Just keeping the beat

This article is for the encouragement of amateur drummers (hey, we’ve all been there!) and the rebuke of more experienced drummers (not that I have any authority to rebuke, but I thought it sounded good and would get your attention!).

As a beginner drummer thrust into a worship team, my biggest concern was trying to stay in time and just get it right. I was very self-conscious and the knowledge of the lack of my skill put me under even more pressure. I could play 2 beats : 4/4 rock and 3/4 waltz, that was it!

So, in that situation, a fill in a song was a major accomplishment! Of course, I started making these major accomplishments every 4 to 8 bars…but, hey, I was learning! My focus was on keeping the beat, nothing else. Not worship, not expression, not adlibing, just keeping the beat. And there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, that is one of the most important things, keeping the beat.

As I became more confident (and better!) in my playing, I was able to do more. My own style slowly started to form as the drum kit began to become an extension of me and my heart and passion for the drums grew.

So, at this point, it went beyond keeping the beat, to a place called worship. The beat was there due to hours & hours of practice and now the heart was there too. This affected the way in which I played. Keeping the beat was now inter-fused with the spiritual sensitivity I believe every Christian drummer should have. Worship now entered the drummer’s realm and things changed.

Now, as nice as my little story (which is true!) sounds, there are many drummers in churches who are the opposite of that. Keeping the beat is all they do and all they want to do. There is nothing that drives them to improve their skill level, nothing that makes them want to worship. They’re just human drum machines! And sometimes not very good ones!

I ask you, when the spiritual element is lost in the drummer’s playing, what’s left? The beat, and that’s all.
You add in the spiritual and you get the beat with passion, power and sensitivity. Which would you rather have in a team meant to be leading the church into the throneroom of God?

There are many reasons why a drummer is happy just to keep the beat. Here are some I can think of:

• like me in the beginning, lack of skill. A drummer might only have started learning to play and the confidence/maturity isn’t quite there yet.
• inexperienced drummer playing because he/she is the only one available to play and feels “obliged” due to pressure, perhaps, from the lead elder/pastor or worship leader
• very well-practiced drummer, efficient and technically superb…but there’s no heart for worship. They love to drum but it’s not worship

There are other reasons but those would seem to the examples I have seen the most.

So, as I said in the very beginning of this article, this is to be an encouragement! Let me, then, encourage.

If you are a “young” drummer, still learning the ropes, perhaps a little overwhelmed in the position you have found yourself, take this piece of input : keep practicing and get the beat right. Focus on stability, tempo and dynamics in your playing. You’re still finding your groove, relax and enjoy the kit!

If you are a more “seasoned” drummer who sometimes feels like you’ve been there, done that and got the T-shirt, this is what I have to say:
Focus on honing your skills and perfecting your chops but remember what it is you’re doing and who you’re doing it for! Let that encourage you to not only try new things on your kit (eg. playing the kit with your hands, literally, no sticks!) but even find the beautiful simplicity of kick on 1 and 3 with snare on 2 and 4.

The Bible says ‘be excellent at what is good…’ and drumming is good, so you should be too!

I hope you are encouraged by this article. Thanks for reading.

© 2008. The Christian Drummer | Matthew Ian Hains.
Original article URL: http://www.christiandrummers.net/2006/11/25/just-keeping-the-beat.htm