Wade in the Water (I Think I Know What You Started)

Always For Me

Zach and Sal Episode 2

Alicia Keys Cover - Fallin

Zach and Sal Episode 1

Seattle Alternative Radio

I'm excited to announce that Seattle Alternative Radio will begin adding Zach Trandum tunes to their rotation!

Be sure to look for me on Pandora, Apple Music, and Amazon as well!

Pandora

I am excited to announce that my single, What You Do To My Heart, will be included in the Pandora rotation!  Things have not gone live yet but will be soon!  Thanks for all your support yall and keep on listening!!!

What You Do To My Heart

So I do this thing where I go back and listen to a bunch of my old songs, pouring over each one, borderline obsessively.  I don't do this because I'm in love with myself (Kanye. DOWN BOY.) but because my creative mind is almost always hearing new things each time I listen to the tune.  New ideas form, or old ones get cut.  It's truly one of my favorite parts of the creative process!
Anyway,
I wrote this a while back and released it as a single.  I hope you enjoy it!

Love is Not a Fight (a Warren Barfield Cover)

I wrote a post a little while back about songs that just punch you in the heart, in a good way.  This happens to be one of those, for me.
Love is Not a Fight is absolute poetry that paints a picture of what love truly is.  It's not something we fall in and out of.  Love is not something that just happens because love, at it's core, is God.  God is a purposeful, creative Father, so why would we think love to be any different?  Love is not simply emotion, but an action that is demonstrated through peace, and pain, and joy, and sadness, and hurt, and healing, and so many other things.  Love is not something meant to be left behind.
I love this song and just had to do a cover of it, though I actually recorded it quite a while ago.  Time to revisit and share the fun!

Here is Warren Barfield's "Love is Not a Fight".

Get Out of the Green Room

I watched a fantastic video via The Verge Network this morning.  It was a talk surrounding the fact, yes FACT, that worship leaders need to get off their butts, get out of the green room, and go connect with people!  I'm wrapping myself in here as well because I have absolutely been one of those leaders who goes and does his thing, and then gets a coffee, plops down on the couch and proceeds to "listen" to the sermon via the web stream.

Jesse Stone, of Austin Stone Worship, lays this out so perfectly and it fires me up!  Do you realize that you have an incredible platform?  You have the opportunity as a worship leader to connect with, love on, lift up, encourage, teach, and so many other things, the people in the congregation you serve.  Listen to the word I just used one more time... "Serve".

I'll be the first to admit that I used to use my platform as a spotlight for my gifts.  I was in college, playing professionally all over the Seattle area and saw it as an opportunity to do more music.  I was squandering the abilities God gave me and was incredibly fortunate to have leaders over me who recognized the potential in me and took time out of their own lives to mentor and teach. 

The bottom line here is this,
the green room is not a lounge, it's a place a preparation and prayer.  Use it as that, and then get out so you can connect with the amazing people around you!  Pray with them, encourage them.  Maybe God has a mentor opportunity just waiting for you.

Watch Jesse Stone's video via The Verge Network here! I loved it and I think you will too.

Set the Atmosphere for Creativity

Being that I just love creativity, and knowing that you need the right atmosphere to get creative, here is an awesome set of tunes, probably geared toward my fellow nerds, that should help.
I grew up playing video games and fell in love with the RPG genre.  The character and story development always captured me.  This music is taken from one of the most successful RPG sagas in history, Final Fantasy.  If you're an RPG fan you've more than likely at least heard of this series and if you haven't played it yet, you NEED to make it a thing.
I know, most of the time I'm writing about worship, and leading, and stuff..... Today seemed like a great day to just have some fun!  Make sure you get some time to kick back and relax for a bit folks!  Break out your oldschool gaming system and lay in to some bad guys!!!

I aspire to one day write a mind blowingly amazing adventure novel.  I've developed some character ideas already but haven't really fleshed anything out.  Sometimes I'll sit down with my sketch pad and just scribble out some ideas of how these characters could look.  Other times I write their back story and imagine myself as that character.  But every time i sit down to write like this, even as I'm writing to you now, I need some atmosphere, so I put on something that will stir up my brains creativity and these songs work amazingly well.  You can also find these with full orchestra, and they are EPIC!

So my bottom line here is this:
1. Take time to refresh. Relax and do the things you enjoy!  I read a ton, and love the occasional old school video game.
2. When you're recharged and feeling that creative urge, make sure you have a space that holds the atmosphere you need to cultivate those creative ideas.

Who knew that such incredible music could come out of video games. 
This particular song set is taken from one of the video game industry's top ranked game of all time, Final Fantasy VII.

How To Tell When Your Ministry Has The Wrong Focus

This is such an incredible word!  I've been under leadership like this in the past and have seen the damage a ministry can do to it's people when the focus is shifted from where it truly needs to be.
I encourage you to read through this article and maybe take some time to consider your own ministry.

