Lenten Devotional: Week Four

Welcome to the fourth week of this Lenten journey! For this Lenten season I have put together a weekly series of devotionals from the Songs and Prayers of the Taizé community. Each devotional in the series will include a Psalm, Songs from Taizé, a picture of the cross that I hoped will aid in your reflection time, Intercessions and a prayer.   If you have just joined us and want to start from the beginning here's week one followed by week two, & week three.

So take a minute to reflect on this week's message.

Psalm   from Psalm 86

You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord,

for I cry to you all the day long.

Give joy to your servant, O Lord,

for to you I lift up my soul.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving,

full of love to all who call.

Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer

and attend to the sound of my voice.

In the day of distress I will call

and surely you will reply.

Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord,

nor work to compare with yours.

All the nations shall come to adore you

and glorify your name, O Lord,

for you are great and do marvelous deeds,

you who alone are God.

 Song

"In God Alone My Soul", The Community of Taizé

 

Silence

Intercessions

Lord Christ, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

—May your word enlighten us.

Lord Christ, you tell us: You are the salt of the earth.

—May your word enlighten us.

Lord Christ, you tell us: Love your enemies.

—May your word enlighten us.

Lord Christ, you tell us: Do good to those who hate you.

—May your word enlighten us.

Lord Christ, you tell us: Be merciful.

—May your word enlighten us.

Lord Christ, you tell us: Pray, ask, seek and you will find.

—May your word enlighten us.

Lord Christ, you tell us: Seek first the Kingdom of God.

—May your word enlighten us.

copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France. 

Prayer

Christ Jesus, when temptation urges us to abandon you, you pray within us. And you encourage us not to remain in darkness, but to live in your light.  Amen

 copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France.

Song

"Lord Jesus Christ", The Community of Taizé

*Special thanks to these online resources who helped me pull this together.

http://www.biblegateway.com

http://www.taize.fr/

Quote of the Week: "What is it that you..."

"What is it that you like doing?  If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it."

  ~Lee Iacocca

Musical To-Do List: March 26, 2011

So, here is an update and a few things on my list for next week. 
 

-Make final list of children's songs for recording consideration. 

-Continue to search for Music Jobs and add them to the Job List  (This is an on-going task)

-Organize my printed contemporary worship music into notebooks for better storage
(I found some notebooks that I think will work.  Now to decide how to organize.)

-Make a video recordings of my recent solo piano work and make a few videos for YouTube
(The house just hasn't been quiet enough yet for this one.  Maybe this weekend.)




This is part of a new series here at the Elliott Music Studio called "Musical To-Do List".  I am hoping that these posts will help me focus my actions and share with you what I am doing to achieve my goals for 2011. I need the direction, extra motivation and accountability this will provide. 

Children's Songs on the Web

I have been working on a Sunday school Nursery curriculum for my church's nursery for the last few weeks and stumbled upon some great resources for introducing bible songs and Christian kids music to this age group of children as well as beloved nursery rhymes.  Here are a few of the websites that I think are great.    

The Songs We Sing

Christian Kids Music

Kididdles

Bus Songs

Do you have a favorite children's music website?  Please share in the comments.

Music Ministry Job Search Series: Cover Letters

Welcome to the next installment of my new series, "Music Ministry Job Search"!

Every resume you send out for a potential job opportunity needs to include a fantastic cover letter that high lights your skills and achievements while complimenting your resume.  Your letter should not be a direct copy of your resume, however.  That’s what your resume is for.  Taking the opportunity to personalize your cover letter and really sell yourself can make or break your job search.      

There are typically three different types of cover letters:  the application letter which responds to an existing job opening, the prospective letter which is an inquiry of possible positions with an organization and a networking letter which sends out a request for information and help in your job search. 

I have kept a basic application letter that I then customize when I plan to send out my resume for as long as I can remember but I had never really thought about the other two letter forms.  In my current music ministry job search I am seeing the benefit of having all three. 

It’s extremely important that you customize your letter for each job opportunity.  It shows you put some thought into what you are sending.  It also helps you to stand out a bit from the competition and I think we could all use a little boost in this slow moving economic climate. 

Cover Letters also gives you a place to focus in on the skills that you have in relation to the job you are applying for.  You don’t want to talk about your expert yarn crafting skills, as amazing as they might be, when you are apply for a job in choral music.  It just doesn’t make sense and you have just wasted your reader’s time and landed your resume in the recycle bin.

