Sunstrike Files

Holy Week Video #3: Holy Saturday

In my experience, people get caught up in Holy Week and want to skip from Good Friday straight to Easter. I get it. It's the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Understand it completely.

But I see Holy Saturday - that day between Jesus's Death and Resurrection - as being a place where time just ground to a halt. The Apostles - who truly understood and learned first-hand from the Son of God - were in hiding and had to deal with the guilt of skipping out during His time of need. (Okay... John was there, but you get it.) His mother Mary just watched her beloved son die. There was religious elite who were basking in their perceived victory over the greatest threat to their power.

How many of us had times like that in our lives where there was this disruptive event that ground EVERYTHING to a halt? September 11, 2001? January 6, 2021? Assassination of JFK?

As an adult, there were two days in particular that come to mind. February 27, 2002: The death of my older brother from a housefire. His twin had died the same way in 1980. May 4, 2017: When my father passed away.

For many of us, COVID-19 began another one of those seasons. Like many musicians, on March 14, 2020, I had gigs lined up through the summer... that disappeared on March 15! People had their travel plans disrupted. Entire industries were shutting down. Restaurants, churches, groceries, schools, etc. were forced to change EVERYTHING as quickly as they could. No one had a clue how things were going to develop or that a year later, over 550,000 Americans would have succumbed to the disease.

So... Why am I thinking about this? With death, there is a rebirth. Jesus is coming. Life is coming. Sure, the "Normal" that you knew before is gone, but some other type of "Normal" is on the cusp. Don't lose hope! Don't lose faith!

There's a light up ahead.

So… One of my “projects” for 2021 is learning how to do multi-track videos.

There are a number of reasons the idea came to mind, particularly in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic that has killed 406 Million Americans in the last ten months. If you haven’t checked, virtual ensembles – bands, choirs, etc. – have EXPLODED during that time. The people who already knew how to do this had a leg up on everyone else.

Though I’m primarily a pianist and music director, I also happen to love arranging. Pulling together the people to learn the arrangements – much less during an uncontrolled pandemic – is a bit of a challenge.

You can read the rest of it here: http://sunstrikefiles.com/multi-track-video-the-lord-is-my-light