I’ve had a go when no one was looking, but I can’t play the drums.
I have no rhythm and no co-ordination between my feet and arms, which may seem strange as I was trained as an organist. Hmmm, maybe I’m not a very good organist either, but everyone’s been too nice to tell me.
If you hate drums, don’t read on!
I’m not going to go into all the arguments about why we should or shouldn’t have drums in church. This won’t be a theological defence or prosecution dealing with whether drums are evil because of their origins or vital for the Spirit to be able to work. That’s for another day. Suffice to say that if you really hate drums, please don’t read on — it’ll save me having to answer all the mail.
The reason I’m so fond of drummers is because when they play musically they can bring so much colour and energy to the music in a church meeting. Now I know the drummer jokes. What’s the best way to confuse a drummer? Put a sheet of music in front of him. What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A drummer. How can you tell there’s a drummer at the door? The knocking speeds up. There are many more, but I have huge respect for church drummers for these reasons:
1. They have to play well, sensitively, rhythmically, focusing on the words of the songs, using different sticks for different parts of songs, listening to the rest of the band, linking in the bass drum with bass guitar, doing what the band-leader requires while at the same time being in control of the speed and rhythm.
I have a friend who says that drummers hardly ever smile. That’s probably because they have so much to concentrate on at one moment. I must admit to not smiling much playing a Bach trio sonata on the organ. Bass players don’t smile either, but that’s just because bass players don’t smile.
Humble drummers
2. Drummers can’t win. Sometimes they lose even before they’ve played a beat — even the sight of a drummer sitting on the drum stool before a meeting can give some people the heebie jeebies. The doubly hard thing for drummers is that even if they ‘make’ the music for those who like drums, they break it for those who don’t. I think it’s for this reason that many of the drummers that I know are also some of the most humble in a band, because they’ve had to deal with some of the most hurtful feedback.
There are lots of issues that surround drummers. Should they be miked up, should they be behind a Perspex™ screen, should they be out of sight (that’s invisible, not ‘outa sight’), should they play for some of the older hymns, should they have mats on the toms, should they use cool rods, hot rods or sticks? I remember a drummer’s eyes lighting up when I asked him to use sticks at a wedding. He’d always had to play with soft rods and brushes.
Rumble, doink, der-dum!
3. Drummers have their own language that I sort of understand, but am not cool enough to use. Rim shots, fills, four-on-the-floor, ride, hat. I find myself always reverting to: ‘Can you give us some rumble, then a bit of boink, der-dum, karrang, doink into the chorus, and then a bit of blobbles for verse 2. Then we need it large for verse 3 into the chorus’.
Not much to say on this except that I wish I was a bit more cool.
All this and much more gives me huge respect for drummers. In my experience most of the rehearsal is spent getting the drums right — speed, feel of the song, keeping the song going, starting and, most tricky of all, finishing the song. For this reason, if I feel safe with the drummer, I have much more confidence that things won’t fall apart. That’s very important for the confidence of the congregation too. Praise God for servant-hearted, godly drummers.
P.S. One final tip for working with drummers. If they tell you they don’t like playing a song in 3/4, ask them to play it in 6/8 and see the relief on their face.
Richard Simpkin is Director of Music at St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London.
