Percussion
3 Fun Ways Musicians Can Have a Deeper Worship Experience
Have you ever felt cheated out of your encounter with God because you have to play your instrument during worship? I know I have. When my heart is focused on the Lord, it is so much more fun to raise my hands in worship and forget about both my instrument and the chart in front of me (#SorryNotSorry)! However, even…
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5 Keys To Easy Prophetic Worship
“I can’t believe how easily I started getting new songs,” our new worship leader said. “When we started to pray and read Scripture, the songs just flowed.” We had just finished our Sunday morning pre-service prayer time. In this meeting (which lasts forty-five minutes), we combine prayer and live music as we intercede for the church service. Though it was Janet’s (not her real name) first…
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Does Heaven Move for You?
Have you ever wondered how much influence you would have in the Kingdom if you were suddenly stripped of your guitar, your microphone, or even your right to worship publicly? If you couldn’t perform in public worship, would you still carry any weight in the Kingdom of God? An inspiring story from the life of Rees Howells Rees…
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Are You Ready To Take Off Your Mask?
Have you ever noticed that when people become church musicians, they put on what seems to be our standard-issue, church-musician mask? The church-musician mask makes a church orchestra appear to contain twenty copies of the same person. This masked musician is suave and friendly: he or she has a great sense of humor, usually with a…
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Have You Been Offering Strange Fire?
I have a sin to confess to the world: I have been offering strange fire to the Lord. I don’t look like a guilty party. I look the very epitome of holiness in the world of church music: I get lost in worship every single week. Sometimes I have to put down my instrument so I can…
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The 5/4 Time Signature: Leading Worship in Spirit and Truth
One of my songs that I don’t get to use in worship very often is called “My Refuge,” and the reason I don’t get to use it very often (with a band, anyway) is because it is in 5/4 time. 5/4 time means that there are five beats per measure and the each beat is…
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Do You Have EDD? (Excessive Drumming Disorder)
I was talking with my friend Lionel at church this past Sunday. He is new to our worship team and will be joining me on drums for the first time this upcoming Sunday. We are both drummers, and we were talking (as drummers often do) about our kits, both past and current. I even showed…
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Worship Drumming: Don’t be the same old Little Drummer Boy
Drummers, do you ever get tired of your own drumming? Wondering what you could do to spice things up? Here are a few ideas: First of all, make a video recording of yourself during an actual worship service, and watch it, paying attention to dynamic, timbre and sophistication. Dynamic: relating to the volume of sound produced…
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Worship Percussion: “Real Drummers Don’t Play Electronic Drums” WRONG!
Although I get the argument and understand the statement, it simply isn’t true. Some of the most well-known drummers trigger some sort of sound on their kit. Rick Allen of Def Leppard (the world’s most famous one armed drummer) plays a totally custom electronic kit. Half of RUSH drummer Neil Peart’s kit is electronic. In…
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Worship Drumming: Less is More
As a youngster, I would watch (in shock & awe) drummers like Stryper’s Robert Sweet and Rush’s Neil Peart. I would imagine myself looking like Robert while playing like Neil in front of millions of screaming fans. Reality Check! I grew up in Kimball, MN which is not much more than a fly dropping on the map. …
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