Music To Pray By

Twenty weeks in. Podcast 90 is here.

This week was mostly the light bar.

In This Episode

0:00 Selah in A — from 6-8-2026 Song 6

6:16 Selah in B — from 6-9-2026 Song 2

10:48 Selah in A — from 6-9-2026 Song 4

15:21 Selah

24:47 Selah in F — from 6-10-2026 Song 4

27:48 Selah in G — from 6-11-2026 Song 3

A Printer, Printed Mounts, and a Dark Bar

I got a 3D printer this week so I can keep improving the LED bar. The next step is printed mounts that sit in the piano’s existing fallboard supports, instead of the angle iron pieces I had been using. Those metal ends worked, but I was never comfortable leaving that kind of hardware that close to the piano, even though I had felt tape on the ends.

I also added a second LED strip. Fitting that, plus printing and reprinting the mounts, took longer than I expected. The bar was out of commission for the first two live streams this week. I am still iterating. The goal is the same as last week: a removable rail that shows more of the movement in the music, without attaching anything to the finish or the keys. When it is on, it adds a really cool dynamic while I play.

Carlen Next Weekend

Carlen Charleston with Jesus MOB is coming over next weekend to record. I have a lot to get ready so Podcast 91 and the shorts stay on schedule.

A Journal for My Boys

I have also started using AI to help me keep a journal for my boys. I talk it out. It writes it down. I keep the original recording and only clean up the obvious speech-to-text mistakes. That has made it easier to actually do it, instead of waiting until I have a free hour to sit and type.

Pray the Bible: A Prayer When God Feels Far

This week’s Pray the Bible Short comes from last podcast. It is Psalm 13: an honest lament that turns back to trust. It went up yesterday from the Podcast 89 music.

If the embed is not loading, the direct link is youtube.com/shorts/vr6JFXVHMVw.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for praying.

The post Music To Pray By Podcast 90 appeared first on Music To Pray By.

Nineteen weeks in. Podcast 89 is here.

Six new Selahs this week, along with the first finished look at a project I have been wanting to build for a while.

In This Episode

0:00 Selah in F — from 6-4-2026 Song 2

4:36 Selah in E — from 6-4-2026 Song 4

10:49 Selah in B — from 6-4-2026 Song 5

18:21 Selah in D — from 6-5-2026 Song 2

22:48 Selah in E — from 6-5-2026 Song 4

26:03 Selah in A — from 6-8-2026 Song 3

Williamsburg and Home Again

Our family vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia, was awesome. It was good to get away, spend that time together, and come home with plenty of memories. I could easily turn the trip into a much longer post, but for now I will just say that I am grateful we were able to go.

A New Light Across the Keys

The biggest visual change this week is the new LED rail across the piano. It is a removable aluminum bar that uses the piano’s existing fallboard supports, so nothing is glued to the finish or keys. A Raspberry Pi listens to the MIDI performance and drives individually addressable lights across the keyboard. The goal is not just to add color, but to let the overhead camera show more of the movement and shape inside the music.

The piano opened up while I fitted the removable aluminum rail.
A look at some of the power, data, and LED work behind the new light bar.
This is the first working version, not the last one. I already have ideas for matte-black 3D-printed clips and baffles that will hide the emitters and focus more of the light onto the keys. I am also leaving room for a second strip once I rebuild the power path for it properly. The current result is exciting, but there is still plenty of room to make it cleaner and better.

Finding the Rhythm Again

Getting back into the rhythm of the morning live streams after vacation has been harder than I expected. If a few extra flubbed notes have slipped through this week, I apologize. I am settling back in, and next week should be better.

Pray the Bible: A Prayer for Direction

This week’s Pray the Bible Short comes from Psalm 25. It has been one of the more-watched prayers in the series, and it is a fitting one for any season when the next step is not completely clear.

If the embed is not loading, the direct link is youtube.com/shorts/JLsfFKj5Tzk.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for praying.

The post Music To Pray By Podcast 89 appeared first on Music To Pray By.

Eighteen weeks in. Podcast 88 is here.

