JONATHAN RIGGS

One of the biggest lessons I’ve been learning over the past ten years or so is that life is made up of seasons. 14 months ago my young family entered the most challenging season we’ve experienced when my position with a music publisher was deleted.

It has been quite the ride.

We prayed. We fasted. We dreamed. We wept. We fought. We loved. We doubted. We believed. I published my first book and ran my first half marathon. I became a writer of children’s music for my former employer.

I met lots of interesting people and acquired a gold Starbucks card. I wrote over 40 resumes and experienced the frustration of many online job applications. I was inspired by my kids, loved by my wife, and humbled by amazing friends.

And the season ends.

My introduction to DaVita was last October at a healthcare conference. It was there that I met a recruiter from Colorado who would eventually recommend me for a position here in Brentwood. A couple of interviews later and I got the job. I begin my position as an IT Business Consultant in early August.

And the season begins …

My gratitude list for the week:

1. A fantastic employment opportunity and the excitement that has come with it
2. Friends who have loved us so well throughout this process
3. My wife, who never stopped believing in me
4. A beautiful wedding and a biblical challenge
5. My sweet Blue Eyes and the opportunity to baptize her
6. Canoes and water and air conditioning
7. Playing music with friends for a good cause
8. Did I mention that I have a job?

My good friend Rob Still is hosting a house concert and webcast as a fundraiser for his upcoming European mission trip, which will include the Sozo Festival. The concert is TODAY from 6:00 – 9:00 PM. I’ll be playing as well as Jeremy Drinkwine, a host of others, and of course, Rob himself.

Come on out. It’s sure to be a good time. If you can’t make it in person, join us online.

See Rob’s site for more information.

I’ve been recovering from my long weekend of worship leading this week and transporting my kids to swimming lessons to give Lara a slight relief of her daily routine and give her some time alone in the home. My thankful list:

• An amazing week with friends and family in the great outdoors
• The amazing folks at Judson Baptist Church for a VBS done well
• Priests and Rectors and my expanding church music horizons
• An arrangement of mine, picked up and live at LifeWayWorship.com
• New possibilities
• Another child, another swimmer!

This blog post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival.

I’m wrapping up a busy weekend of worship leading. I was booked for this Sunday at Christ Community Church (McMinnville, TN) a few weeks ago and then was asked to fill in at my home church last Saturday night.

It was suggested that I keep it simple for the Saturday night service (our smallest service). The instrumentation was two acoustic guitars, bass guitar, percussion, and Aynsley Martingdale on backing vocals. I really enjoy these types of acoustic settings.

Sunday morning at McMinnville, we had a full band including two background singers. Special kudos to Karlton Scott for playing drums / perc for both churches. The two services had different time constraints, but I drew from the following set for both.

• A New Hallelujah (Baloche, Smith, Smith) – I like Michael W. Smith‘s version just fine, but since I don’t normally have an African children’s choir at my disposal, I refer to Paul Baloche’s version.
• Everlasting Arms (Hoffman, Riggs, Showalter) – This is my arrangement of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” with a new chorus. “You can keep this world and its charms. I’ll be leaning on the everlasting arms.”
• Ancient Words (Lynn DeShazo)
• How Great is Our God (Cash, Reeves, Tomlin)– It’s really, really hard to go wrong with this one.
• What Would I Have Done? (Black, Hughes, Johnson) – a lesser known (but fantastic!) song from Bethel Church in Redding, CA
• Deep in Love With You (Black, Smith, Smith) – Very intimate song and was so nice during the acoustic set
• Revelation Song (Jennie Lee Riddle) – Another great staple for worship leading.

I don’t care what the calendar says, it is indeed summer in Middle Tennessee. My morning runs are having to get early to beat the heat. This morning I ran in the 6:00 hour and it was still too hot. I love the long summer days, but hope for some relief soon. In the waiting, I choose to be grateful. Here’s what I’m grateful for this week.