Brought to you by Worship Links

JD Greear writes: Sadly, most of us can all too easily recount stories of pastors who betrayed their congregations, who hurt the very people God had called them to love, who—in short—made their ministry all about them… As a Christian leader, I don’t hear stories like that and congratulate myself. I hear them and tremble. Because the same pride that has shipwrecked countless other ministries lives in my heart. And in yours.
We need to be constantly vigilant for signs that our ministry has become all about us. Here are a few…  Read more...

Perspective: Creative Greatness

What does it really take to be a great songwriter?  Not just a good one, but a GREAT one.  I don't think the answer is the same for every songwriter.  Each of us has our own unique sounds and lyrical ideas, so it would be impossible for all of us to share the same idea of "greatness".  And let me be clear about the term "greatness".  I'm not looking at this through a "I wanna be gloriously famous and in the lime light for all of eternity" lens.  Greatness is not always seen by the public eye.
For me, being a great songwriter means looking through the eyes of someone else.  It means empathizing with what they might be feeling in their circumstances.  If it's pain, trying to understand it, crafting those emotions in to lyrics.  If it's joy, grabbing on to that, forming it in to a melody.

Much of the time we can become locked in to our own life experiences.  We forget that there is an entire world of creative inspiration right in front of us just waiting to be tapped in to.  So plug in!  Create a story line in your head, maybe even write it out, and then try to transfer it in to a song.  Use your creative muscles to break out of your usual box and try something different.

Here is a song I wrote back in 2009.  While the song sounds as though I'm singing from my own perspective, I actually wrote it with a dear friend in mind.  They were in the midst of a battle with their self image and the truth of who God created them to be.  I walked with them as a support beam, but it was hard to see them experiencing so much pain.  I imagined myself in their shoes, and composed this song.  Fast forward to today and I've found that this song rings truer now in my own heart than when I originally wrote it.

Zach Trandum Presents: I'm So In Love With You

Just a couple years ago I composed this little ditty.  Coffee in hand, surrounded by the walls of our cozy little apartment, my 12 year old Mac working it's tail of to do pretty much anything.  This isn't even close to a finished product, but I came across it in my archives fairly recently and fell in love with the song all over again.

Comparison: Break Yourself

I love being a part of ground breaking events.  Being on the cusp of something new has always been exciting to me.
It was years ago, probably around 2004 or 05, that I ventured in to The Republic of Georgia with a small team of worshipers bent on bringing praise in to the atmosphere of the people of Georgia's homes and cities.  We literally had no other mission other than worshiping and loving on people.  We landed early in the morning and were amazed by the small crowd that showed up to greet us as we got off the plane.  The church we were partnered with had shown up in full force to welcome us to their home.  It was amazing!
As we ventured in to the next day, we were sent out in to the city to visit the homes of many of the church members.  This is where I learned a valuable lesson... When visiting a culture that welcomes guests with lots of food, take small bites.  I think I probably gained about ten pounds that day. I pretty much felt like Jabba the Hutt with legs.

Near the end of our trip, after seeing some of the countries most historic and holy sites, including what most historians believe to be the burial ground of Mathias, we were invited to hold an open worship concert at Tbilisi's national museum. This was a great honor since this type of event was pretty much unheard of.

The concert kicked off amazingly well!  We had a packed house!  We did a handful of our favorite songs, and then started in to a small set of jazz standards.  I was an aspiring jazz vocalist fresh out of high school, so this was an awesome opportunity to test my chops.  After a few more tunes we had 2 student musicians ask if they could join us for an improv jam session.  I was excited about this, at first... When the flute player started completely shredding an incredible solo, while playing piano at the same time, I pretty much decided that I would just go crawl in a hole and hide.  These two guys, who just came out of nowhere, were AMAZING musicians.  They hadn't even graduated high school yet!

Though I was enjoying our time, I began comparing my own abilities to theirs, slowly sinking deeper in to a state of self conscious, depression and ineffectiveness.

Comparing yourself to others can destroy you when you look through the lens of self consciousness.  So don't do it!  I know that's easier said than done, I still battle with this concept and probably always will to some extent.  The difference is that now I recognize it when it happens.  So I'm shining a light on it for YOU!  Recognize it!!!  God did not design you to be like that other guitar player, singer, or drummer on the stage.  he didn't design you to speak or preach like that other pastor at the church that's bigger than yours.  There are skills you can sharpen, sure, but you will never be exactly like another, so begin practicing rest.  Rest in who God's created YOU to be.

I'm not the wisest dude on the planet, so I'm not going to give you a step by step instructional video on how to "be you".  Talk to God, get some wise council if you need it, but just start reprogramming your mind and heart to recognize that YOU were created uniquely by your father.  If you continue to live life by comparing your own gifts to others, you will only succeed in breaking yourself.

