Showing posts with label community music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community music. Show all posts

Friday, June 4, 2010

Make the worship go "BOOM"

I've been thinking so much about the use of drums and hand percussion in worship lately.  I'm not a huge fan of the trap set in church (not that I haven't seen/heard it used amazing well!).  The problem I find is that it can drown out the other music or it forces over-amplification of other instruments and vocalists.

Hand drums/percussion seem to be a great alternative.  My wife (an ordained UCC clergy person) attended worship at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis and remarked on their effective and inclusive use of percussion during worship.  They have a box of instruments in the sanctuary (many Orff style instruments), that they allow anyone to grab from and use during worship.  I think this is an amazing idea. Let's take the musical making to all God's people.

Percussion is a pretty easy thing to add, and most people are able to pull off a simple beat without and real difficulty.  We trust them to sing in time, so why not play?

Here's a nice video of a percussion workshop at San Francisco's St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church to get you started.