• Reuniting with an old acquaintance and a new friend with lots of insights to share
• Six strings, teachers, and a chance to be at the table
• Singing in my home church
• A new opportunity
• A good friend

Stay cool!

I’m finally back with another Songwriter’s Notebook post. I’ve been waiting a while for this one. Back in the fall, I had a conversation with a children’s music editor. It went something like this:

Hey, you write songs, don’t you?

[nod] Um-hmm

I’m working on a project and am having the hardest time finding a song for preschoolers.

Now apart from my own children’s lullabies, I had never written children’s music before. But I do like to fancy myself a songwriter. And sometimes it helps to have an assignment. We spoke a little longer and she informed me exactly what she needed: a movement song for preschooler’s that would fit within an overall theme of “follow the leader.” Basically, something that would get the “wiggles” out before lesson time. I told her that I would give it some thought.

The result of this exercise is a call-and-response song called “I Can Do Most Anything.” I wrote it last fall, but was kept from letting you hear it until it came out. Well, it’s out now in the latest TeamKID curriculum Follow the Leader. Below, you can see both the original “reference” recording as well as listen to the final studio version.

Before:

After:

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival.

Memorial Day weekend had me headed up McMinnville, TN way to lead worship for Christ Community. How pleasantly surprised my drummer and I were when we stepped out of our car. “There are no cicadas here!” Karlton said in response to the throbbing sensation in our ears otherwise known as silence. Sure enough. Neither a chirp or a carcass.

There were some other good points of the day too [ha!]. I was able to bring the husband and wife team of Steve and Brenda Morley, in addition to my faithful drummer Karlton Scott, and Jeff Wilson on bass. Steve plays keyboards and his wife plays … “hippie winds.” On this day, that meant penny whistle. (I’ve also known her to play Native American flute and various recorders). Steve also played melodica. Between Brenda’s whistle and Karlton’s marching snare cadence, it wasn’t quite fife and drum, but pretty darn close. Very nice for Memorial Day Sunday. Here’s what we did:

• A New Hallelujah (Smith, Smith, & Baloche). I used Paul Baloche’s recording for reference and took some liberties with the lyric for Memorial Day (e.g. “the nation” for “the nations” and “America sings a new song” for “All the world sings a new song”).
• Your Love Never Fails (McClarney & Skinner).
• God of this City (Boyd, McCann, Jordan, Comfort, Kernaghan, and Bleakley). Again, tried to focus it on McMinnville and the USA by changing the lyric “You’re the King of these people” to “You’re the King of our people.”
• Come Thou Fountain (Riggs & Pubic Domain). This is my arrangement and the reason I brought Brenda. Most of the song was a simple trio with melodica, whistle, and myself. Turned out very nice, if I do say so myself.

Hope you had a great one!

Happy Memorial Day weekend, dear reader. I’m a day late, but grateful just the same. Here’s my list.

• Learning opportunities
• Heart-to-heart conversations
• New worship and worship leading experiences
• A friend with a microphone and Pro Tools know-how
• A teaching opportunity for Diamond on the 1
• Weekend full of birthday celebrations for a special 7-yr. old
• A great friend, a groupon, and the Pfunky Griddle – for lunch! (who knew?!)
• Four wheels on a boot, a sound system, and sweaty boys having a good time

Have a great weekend!

This post is part of the Worship Community’s Sunday Setlist blog carnival.

I had the privilege of leading worship at Holy Family Anglican Church in Hendersonville, TN yesterday. It’s a liturgical service that also uses modern worship songs. It’s a new church (mission) and there are no musicians. Although I have experienced liturgical worship before, it was my first time leading as the only musician.

Any time you lead worship at a new church there is a learning curve as to how they do things. This particular service required a good deal of preparation on my end as I had to study their liturgy and learn three new songs. OK, the hymns were not new, but steeped in tradition older than mine. Nonetheless, I had to learn them for yesterday’s service.

