Modern Worship - Anything but the part

[nozkcb]

I mostly play worship music these days and am fortunate enough to play with a couple different churches.

While I am grateful for the opportunity to play, I'm noticing a disturbing trend developing...

Over the last few years I've encountered an increasing number of players, (especially drummers and Keyboards) that are seemingly doing everything in their power to not play the actual parts of the song, and the entire endeavor has become an exercise in how far outside the changes, riffs, rhythms they can play without completely derailing the song.

I did a service last weekend, and I don't think the drummer played a straight beat once the entire day. It sounded like two drummers log rolling each other.

The keyboardist did not miss an opportunity for throwing out alternate chords, light speed riffs and non-Sequitur chromatic changes that were more an exercise of gospelesque fringe theory than something musical that made sense for the song.

The whole day was dueling keyboard and drum solos where hints of a song occasionally broke out.

Is this just musicians expressing their boredom with milquetoast modern worship songs, some strange contempt for the music they're playing, or just a lack of self control and discipline?

I know a lot of gospel players will push things to the fringe sometimes, but doing so in a tasteful way where they're occasionally playing outside of the changes, phrases and patterns is done as a flourish to add character....but this stuff lately seems like it's playing in contempt of the songs.

Yes, a lot of modern worship music is very vanilla and not thrilling to play, but in my crazy mind, I'm still expecting musicians to serve this song and not their own interests.

Found myself reduced to playing whole notes almost the entire time in the hopes that the vocalists and the congregation would have the slightest idea of what the heck we were doing.

Anyone else experiencing this?

[Venting complete]

 

[One Way]

Fortunately I am not observing playing like you’re experiencing.
In my opinion I believe it’s the music director’s responsibility to provide guidance to the band members regarding how the songs are played. Sometimes egos need to be kept in check

 

[BrentD]

the entire endeavor has become an exercise in how far outside the changes, riffs, rhythms they can play without completely derailing the song

 

[nozkcb]

Fortunately I am not observing playing like you’re experiencing.
In my opinion I believe it’s the music director’s responsibility to provide guidance to the band members regarding how the songs are played. Sometimes egos need to be kept in check

Unfortunately the MD is one of the two that can't be bothered with playing the song in any remotely recognizable form.

My money is these guys are bored and frustrated with their paid church gig and are more interested in entertaining themselves than supporting the actual songs, singers, message.

I listened to the recording of the service this morning (a painfully clear board mix) and it's a hot mess.

And yes, I'm a volunteer and am not a play-for-pay musician.

 

[NickyBass]

I play mostly modern worship music these days as well. I like to learn the parts as recorded and then go from there. I find it much easier for the band to 'stretch out' when they know the source of what they're stretching from. In my situation, we rehearse about an hour before the first service. We have to fit in sound check during this time as well. The main core of my team will come in with the parts nailed. Sometimes we will discuss ideas before we play or through text in advance. Sometimes, we will visually communicate during the rehearsal and come up with something on the spot. So, we do stray a bit from the original arrangement, but it's in an organized way where we can recreate it during the services. I don't mind a few creative ideas, BUT-- it has to be repeatable. I don't like when the services don't sound like the rehearsals.

 

[bwildt]

I have played with a few drummers who were very talented and very good. However, they were the busiest, showy-est drummers I have run across. Every song comes across as a complete drum solo.

I think two things are happening. 1) They feel the need to show off their chops (because they certainly have them). 2) All the Youtube videos showing players showing off their chops. The result is that drummers watching these show-off vids think that is the way drums should always be played. Some songs can support busy, flashy drums. Some songs just need a steady beat behind them.

 

[Pacman]

I did a service last weekend, and I don't think the drummer played a straight beat once the entire day. It sounded like two drummers log rolling each other.

That seems to be "the part" in FAR too many worship songs these days. The 32 bar tom tom build is in everything, and it really needs to die.

 

[MonetBass]

Unfortunately the MD is one of the two that can't be bothered with playing the song in any remotely recognizable form.

My money is these guys are bored and frustrated with their paid church gig and are more interested in entertaining themselves than supporting the actual songs, singers, message.

I listened to the recording of the service this morning (a painfully clear board mix) and it's a hot mess.

And yes, I'm a volunteer and am not a play-for-pay musician.

Sorry to hear of your situation. If the MD/WL isn't willing to make a change, you will unfortunately have to. Before I joined the worship band, I was given a set of expectations (on paper), and one of them was to "serve the song".

 

[gln1955]

Found myself reduced to playing whole notes almost the entire time in the hopes that the vocalists and the congregation would have the slightest idea of what the heck we were doing.

This is the thing. The vocals, lyrics and message, are the point of the song in PW. If the vocalists ot congregation (for sing alongs) are getting lost rhythmically or harmonically because of the free expression of the drummer and keys, that is a big problem.

Do these guys have other outlets for their chops outside of church?

 

[nozkcb]

This is the thing. The vocals, lyrics and message, are the point of the song in PW. If the vocalists ot congregation (for sing alongs) are getting lost rhythmically or harmonically because of the free expression of the drummer and keys, that is a big problem.

Do these guys have other outlets for their chops outside of church?

For this latest group, I don't know them well enough to know if they have other outlets for their musical expression.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I mostly play worship music these days and am fortunate enough to play with a couple different churches.

While I am grateful for the opportunity to play, I'm noticing a disturbing trend developing...

Over the last few years I've encountered an increasing number of players, (especially drummers and Keyboards) that are seemingly doing everything in their power to not play the actual parts of the song, and the entire endeavor has become an exercise in how far outside the changes, riffs, rhythms they can play without completely derailing the song.