Four Selahs this week, drawn from three morning streams. By the time this posts, we should be home from our family trip, unpacking slowly and recovering from a very full couple of weeks.

In This Episode

Four spontaneous pieces from June 1 through June 3. The timestamps will match the YouTube chapters, and each link goes back to the full morning the piece came from:

0:00 Selah in G — from the 6-1-2026 stream, Song 4

16:13 Selah in C — from the 6-2-2026 stream, Song 3

21:16 Selah in F — from the 6-2-2026 stream, Song 5

24:20 Selah in C — from the 6-3-2026 stream, Song 2

Home Again

If everything went according to plan, we made it home yesterday. After living out of suitcases and covering a lot of miles, this weekend is mostly about resting, unpacking, and settling back into normal life. This is the extra episode I worked to finish before we left so the weekly rhythm could continue while we were away.

I expect the trip will show up here again once I have had time to sort through it. There are stories to tell and probably a few pictures worth sharing. I will include some of those details in a podcast a couple of weeks from now.

Still Wrestling with Piano VFX

I tried quite a few things while producing this episode to improve Piano VFX. One known MIDI timing problem has been addressed, but a longer render still develops enough drift that the falling notes do not stay locked to the real keys all the way through the performance.

For now, the reliable answer is manual. I split the VFX layer by song in Final Cut Pro and use its Retime controls to bring each section back into alignment. It works, but it adds another two or three hours to production. I am still deciding whether that weekly cost is worth it. I do like the finished look, especially now that the camera is directly over the keyboard.

I also used my agent to help create a new set of effects for this episode. They feel more natural around the notes and piano than the flame effects used in the previous two podcasts. That part was fun, and it is one reason I keep working on the visual side even when the timing problem makes me wonder whether I should stop.

A Disklavier Fix That Worked

There was another improvement this week that will be less obvious on screen. After listening tests on the Disklavier, I refined the MIDI workflow so it changes release velocity only for tight repeated notes while the sustain pedal is down. The rest of the performance stays untouched. It is a small adjustment, but the repeated notes respond more cleanly and the original playing still sounds like me.

This Week’s TCC Worship Short

To close, here is At The Altar Pt4 from the June 7 TCC Sunday service. Take a minute and let the worship draw you back toward His presence.

If the embed isn’t loading for you, the direct link is youtube.com/shorts/cPmdTpngo14.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for praying.

The post Music To Pray By Podcast 88 appeared first on Music To Pray By.

Seventeen weeks in. Podcast 87 is up.

Seven Selahs this week, pulled from four morning streams — with a new view over the piano and a family vacation beginning in the background.

In This Episode

Seven spontaneous pieces, drawn from May 28 through June 2. The timestamps match the YouTube chapters, and each link goes back to the full morning the piece came from:

0:00 Selah in D — from the 5-28-2026 stream, Song 4

4:37 Selah in D — from the 5-29-2026 stream, Song 3

9:34 Selah in E — from the 6-1-2026 stream, Song 3

13:12 Selah in B — from the 5-29-2026 stream, Song 5

21:41 Selah in G — from the 6-1-2026 stream, Song 5

23:35 Selah in A — from the 6-2-2026 stream, Song 1

28:50 Selah in E — from the 6-2-2026 stream, Song 2

A New View Over the Piano

I changed the camera arrangement again this week, moving the main view much closer to a true overhead shot. It gives the keyboard more room in the frame while opening up the inside of the Yamaha C7 behind it.

The new camera, lighting, and microphone arrangement around the piano.
One small change turned out to matter: I had to remove the keyboard cover. Its front lip was hiding the tops of the keys from the higher camera, and the obstruction became especially noticeable once I added the falling notes. With the cover gone, the whole keyboard reads cleanly from above.

The finished overhead view with the full keyboard visible.
More Time for the Reason I Stream

The new angle fits Piano VFX much better. The falling notes have a clear path into the real keyboard, and the piano itself stays at the center of the picture.