In case you’ve never seen liturgical music, it sometimes looks like this:

I called my Christian Orthodox friend. He reminded me that any time you see printed music like this, it’s only an attempt to bring an ancient tradition into our system of seeing things. There are a couple of challenges with this notation for those of us who are only familiar with modern music.

Lack of meter and note stems. There is no notation such as 4/4, 3/4, or 6/8. There are no measures per se, but these funny tick marks to indicate a phrase. The notes don’t have stems to clearly define their value. Finally, there is an inconsistency in the number of notes within the phrases. All of this can trip rock n’ roll worship leaders up. This is what you need to know.

1. The most important element is the text. This is true of any good worship music, but an especially useful guide here. How would you say the text? That’s a pretty good starting point for the rhythm.
2. Darker dots move faster than open circles. Assume they move twice as fast. I also tend to think of the open circles as the “destination” of the phrase. Open circles receive the accents or the downbeat.
3. Think of the phrases as “waves” and make everything fit before the next one comes ’round.
4. My experience is that grace abounds in the interpretation of the rhythm. However you interpret it, be confident so the congregation can follow

Watch the staff. I missed this the first few times I looked at this music, but note how the staff will sometimes have five lines (the modern custom) and sometimes have four lines. It’s very subtle, but look closely at the third system. I couldn’t figure out the notes for the words “you for your glory.” The notes go off the staff (oh yeah, no ledger lines). So that first note in the third system for the word “we” – it’s not an F# like I thought at first. It’s an A, the same as the last note in the previous system (“you” in “we worship you”).

I once sang in an Episcopal choir that came across music with one or two staff lines. As strange as that seems, at least it’s obvious. It’s easy to miss going from five to four. Here’s what you need to know.

1. A clef is not just a symbol slapped across a staff for decoration or to distinguish higher instruments from lower ones. They define where a note is on the staff. (Ask any violists who has to read in multiple clefs). The curl on the treble clef identifies the note G (the treble clef is uncommonly referred to as the G-clef). Look again at the third system of the Gloria piece. The clef tells us the first line is G, making the space above it an A.
2. However, I think it’s easier to look at the key signature than the curl of the clef. I know that the two sharps are F# and C#. If the second space is C#, the note below must be a B, the space below that must be an A. Of course, if the key had no sharps or flats, I couldn’t rely on this method, but it is how I figured it out in this case.

There. Now you can say you learned something today. In the end, it was a lovely service and a great experience for me. Here’s my set:

1. Hymn in Procession: You’re Worthy of My Praise (David Ruis). This is my go-to song for a new setting. Plus I had been tipped off that they like it.
2. The Gloria per their liturgy.
3. Sequence Hymn: Thy Word (Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith). I kicked it old school on the recommendation of a friend who had previously led worship  there. The sequence hymn is a song of affirmation sung before the gospel reading.
4. Offertory: Everlasting Arms (Leaning). This was my song sung as a solo without the congregation
5. Doxology
6. The Sanctus, per their liturgy
7. The Agnus Dei, per their liturgy (you didn’t think Michael W. Smith was the first to write this, did you?)
8. Communion Hymn: The Wonderful Cross (Tomlin, Watts, Walt, Reeves, and Mason)
9. Hymn in Procession: I bookend-ed it with a reprise of You’re Worthy of My Praise

The peace of the Lord be with you.

That was a good burp. It tasted like Ramen noodles! – my 9-yr. old son during his first night in the woods

Rocks. Dirt. Creek. Frogs. What else does a 9-year old boy need to have a good time? I spent the first part of this week taking my son on his first backpacking trip, just the two of us. We had a fantastic time. So much to be grateful for. Here’s my list for this week.

• A faithful and loving mother
• Healthy bodies with which to hike in the woods
• Jenny from Nana’s Kitchen and her handmade cheeseburger and milkshakes
• One last outdoor adventure before the cicada invasion

Have a great weekend.