I uploaded this song to www.reverbnation.com/jeffkreh late last month and immediate received a "where are the horns??" message from my good friend Jeff Henig. The refreshed version (which also sports massaged vocals that are a bit more pleasing to the ear concerned with pitch) is uploaded and ready for your comments. Just head over to reverbnation and take a listen to the first track, "Remote Control"
The song uses a dual metaphor to explore the emptiness of treating God, through selfish prayers, like a simple remote control. Those who wish to delve into the secondary metaphor of living in a representative system of government where the voice of the people is being lost can make additional connections between the "remote control" metaphor and prayer...
Enjoy!
04 November 2009
Focus Group Update
The MCA focus group was incredible. First, these high-school students are operating at a graduate level in many respects. It was humbling to hear their take on "To Any Looking In" and "Anymore" during our time together. Most of the comments were along the lines of agreement. The underlying truth in these songs seems to resonate - which prompted one student to confess her challenge with materialism and need for greater faith in Christ.
The students also noted the impracticalities in today's world of having "focus groups" for listening/thinking about much of anything outside of an academic or "church" setting. However, they were quick to point out that lyrics, especially when "pemcoated" by appealing music (like the fertilizer surround the "perfect patch" grass seed), sinks into the subconscious of the listener and takes root. This is seen in the common use of lyric snippets or song titles in facebook posts and daily language (like Jesus saying, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" from Psalm 22). So, the art of music, in the hands of a Christian, can have a powerful effect on the thoughts, considerations, and actions of even the most casual listener.
One final insight the students offered is that the job of the artist is to produce art. This sounds kind of simplistic at first, but is pretty profound. Artists, in the purest sense, are not concerned with anything so much as creating art - the purer the better. When I asked about relationship with artists the students were, for the first time, perplexed. "You mean, like, have a relationship with an artist?" I realized then and there that no matter how hard I may try to deeply interact and form relationships with listeners, that my primary concern is to "preach the word."
Casting the seed of the message of Christ is of second priority to pursuing my relationship with Him. Casting the seed helps my relationship with Him and may lead to others pursuing Him. But like my job as an artist is to create and publish art, my job as a Christian is to cast the seed of His Word and be, likewise, cast by Him as a seed of influence into the world.
Please continue to pray for my efforts to be good seed as I seek to lift up the "least" among us as the Greatest.
The students also noted the impracticalities in today's world of having "focus groups" for listening/thinking about much of anything outside of an academic or "church" setting. However, they were quick to point out that lyrics, especially when "pemcoated" by appealing music (like the fertilizer surround the "perfect patch" grass seed), sinks into the subconscious of the listener and takes root. This is seen in the common use of lyric snippets or song titles in facebook posts and daily language (like Jesus saying, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" from Psalm 22). So, the art of music, in the hands of a Christian, can have a powerful effect on the thoughts, considerations, and actions of even the most casual listener.
One final insight the students offered is that the job of the artist is to produce art. This sounds kind of simplistic at first, but is pretty profound. Artists, in the purest sense, are not concerned with anything so much as creating art - the purer the better. When I asked about relationship with artists the students were, for the first time, perplexed. "You mean, like, have a relationship with an artist?" I realized then and there that no matter how hard I may try to deeply interact and form relationships with listeners, that my primary concern is to "preach the word."
Casting the seed of the message of Christ is of second priority to pursuing my relationship with Him. Casting the seed helps my relationship with Him and may lead to others pursuing Him. But like my job as an artist is to create and publish art, my job as a Christian is to cast the seed of His Word and be, likewise, cast by Him as a seed of influence into the world.
Please continue to pray for my efforts to be good seed as I seek to lift up the "least" among us as the Greatest.
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