flow. You’re probably not engaging your heart
in the same was you would if you had learned
the songs and really crafted the skill so you can
engage your heart and not have to just engage
your mind. There is a saying that excellence
attracts excellence. I think that’s a big part of it
too, these guys who laid down there life in the
midst of chaos, and this still happens, you’re go
in and practice four songs and then the worship
leader will just totally change the plan and do
two different songs, not even do those songs,
and this was a common thing. The musicians,
even if they’re frustrated and they spent time
practicing, there is something in that, that these
guys cultivated, to just go with the punches
wherever the Lord wants to go, they can go.
There are no boundaries, and I think that’s big
in the culture of UPPERROOM. Oscar, if you
sing any song spontaneously onstage, he’s
going to go with you and he’s going to know
the song. The reason he is going to know the
song is because, all of those years of practicing
songs that he didn’t end up doing on a Sunday
when the worship leader changed the script,
all of those years practicing those songs that
were never used were never wasted. That’s so
key. A lot of musicians get frustrated and think,
why even practice the song, we’re not going
to play the song. And we’ve really come a long
way since this, but I really think its key because
none of that was ever wasted, because these
guys gave their life to it and it is phenomenal
how they can engage their heart.
[WM] To that I would say that church
musicians and worship teams are called to be
more than “cover” bands. Like you say, there’s
a lot of rehearsal and practice that doesn’t
make it exactly that way to the Sunday morning
service. It’s a bit like movie making. When a
film is made, most of the celluloid ends up on
the cutting room floor. Most of what was done,
people never even see and in that same way,
the musical work behind the scenes is what
helps toward spontaneity in worship.
Let’s talk about the new project. Land of the
Living, UPPERROOM’S newest full album, was
recently released to great acclaim. I read that it
was released a bit early with a desire to inspire
hope, peace, and faith during Covid19, and I
believe that you co-produced it with Oscar
Gamboa. Please tell us about the project in
general. I know that the church gives great
place to spontaneity in worship.
[Matt] Our original plan was that we were
going to release the album at the end of April
or early May. Right when this whole thing went
down and we were going into the ”stay at
home” orders and all of this stuff at the very
beginning in mid-March. We just felt like in
the whole world no one has any idea what’s
going on, it was wheels off. I think the scariest
thing was never the virus. the scariest thing
was the uncertainty of what any of it means,
because it was so unknown. So, we felt like
we were supposed to get it out. We just pulled
the trigger on it and we released in extremely
24 July 2020
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