You and I: An Original Song by Zach Trandum (Featuring Sarah Trandum)

I have some pretty amazing people in my life.  God has richly blessed me with family and friends that have loved me enough to not only walk with me and rejoice in the good times, but to call me on my crap in the tougher times.  The single greatest, most amazing (and super hot) person in my life is my incredible wife, Sarah.  When I step back and look at the gift God gave me in her I am, quite literally, speechless.  And that's saying a lot because I like words lol.  This girl sharpens me, encourages me, challenges me, recharges me, along with so many other things.  And to top it off, just when I thought things couldn't get any better, she gave me a daughter.  Did I mention she's smoke'n hot? Cuz yeah, she is.  BONUS!!!!
Back in 2009, right when Sarah and I started dating, I was the worship pastor of a small church in Mount Vernon Washington.  Sarah would drive more than 2 hours to come visit me.  On one particular afternoon I was in the church neck deep in a songwriting session.  When she arrived I was getting ready to lay down a scratch track for my records.  Knowing that she's had quite a bit of musical experience and training herself, I asked Sarah to sing with me on the tune.  It took her all of 2 minutes to latch on to the melody, find the harmonies, and remember the lyrics.  I've been doing music for a long time and I still cant pick things up as fast as she does (kinda drives me nuts lol).
Well kids, this is the recording we did that day.  Nothing special at all about the production.  Its just the two of us singing live, worshiping God.  I sincerely hope you enjoy the tune!

Let the Music Thump You

If you could make worship music literally thump in your chest, I'm pretty sure this is what it would sound like.  One of the reasons I've fallen head over heals in love with Dubstep is because it is so insanely creative.  Hank Hill may label it as a bunch of toilet noises... But Dubstep has a musical quality that you just can't get anywhere else and now we're hearing more and more of it breaking in to Christian music. 

Whether you agree or not, these Christian Dubstep sounds are worth a listen. Let your ears drown in the thump.

Psalms: Sandra McCracken

Via Relevant

Sandra McCracken is a singer, songwriter and producer from Nashville, TN. Over the course of eight critically acclaimed studio albums, Sandra has developed a body of work that encompasses hook-driven melodic pop, No Depression-style Americana, contemporary recastings of classic hymns, and even children's music as part of the Nashville alt-folk super-group Rain For Roots.
Read more...

A Lounge Called Leopard

Back in 2009 I was blessed with an incredible opportunity.  I had been on the hunt for a fun songwriting competition to take part in and came across Facebook Idol, which was sponsored by Sweatshop Studios.  I submitted one of my tunes and pretty much forgot about it for a while.  With online competitions I had, at that point, pretty much decided that most of them were a load of junk.

Well I soon found out that I had made it in to the top 15 of the contestants.  To make a long story short, while I didn't win the competition I was contacted by Sweatshop and offered a contract.
In a matter of months I found myself behind the mic in Katona, New York, at the incredible facilities of Sweatshop Studios, recording my own songs.  It was a dream come true.

After spending an amazing eternity in studio, we ventured out to a venue on the east side of NYC called the Sinsin Leopard Lounge (no, I don't know who named the place).  I was honored to perform there for a packed house alongside a couple of the other Facebook Idol finalists.  Such an amazing evening that was!!!

Here is a little snip from the trip.  The song you'll here I actually ended up re-writing with gospel lyrics, but i still like going back and listening to the old version every now and then.  This is "Cut Down" live in New York City.

What You Can Do: Breaking the Creative Box

Being a student of vocal jazz, I was exposed to one of the more creative sides of the genre.  I can't put a label on exactly what drew me to vocal improv (or "scat").  I fell in love with jazz at an early age and have been border line obsessed with it since then.  As I began developing my abilities as a vocalist I started listening to artists like Kurt Elling and Mark Murphy, who are known for their incredible scat skills.

One of the reasons I love vocal improvisation is the fact that it is insanely creative.  What would happen if we included aspects like this in to worship music!?  Awesome is what would happen.  If anything it would be a venture outside the normal box that so much of worship music is stuck in right now.  I'm not dissing on what the current popular sound is, I'm just saying that we weren't created to be creatively limited.  So how can we bust out off the box?

Here is a cover I did of an oldy that I'm sure you'll recognize.  I put my own spin on it.



But Seriously, what are your thoughts on creative worship music?  What aspects and cross genre sounds could you incorporate to usher in a new sound?

The bible tells us that we are created in His image.  This means that God, being the ultimate creative being, made us with the ability to be hugely creative.  But how do we get those creative juices flowing?   How do we take old songs and make them feel new?  Here are a few thoughts I have on this subject:

1. Listen like crazy.  Not just to the stuff you usually stick to.  Venture away from your DC Talk CD's and branch out.  Charge your creative batteries by listening to other creative people.  David Crowder is a great example of a massively creative writer.

2. Play with what you're playing.  Try taking the worship tunes you're used to playing one way and take them in a different direction with a different feel.  Who knows, maybe Mighty To Save would sound awesome as a Ska song. 

3. If you're a songwriter, get together with other songwriters and bounce ideas off each other.  Let creativity inspire creativity!

4. Make time for yourself to sit down and create.  Even if nothing of real substance comes out of the time spent, you're still working those muscles.  Creativity takes practice!