is pretty easy to follow, save for occasional schedule changes to account for personal issues. I personally think I've improved a bit over the summer, but I had to leave early for an appointment, so I haven't asked the group leader for his opinion yet. I asked him earlier to email what he thinks, though, so I'll post that when he gets back to me. I would have helped choose songs this time around as well, but I came late to practice because they bumped the time 30 minutes earlier and forgot to tell me.

I couldn't figure out what happened to my photo, so I'm somewhat lacking in that regard for this post, but I'll get it next time.

Final Reflection

Well, this was posted last month, but as mentioned in the previous posts, there were a few technical difficulties with my internet connection and hard drive the previous month, and the original must have been deleted somehow. So I guess I have to post it again.

Well, this year I was probably meant to have three or four performances at my church. Due to some strangeness and oversights with the scheduling or some other factor, I've only done two. I was hoping to get more done, as there would have been more room to show improvement, but I guess there's not much I can do much about that, seeing that the next performance is after this is due. I chose this project because, even though I've been attending my church almost since I was born (as my parents were already going to that church beforehand), I felt that I haven't made any major contributions yet. As I had been taking an extended break from playing for the worship team since the final exams last year, I figured I should get back into it and see what I could do to improve. As I needed a MAD project anyway, I figured it was a good opportunity.

I told the church that I want to start again, so they put me back on Team 1. I took afterschool classes on drumset, too, so I worked harder then, as well as attending rehearsals for Sunday worship. As far as I can tell from what my teacher and my teammates have said, I have been steadily improving, so there's success in that regard. I feel that I could have achieved more, though, if I had more chances.

I've learned that I'm really not as good as I can be in terms of making up rhythms on the drums when none are provided. Though it's not too bad, it could still use improvement. I also have some trouble with tempos that are faster than average, so that's another thing to work on. Next time, I should also regularly check in with the person in charge of the worship team schedules to make sure they know when I'm on next.

Whether or not I continue this project, I'll try to work on my skills and try to improve before each performance. I'll probably help out for our summer camp, as well, so I do have to be in good shape for that.  I plan on continuing with the worship team until the academic side of my life gets too out of hand.

As far as making a difference, it's tougher than I thought, and easier at the same time. Finding some way to do so and getting started is usually where the difficulties lie. Once that problem is out of the way, you can keep going, and maybe even enjoy it.