When I was nine years old, I wrote my first song. My uncle, Simon, taught me three chords on my budget nylon-string guitar, and I put my words to music. Here's the chorus:
A big strawberry pudding,
A big strawberry pudding,
A big strawberry pudding went splat right into my eye.
Hardly Lennon/McCartney or even Stock/Aitken/Waterman. But, I guess, you've got to start somewhere.
My next foray into music was in the church context. In year eight, I brought along my guitar to youth group. I still knew only three chords (and the truth). But each week, as new songs were introduced, I added some other chords to my musical vocabulary so that I could be more useful in the 'Teens Club' band.
One of the best ways for a young person to get involved with church music is to get them to jump into the water and start swimming (so to speak).
At my church, kids from Sunday school play a song once or twice a term during the family service. They practice straight after church for the few weeks leading up to their 'gig', and lead the congregation in the song in the opening minutes of the service (before they head out to their children's program). The kids play the drums, piano, bass, sax and flute, as well as the upfront song leading.
They've got a long way to go, but it's giving them a practical on-the-role experience, which provides them with a desire to serve and improve.
Our youth group does a similar thing. During school holidays some of our youth group students combine with their leaders to run the music at our evening church. The regulars in our band appreciate the break, and because it's our 'youth band', the church is usually patient and forgiving when they 'improvise'.
It is with teenagers like these in mind that Youthworks and Emu Music have launched a new week-long camp to encourage and develop our up-and-coming church musos. 'TWIST Emerge' will run from 17-23 January 2010 and is limited to only 60 high-school students.
What steps are you taking to develop the next generation of church musos? How does your church nurture the young musicians and train them to serve well?
