Lights

Last weekend I got to do lights for our Sunday service. Lighting is my second most favorite art form (to music of course). It is my one way to perform visual art. I am a horrible artist (stick figures are the best for me) and don't even go there with graphic design or sculpting, etc. It is just cool to be able to visually complement what is going on the stage. I attended an arts conference at Willow Creek a few weks back. One of the sessions I attended was lighting for music and I really got a lot out of that. I coincided so much with how I play music, write songs, and design set lists. I learned how to create settings based on how the song is constructed: a verse may have its own look while a chorus is another, and so on. They really discouraged the excesses of flashing lights. Flashing lights do have their place but it can be the most overused thing that lighting artists do. The idea is to complement the song (or anything else on the stage) and not take over. Draw the audience into the moments and not distract them.

I really wanted to test some of that out last weekend but of course there were 5 lamps out! Couldn't do much! Well, I am back on board in a couple weeks - with all lights working! We will see how things go then.