My next steps in this process of refreshing my cover letter and adding the prospective letter and the networking letter to my job searching arsenal was to do some online research and read a ton of sample letters.  I have found some great resources to share that I think will give you some letter writing inspiration.

Cover Letter Writing Resources 

Cover Letter Samples from Job Search at About.com

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverlettersamples/a/coverlettsample.htm

How to Write a Cover Letter from wikiHow

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Cover-Letter

Cover Letters from Ministry Reference Help Desk

https://ecampus.sbts.edu/ics/clientconfig/htmlcontent/MinistryRefHelpDesk/CoverLetters106.pdf

Cover Letter Guidelines and Samples

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3566443/COVER-LETTER-GUIDELINES-SAMPLES-Writing-a-Cover-Letter-A-cover

Cover Letters and Resources from Berklee Music

http://www.berkleemusic.com/billboard/resources/coverletters/

How to Write a Cover Letter from Howcast

Join me next week as we continue our journey into job searching in the music world.  Through out the series I will cover Job Searching, Resumes, Cover Letters, Additional Application Requests Specific to Musicians, Selling Yourself to Prospective Employers, and what to do while you wait.  See you next week for Application Requests Specific to Musicians.

Lenten Devotional: Week Three

Welcome to the third week of this Lenten journey! For this Lenten season I have put together a weekly series of devotionals from the Songs and Prayers of the Taizé community. Each devotional in the series will include a Psalm, Songs from Taizé, a picture of the cross that I hoped will aid in your reflection time, Intercessions and a prayer.   If you have just joined us and want to start from the beginning here's week one followed by week two.

So take a minute to reflect on this week's message.

Psalm   from Psalm 51

Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

Song

"Dominus Spiritus Est" (Lord Breath On Us), The Community of Taizé

 

 Silence

 

Intercessions

O Christ, you offer us healing; may we live by your life.

O Christ, you renew our hope; may we live by your life.

O Christ, you sat at table with sinners; may we live by your life.

O Christ, you raised up your friend Lazarus; may we live by your life.

O Christ, you forgave Peter when he repudiated you and you called him to follow you; may we live by your life.

O Christ, in you our resurrection has already begun; may we live by your life.

copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France.

 

Prayer

Bless us, Christ Jesus; you love us always, even in our night.  Amen

 copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France.

 

Song

"Jesus Remember Me", The Community of Taizé

 

*Special thanks to these online resources who helped me pull this together.

http://www.biblegateway.com

http://www.taize.fr/

Quote of the Week: "Choose a job you..."

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

~Confucius

Musical To-Do List: March 18, 2011

So, here is an update and a few things on my list for next week. 
 

-Continue collecting public domain children's songs for recording consideration.  I found some great ones that I will share in a future post.

-Continue to search for Music Jobs and add them to the Job List  This is an on-going task

-Send out Referral Cover Letter with Resume to Friends and Colleagues




-Organize my printed contemporary worship music into notebooks for better storage

-Make a video recordings of my recent solo piano work and make a few videos for YouTube





This is part of a new series here at the Elliott Music Studio called "Musical To-Do List".  I am hoping that these posts will help me focus my actions and share with you what I am doing to achieve my goals for 2011. I need the direction, extra motivation and accountability this will provide. 

Free Music Friday!

It's "Free Music Friday" on the Worship Together Blog!  I have been meaning to share this online find for a few weeks now.  I have enjoyed all of the free music resources they share each week to help those planning contemporary worship.  So, here it goes.

Today's selection is "Angel Of The Lord" from Miriam Webster.  It uses the text from Psalm 23 and can be used as a time for reflecting on the faithfulness of God through both times of trial and celebration.  A fantastic choice for this Lenten season and I think it would be a great addition to any kind of worship service.  You can download a free lead sheet as well as an mp3 of Miriam Webster singing this lovely song here.

Don't forget to sign-up for their e-mail newsletter to stay connected and keep the free music coming.  Make sure to also check out the New Song Cafe where you can hear straight from the artist how they put together their song and what techniques they use to get the sound they wanted for that piece.  

Music Job Search Series: The All Important Resume

Creating a resume used to make me nervous.  I was always worried that I had left something out or had shared too much of the wrong thing.  I never felt like I had a happy medium until recently.  Now I am proud to share my resume and I wanted to help others feel that way, too.

First I started with a great template.  You can find them all over the internet these days.  I found mine in the templates section of Google Docs.  It gave me the fresh perspective that I needed to start plugging in my information.

