Slaves To The Times

I just got the chance to go see a music review production called "American Rhythms." It was an interesting show from the standpoint of watching the live drummer have to perform the functions of drumming from any particular era. In a way, it was like watching the drumkit evolve from the early 20's on into the 90's Watching the drummer play early 20's music for example, was basically watching a guy play the standard jazz rhythm on his hi-hat, and then accent the music with blocks and a splash cymbal. As the different eras changed, that jazz "ding ding da ding" played solidly in the popular music all the way until the 50's.

Then, it came to the 70's and it was the disco offbeat open hi-hat routine. Every song, performed in medley style, was the same rhythm and for all intents and purposes, the same tempo!

I watched the drummer play through every area skillfully and with passion, which must have been a real challenge, as with everything, we get complacent with the things that are repeated ad nauseum!

I find that we in the church are slaves to the same kind of rhythms all of the time. For a while, all the church had was songs in 6/8. Then, there were the arena rock days of Promise Keepers and the Maranatha Praise Band, and it happened that every song featured some sort of tom-tom break down. Lately, the trend seems to be the "four on the floor" motif. Every fast song has that driving bass drum pulse.

As we learn to serve, sometimes we need to learn to do so in the most mundane ways. It is invariably nothing to serve in an extraordinary way some time. It is quite another thing to serve in the boring everyday most of the time. Yet, even the book of Acts is a highlight reel!

The way we serve AND keep from being overfamiliar is to enhance the current form of playing. Serve the band by sticking to the four on the floor and snare every 2 and 4. Keep that pulse happening for most of the song, perhaps 3 quarters of the song. But then in that last quarter, stretch out and play 16ths or 32nds over the top on the hi-hat. Or, accent the offbeats (1 AN) on your hi-hat. Recently, during a 6/8 tune, I played a shuffle on one verse, taken directly from Porcaro's "Rosanna" except slower!

The point is that we can't get away from the popular trends of music. We can serve them and serve the music well, but still leave room for enhancement without anyone noticing...negatively that is!

Hope this helps.

Blessings,
Frank