It also makes the daily streams easier in a way I did not expect. Only my hands are in the shot now, so I do not have to spend part of the morning getting camera-ready. That gives me a little more time with God before the stream and a little less time thinking about the camera. I am happy with that trade.

On the Road to Williamsburg

If everything is going to plan, this episode is posting while we are waking up in Roanoke and getting ready for the last stretch to Williamsburg. We have a shorter drive today, with Natural Bridge and a stop in historic Lexington along the way before checking in at Historic Powhatan later this afternoon.

After two long travel days, I am looking forward to slowing down with Yoko and the boys. Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, and even a family movie are on the plan before we turn west for home. I staged this episode ahead so the weekly rhythm could continue while we are away.

This Week’s Pray the Bible

To close, a prayer from Jude: A Prayer Kept from Stumbling. It is a good reminder that God is able to keep us and bring us into His presence with joy.

If the embed isn’t loading for you, the direct link is youtu.be/EtomQXAfuiA.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for praying.

The post Music To Pray By Podcast 87 appeared first on Music To Pray By.

Sixteen weeks in. Podcast 86 is up.

Seven Selahs this week, pulled from four morning streams — and another busy week of changes behind the scenes.

In This Episode

Seven spontaneous pieces, drawn from May 25 through May 28. The timestamps match the YouTube chapters, and each link goes back to the full morning the piece came from:

0:00 Selah in C — from the 5-25-2026 stream, Song 6

5:07 Selah in E — from the 5-26-2026 stream, Song 1

10:07 Selah in C — from the 5-26-2026 stream, Song 2

19:01 Selah in F — from the 5-26-2026 stream, Song 5

21:21 Selah in B — from the 5-27-2026 stream, Song 4

22:51 Selah in A — from the 5-27-2026 stream, Song 5

28:22 Selah in C — from the 5-28-2026 stream, Song 2

Moving Beyond a One-Provider Workflow

A lot of this week was spent moving the systems I use behind the scenes away from Claude Desktop and Cowork and into Hermes. I’ve depended on Claude Desktop for quite a while, but I don’t want one company’s app to be where every project, automation, and bit of context has to live.

With Hermes, the work stays put while I can use different models for different jobs. Claude is still available when it’s the right fit; it just doesn’t have to hold the whole system anymore. If one service is busy, changes direction, or simply isn’t the best tool for a particular job, I can keep working without moving everything again.

Putting Grok 4.5 and ChatGPT 5.6 to Work

The timing was interesting: Grok 4.5 and ChatGPT 5.6 both arrived right as I was doing the migration. I didn’t just test them with a few demo prompts; both of them spent the week doing actual work.

Grok’s long context and habit of following a thread all the way down made it useful for untangling the history and moving pieces. ChatGPT 5.6 has been especially strong on structured coding and exact operational work — the kind where I want it to slow down, check assumptions, and verify what it changed. They definitely feel different, but I can switch between them without rebuilding the desk around them. That’s the part I’ve liked most.

A New Look for the Podcast Video

This is the first episode where the new Piano VFX treatment made it all the way into the finished video. The real piano footage is still underneath it; I layered the falling notes and key effects over that footage in Final Cut Pro so the movement follows what I’m actually playing.

Getting there took some experimentation. The effect had to sit with the real instrument instead of covering it, and the dark background, keyboard mask, and edges all needed careful compositing. I’m happy with where it landed, and this is the visual direction I plan to carry into the podcast videos and clips I share across YouTube, Facebook, and X.

Almost Vacation Time

By the time this posts, we’ll be less than a week from family vacation. I’m wrapping up the last plans, getting work staged ahead, and trying to leave enough margin that the ministry rhythm can keep going while we’re away.

This Week’s Worship Moment

To close — a quieter live worship moment from TCC’s June 7 service: At The Altar, Part 3. The steadier side view sits above the Meta-glasses view from the keys, so you can watch the same moment from both perspectives.

If the embed isn’t loading for you, the direct link is youtu.be/pmFNNaU-ZMw.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for praying.

The post Music To Pray By Podcast 86 appeared first on Music To Pray By.