A good template will have a prominent space to highlight your name and contact information.  Don’t forget to include your email address and your website or blog if you have one.  They are great places to highlight the details of projects you mention in your resume. 

After your contact information you want to collect all your resume information in one place to help make inputting a breeze.  Things to collect are information about your education, your previous employment, volunteer experience, and potential references with contact information.  You also want to be thinking about a profile or objective statement to summarize your employment interests.

Once all of your basic information has been gathered it’s time to plug it into your template.  The Circles Resume Template that I chose puts the headings in the following order:

Profile or Objective

Education

Work Experience

Volunteer Activities

References

My suggestion to you is to fill in all the necessary information but leave the profile or objective last.  It helped me quite a bit to scan my information before I wrote that statement summarizing my qualifications and goals for employment. 

So let’s start with what you will list under the Education heading.  You want to list institutions attended and courses completed with the most recent first.  Make sure you include any specializations you gained from your studies.  For example, while in high school I completed an independent study in choral conducting.  These are the things that will make your education experience stand out.  This is also the place to list any independent music lessons and study you have completed.  You want to list the teacher, what instrument you studied and for how long, starting with the most recent.

Next you will need to list your Work Experience.  You want to start with the most recent position and work your way down including 10+ years of experience if possible.  List the company, your position title, dates worked, address and phone number of company, and details about the job you completed.  Be as specific as possible when you list the skills you attained from each position and completed tasks.  Use action words whenever possible like: created, performed, taught, researched, organized, planned, managed, implemented, coordinated, composed, lead, prepared, educated, assisted, etc.  And if you are currently in a position use the present tense to describe your work.   

Don’t forget to list your Volunteer Activities.  Quite a bit of experience and skills can be gleaned and highlighted from the volunteer work that you do.  I have been staying current in my field of church music ministry by volunteering at my local church while I do my job search.  You want to list these activities in the same way as your work experience.  Use action words here as well to describe your accomplishments and be specific. 

The next important section to work on is your References.  Most jobs ask for at least three references to be included with your resume but I have been asked for as many as five.  You need to have the name and title of the person that you have asked to be your reference as well as their most up-to-date contact information.  Include e-mails whenever possible, too.

Finally you want to tackle your Profile or Objective Statement.  This is the place where as succinctly as possible you want to list your goals for employment and highlight specific skills.  Tell your potential employer why you are passionate about your work and what you feel you are called to do.  As an example here is my profile statement:

I am passionate about sharing music with people of all ages. I am a professional musician, instructor, director and worship leader with 10 years experience equipping individuals, choirs and ensembles with the skills needed for music excellence. I am called to enrich people's lives with music and the arts while helping to foster and strengthen personal relationships with God through dynamic worship and fellowship.

Once you are happy with your resume and how it looks now it is time to proofread.  Ask a couple of your friends to read it over for you and give you feedback.  Check for spelling and grammatical errors and make sure it says everything you feel it should say in less than two pages, three pages when you count your references page.  When that final step is done consider posting your polished resume on any social networking sites you are a member of.  I chose to list mine on LinkedIn and Indeed.

Here are a few additional Resume Writing Resources that may give you inspiration.

Top 10 Ways to Rock your Resume

Wikipedia Resume Resources

Resume Resource

Jobstar Resume Tools

How to Format a Music Resume

Join me next week as we continue to explore my Music Job Search.  Throughout this series I will cover Job Searching, Resumes, Cover Letters, Additional Application Requests Specific to Musicians, Selling Yourself to Prospective Employers, and What to do While you Wait in the coming weeks.  See you next week for Cover Letters.

Lenten Devotional: Week Two

Welcome to the second week of this Lenten journey! For this Lenten season I have put together a weekly series of devotionals from the Songs and Prayers of the Taizé community. Each devotional in the series will include a Psalm, Songs from Taizé, a picture of the cross that I hoped will aid in your reflection time, Intercessions and a prayer.   If you have just joined us and want to start from the beginning week one is here.

So take a minute to reflect on this week's message.

Psalm   from Psalm 25

My God, I trust you, let me not be disappointed;
do not let my enemies triumph.
Those who hope in you shall not be disappointed,
but only those who wantonly break faith.

Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me,
for you are God my savior.

In you I hope all the day long
because of your goodness, O Lord.
Remember your mercy, Lord,
and the love you have shown from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth.
In your love remember me.

The Lord is good and upright,
showing the path to those who stray,
guiding the humble in the right path,
and teaching the way to the poor.

Song

"Ubi caritas (Where Charity and Love are)", The Community of Taizé

 

Silence

 

Intercessions

For the victims of war and violence, O God, we pray.

