Taking up the cross and Following Christ

Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Is Bishop Prophet H. Walker's protest against Eddie Long called for?

Bishop Prophet H. Walker of the True Light Pentecostal Church in Spartanburg, SC plans to march to Atlanta to demand that Eddie Long resign. Bishop Eddie Long of  the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church is accused of sexual coercion of four young men from his congregation. It comes as shock to many because Long has protested against the homosexuals. Needless to say some hilarious comedy has been presented at the church about the topic by comedian Trina Jeffrie AKA Sis Cantaloupe who has done several jokes at his church such as "if you are gay and born that way, then be born again," She also said that a women on the talk show said her friend is coming out the closet,  Sis Cantaloupe says she needs to beat him back in there until he comes out right" but it seems to be no laughing matter when it is potentially the pastor. He has not came out of the closet, but the beans seems to spill with several cases coming forth.
 Has Eddie Long been deceiving his congregation and followers? He did not tell them that he was homosexual and have not echoed on it.   Should Eddie Long resign from his position as pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church? Bishop H. Walker thinks so, and many from the Christian community believe that he should. Should H. Walker march to Atlanta to protest? Is he taking a stand for what is right at any cause or any cost? Daniel took a stand for God in the lions den, and  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abenego took a stand  in the fiery furnace. God brought them out there situations for standing up for him and worshipping him and God was there with each of them. Daniel was not eaten by the lions in the den. Shadrach, Meshach and Obenego, was not harmed in the fiery furnace because God was there with, and gave them that assurance. If Walker is doing it for the Lord he shouldn't he be fine because it is a great cause and the Lord is with him. On the other hand some people believe Walker's motive for the protest is  money or fame which is a an extreme cost for publicity.  Should Walker protest because Eddie Long is giving the wrong interpretation for Christian standards, and doing so in hypocrisy and participating abominable acts? Bishop H. Walker also claims the title prophet.  Is there is something good to be produce out of doing the protest? Prophets sometimes are able to see things pertaining to the future because of their keen gifting from the Lord. What do you all think? Should Bishop H. Walker protest?

Playing Musical tunes into the Subconscious Mind

Many many musicians are paid continuously to develop jingles and tunes for the popular advertisements  and commercials that you see on an everyday basis on tv, internet, radio, and the list goes on. With these jingles, chords and songs whether good or bad, they are tapping into the emotions of many people. These repetitious phrases and things will cause you to embed the songs into your spirit emotion, thus later producing the effect through actions. For instance, some of the actions could include buying more than what your budget can hold, going to the store and shopping for things that you did not have in mind, and sometimes it is the action of behaving out of character.  As Christian we are to display lives that are positive and pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ, and sensitive to his voice by praying, being alert, and guarding our eye gates and ear gates according the holy word of God. Be careful to not be grasped as a victim of the tactics planted by the enemy through jingles tunes.

Looping in Musical Recording

Loops are usually a shorten section of up to four musical bars that you would repeat throughout a song. The looping in sequencing means something a little different than the way loop is used in conjunction with the musical recording term "Sampling". In all cases it means playing the same material over and over again. In sampling, you loop a portion of the waveform, so you can make a sound hold while a key is depressed. In "Production" you use a Loop as a pre-recorded snippet of sound that loops over and over, usually a specified amount time. Sequencer looping is closer to the latter and is actually related through MIDI  because you are repeating the information, not merely the same sound over and over.

Rulers in Musical Recording

Most audio recording software includes some type of ruler. A ruler is a scale used for measuring the time either in seconds, beats, or some other scale.  In MIDI it is usually named "Bars/Beats" you will usually see "inch" marks for the bars (beat 1 of each measure) and fraction marks for beats. Almost always there will be counter, usually on the Transport that shows your exact position such where the cursor is in whichever time scale you have selected. While the ruler may only show you bars and beats depending on how far you have zoomed in, a  counter will typically show you down to the tick level. In Cubase, when the ruler is set to bars + beats, the counter shows the location as bar:beat:sixteenth:tick. A value of 02:02:01:60 signifies the cursor is in measure 2, beat 2, first 16th, 60 ticks in which for you music types is the 43rd , 32nd note into the piece. The number of beats and sixteenths will of course change with the meter, but the parts per quarter note will remain the same.

Metronome in Musical Recording

Most MIDI Sequencers give you some method of playing to Tempo by using a Metronome or Click Track, which are both something that produce a steady sound (beep or click) to play against. Long ago, you had to use a physical Track on which a click sound would be at first created, then later just progressed into the events of what is now called "Click Track". Now these are virtual in that they do not even actually take up track space on the sequence. Most of the time the Click are the same as whatever the beat is such 120 BPM, you will hear 120 clicks per minute or 1 every 500ms, etc. Modern devices may allow you to use a different scale for your Click. For example,  you might want to hear 8th notes being clicked if the tempo is slow. The click track typically uses one of your MIDI Channels to produce sound.  Traditionally, drum/percussion sounds are put on channel 10, and the click is set to that channel as well. You can set it to any channel you want, but for consistency it is best to use channel 10. You are  usually offered the option of having a count-off wherein the clicks for a number of measures are usually 2 before recording begins. Additionally, you may the option of hearing the click either only while recording, only during playback, both or neither(off). Knowing where the beat location is important in MIDI because of quantization. Quantization will be dicussed in another upcoming post.

Musical Tempo and Meters

MIDI devices are primarily used by musicians to make music, time is basically expressed in terms of Beat Per Minute (BPM). The speed of the beats are called Tempo. A tempo of 60 bpm signifies that there are 60 beats per minute. That is because of there are the same number of seconds,  which means one beat per second.  You may calculate other time relationships, such as 120 bpm which is 2 beats per second, or 1 beat per half second. There is the concept of doubling and dividing/halfing the numbers.

Meters also group beats into units called "Measures", and the number of "Beats per Measure"(NOT BPM). The measures are in meters which represents in music by a Meter Signature or Time Signature. These are written in a fraction format. Here is an example, 4/4 which is a meter of 4 beats per measure.  The top number represent the beats and bottom represents the measures. 4/4 Meter means there are 4 beats in a measure, and 1/4 quarter note gets one beat. This means if the Tempo is 120 BPM, each quarter note which is a beat is a half-second long, there will be two per second, and a measure of 4 quarters will last 2 seconds.

There is a relationship between beat, bpm, and minutes, so with a little math, any tempo can be calculated. In beats though, using fractions smaller than 16th notes gets a little cumbersome, musicians do not use them that much at all. So instead, most devices use something called"tick" or clock value. Ticks are measured in parts per quarter notes (ppqn). For example, a ppqn of 480 means there are 480 units parts per quarter note and 120 per 16th note.  Notice that 480 can be divided by 60. This means more whole numbers will flow, and it will be able to come out in seconds, when an even will happen in musical time.