For those wounded by the constraints and the harshness of life, O God, we pray.

For the elderly and the ill who are alone, O God, we pray.

For those who devote their energies to restoring peace, to creating justice, to helping those who suffer, O God, we pray.

O Christ, you died and rose for us so that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.

copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France.

 

Prayer

Christ of compassion, through your Gospel we discover that measuring what we are or what we are not leads nowhere. What matters is the humble trusting of faith. By it we are led to glimpse the innocence of God and to understand that “all God can do is give his love.”

 copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France.

 

Song

"Nada de Turbe (Nothing Can Trouble)", The Community of Taizé

 

*Special thanks to these online resources who helped me pull this together.

http://www.biblegateway.com

http://www.taize.fr/

Quote of the Week: "For many people a..."

 

 

"For many people a job is more than an income - it's an important part of who we are.  So a career transition of any sort is one of the most unsettling experiences you can face in your life." 

 

~Paul Clitheroe

Music Job Search Series: Finding that Perfect Job

Welcome to the first installment of my new series, "Music Ministry Job Search"!

I bet you are thinking that I have this a little out of order.  Why would I be Job hunting before I even have my resume and cover letter pulled together?  Well, let me explain. 

The world of music and worship job descriptions can be very complicated and demands a bit of research on your part before you hand out your first resume.  Most jobs in the secular world ask you to fill out a generic application and submit a resume with cover letter.  The most detailed they get is to ask you to give salary requirements or a portfolio of completed work that you are proud of.  I’m generalizing but you get the idea.  The job titles are more standardized and have expectations that the general public can identify.

In my music ministry job search it has been my experience that there is no standardization when it comes to job titles and job descriptions.  When listing a job each church seems to pack the job requirements and description with as much as humanly possible and no two are ever alike.  That stems from the fact that no two churches and no two ministries are alike and that each community has very different needs.

Here are some Job Keywords and Titles that I considered

• Director of Music
• Director of Worship Arts
• Worship Arts Director
• Worship Arts Minister
• Minister of Worship Arts
• Music Minister
• Director of Music & Arts Ministries

The first thing I did was search for current job listings on the web using those key words and checking out what appealed to me and what looked like a good fit for my skills.  I then placed those jobs in a Google doc spreadsheet that I could go back to when I was prepared to apply.  I had headings like: Church Name, Job Title, Full or Part time, Contact Person, email address, phone, street address, city, state, zip, website/blog & Job Info, and Application Due Date.

Here are some of the Places I go to for job listings

• Indeed Job Alerts -I set up a listing using keywords and job titles and set up alerts that are delivered into my email in-box daily
• Craigslist -Look under Community and Musicians
• United Methodist Church Job Board 
• American Guild of Organists Job Listings
• Choralnet's Classifieds
• US Music Jobs
• Church Staffing
• LinkedIn Job Search 
• Church Staff Search
• Church Jobs Online
• Berklee Music Billboard
• Career Builder

Sometimes as I weeded through job listings I would run across a job that would have been perfect but I fell short on the requirements or they were asking for more education than I had.  Don’t despair because this is an opportunity to reevaluate your education and skills and see where you could beef up some areas that you are weak in.  Several months ago I decided that I needed to work on learning more about and gaining practical knowledge in contemporary worship.  I joined my local church's praise band as a vocalist when it was reforming in 2010 and I got the opportunity to be a part of group that was starting from scratch.  I have since learned how to read a lead sheet and I am strengthening my music theory knowledge. 

I also found jobs that would be perfect until they added that the applicant needed to be an organist or guitarist.  I am neither of these.  Sometimes you can convince a church that you would be perfect for this job as long as they are willing to search for a separate musician to fill those roles.  Don’t be afraid to ask.  You never know.

So, this is the first step of many as we continue our journey into job searching in the music world.  Through out the series I will cover Job Searching, Resumes and Cover Letters, Additional Application Requests Specific to Musicians, Selling Yourself to Prospective Employers, and what to do while you wait. See you next week for The All Important Resume.

Lenten Devotional: Week One

Welcome to Ash Wednesday and the first week of this Lenten journey! For this Lenten season I have put together a weekly series of devotionals from the Songs and Prayers of the Taizé community. Each devotional in the series will include a Psalm, Songs from Taizé, a picture of the cross that I hoped will aid in your reflection time, Intercessions and a prayer. 

So take a minute to reflect on this week's message.

Psalm    from Psalm 32

Happy those whose offense is forgiven,
whose sin is remitted.
O happy those to whom the Lord
imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no guile.

Now I have acknowledged my sins;
my guilt I did not hide
I said: “I will confess
my offense to the Lord.”
And you, Lord, have forgiven
the guilt of my sin.

So let faithful people pray to you
in the time of need.
The floods of water may reach high
but they shall stand secure.
You are my hiding place, O Lord;
you save me from distress.

Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord,
exult, you just!
O come, ring out your joy,
all you upright of heart.

 

Song

"Bless the Lord", The Community of Taizé

 

Silence

 

Intercessions

God our Father, you want us to become new creatures in Christ. We pray to you.

Lord, you promise us new heavens and a new earth. Renew our hope.

You have freed us from our slavery by giving us your only Son; you open for us the way of freedom.

Enable us to listen to your Word and to welcome it with hearts filled with love.

We were dead and you brought us to life through the Spirit; we were sinners and you continually restore us to purity of heart.

copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France.

 

Prayer

God of peace, you do not want us to know relentless worry but rather a humble repentance of heart. It is like a surge of trusting that enables us to place our faults in you. And then, by the inner light of forgiveness, little by little we discover a peace of heart.

 copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France.

 

Song

"Jesus, Remember Me", The Community of Taizé

 

*Special thanks to these online resources who helped me pull this together.

http://www.biblegateway.com

http://www.taize.fr/

Quote of the Week: "Find a Job you..."

"Find a job you like and you add five days to every week."  

~H. Jackson Browne

Musical To-Do List: March 5, 2011

So, here is an update and a few things on my list for next week. 
   

- Send out revised resume and cover letter to current job list
 
-Continue collecting public domain children's songs for recording consideration.  This is still a work in progress

-Continue to search for Music Jobs and add them to the Job List

-Send out Referral Cover Letter with Resume to Friends and Colleagues

-Narrow down music recordings to share on blog, website etc.  I have had to put this on hold for a little while as I learn more about how to put my recordings online.




This is part of a new series here at the Elliott Music Studio called "Musical To-Do List".  I am hoping that these posts will help me focus my actions and share with you what I am doing to achieve my goals for 2011. I need the direction, extra motivation and accountability this will provide. 

Music In Our Schools Month

March is national Music In Our Schools Month sponsored by the The National Association of Music Education.  The theme for 2011 is "Music Lasts a Lifetime".

Nationwide our music programs are in danger as state and local legislators are attempting to make up for lack of funds in this difficult economy by cutting education budgets.  In many cases music programs are the first items on the chopping block.  Music comes so naturally with children and is an essential tool for learning.  It truly would be a sad day when music was no longer in our education system.  Now’s the time to get involved in your community and do your part to ensure that all students have access to a quality music education.

Video Message from MENC President Scott C. Shuler

Music Education Fact a Day for MIOSM -- Follow MENC on Twitter or "like" MENC on Facebook.
Each day in March, they will post a fact or quote that will reinforce the value and benefits of music education that you can share with your friends and followers.

For more information about Music In Our Schools Month and what you can do to keep music in our schools check out the MENC website here.

Introducing My New Music Job Search Series!

I wrote a post several weeks ago about my frustration at not being an employed music director. Since then I have been making strides to try and figure out what I need to do to make that a reality. I have evaluated my education and practical experience, reworked and updated my resume and cover letters, put together job listing sites that I regularly check and have started to get the word out that I am serious and looking.

As I have gone through this process I realized that looking for and applying for music ministry positions is not easy. You aren’t asked for the same information that an office professional or a food service worker would need to provide. The jobs you are looking for probably aren’t in your local paper’s classifieds section either. There are quite a few things that are specific to musicians that aren’t discussed when you start looking for help in your job search online.

So, that is where this Music Job Search Series was born. My goal for this series is to share some of my experience and make the process a little smoother for someone else. For the next few weeks we will walk through what it takes to job search in the music world. I will cover how to find the perfect job, resumes, cover letters, additional application requests specific to musicians, selling yourself to prospective employers, and what to do while you wait.

This is a unique opportunity for us to write the book on what it takes to job search in the music ministry world.  So, I encourage you to share your stories and tips in the comments as we journey together.

Video of the Week: Father And Daughter Sing

I came across this video a while ago on the NPR All Songs Considered Blog of Edward Sharpe from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and his daughter singing "Home".  I was struck by the sincerity with which his little girl sings and I do hope that someday with practice she can whistle.  Enjoy!