I did a service last weekend, and I don't think the drummer played a straight beat once the entire day. It sounded like two drummers log rolling each other.

The keyboardist did not miss an opportunity for throwing out alternate chords, light speed riffs and non-Sequitur chromatic changes that were more an exercise of gospelesque fringe theory than something musical that made sense for the song.

The whole day was dueling keyboard and drum solos where hints of a song occasionally broke out.

Is this just musicians expressing their boredom with milquetoast modern worship songs, some strange contempt for the music they're playing, or just a lack of self control and discipline?

I know a lot of gospel players will push things to the fringe sometimes, but doing so in a tasteful way where they're occasionally playing outside of the changes, phrases and patterns is done as a flourish to add character....but this stuff lately seems like it's playing in contempt of the songs.

Yes, a lot of modern worship music is very vanilla and not thrilling to play, but in my crazy mind, I'm still expecting musicians to serve this song and not their own interests.

Found myself reduced to playing whole notes almost the entire time in the hopes that the vocalists and the congregation would have the slightest idea of what the heck we were doing.

Anyone else experiencing this?

[Venting complete]

I have. As a long time P&W band leader, I retired over this same thing. What passes for P&W songs today musically coupled with a decided lack of theological depth, and a lack of musicians that don’t understand how to play in an ensemble, drove me out. So I feel your pain.

So let’s got to the basics. How many hours do you practice as an ensemble? Do you just practice right before service, or sometime during the week prior? Is there actual sheet music being used? Those answers will give you a pretty good clue as to why it’s a mess.

In fairness to drummers, it used to be that a song just had one basic drum pattern threw out the song. Now a song might have as many as 6 or 7 drum patterns that are integral to the piece. So multiply that by 3 or more songs per week, and it’s no wonder they sound like they’re jamming along. They are out of self preservation not to mention the work load.

OK, now on to the other players. The best thing you can do is record and review, and more importantly share, and educate! Now this will take weeks maybe months to show positive results. The way this is done is if you can identify some thing that somebody does that was done well, play it for them. Every week at least one example per member. Pretty soon there will be interest in hearing themselves. The nest step is you give them the whole recording with instructions to only listen for the stuff they do well and if they have any questions or need help you are their for them.

Once you get them listening to themselves in context, it becomes much easier to explain what their job is. This took me a while to set the standard that lasted for 15 year at out church until a new P&W pastor refused to cooperate. He eliminated the use of actual charts, started showing up 15 minutes before service with changes in song forms, like the amount of verses, repeats, the location of pre-choreses, and a did ridiculous amount of vamps. This ran off most of our good drummers, not to mention all of the horn players.

Needless to say, him being an ordained minister I had to respect that and had to resign.

 

[ClassicJazz]

Bottom line that is what separates the pros from the amateurs. Pros play for the music or what is placed in front of them. Amateurs play for themselves!

 

[oldcatfish]

I mostly play worship music these days and am fortunate enough to play with a couple different churches.

While I am grateful for the opportunity to play, I'm noticing a disturbing trend developing...

Over the last few years I've encountered an increasing number of players, (especially drummers and Keyboards) that are seemingly doing everything in their power to not play the actual parts of the song, and the entire endeavor has become an exercise in how far outside the changes, riffs, rhythms they can play without completely derailing the song.

I did a service last weekend, and I don't think the drummer played a straight beat once the entire day. It sounded like two drummers log rolling each other.

The keyboardist did not miss an opportunity for throwing out alternate chords, light speed riffs and non-Sequitur chromatic changes that were more an exercise of gospelesque fringe theory than something musical that made sense for the song.

The whole day was dueling keyboard and drum solos where hints of a song occasionally broke out.

Is this just musicians expressing their boredom with milquetoast modern worship songs, some strange contempt for the music they're playing, or just a lack of self control and discipline?

I know a lot of gospel players will push things to the fringe sometimes, but doing so in a tasteful way where they're occasionally playing outside of the changes, phrases and patterns is done as a flourish to add character....but this stuff lately seems like it's playing in contempt of the songs.

Yes, a lot of modern worship music is very vanilla and not thrilling to play, but in my crazy mind, I'm still expecting musicians to serve this song and not their own interests.

Found myself reduced to playing whole notes almost the entire time in the hopes that the vocalists and the congregation would have the slightest idea of what the heck we were doing.

Anyone else experiencing this?

[Venting complete]

I used to regularly play at my home church, along with subbing for others. And not just bass, but other instruments too.

In my experience, it all comes down to three things…the music director’s leadership, the budget of the church, and availability of specific musicians.

Here’s what I mean. I will give an example of each.

Some music director’s aren’t very organized and aren’t very skilled with multiple instruments. When playing lead guitar for different churches, I have had music directors ask me to play a song that has two or even three distinct guitar parts going at the same time…it simply can’t be done on a single instrument. I have also had music directors change the key of a song at the last minute, but the lead guitar part required open strings to sound right.

And on the last two points, It may not be an issue with the music director’s skill. I have played at churches that had enough available musicians to cover every part of a song, and each musician was assigned which part to play. BUT, because everyone hears things differently, if a couple of people get some minor things wrong…it can make a big difference.

Also, I have played at both low budget small churches, and larger budget mega churches. The larger budget churches not only have enough musicians available to choose good ones, they can hire subs if needed. And many of them use backing tracks for ambient sounds, and can add back in parts from the original song, if someone calls off at the last minute.

Smaller churches often are struggling to find enough musicians to even make the contemporary music recognizable. Many are staffed with any volunteer that’s remotely competent on an instrument and willing to serve. Some of them have never played in a public setting before. They are struggling just to play along with other musicians.

My advice to you…be adaptable. Either use the experience to improve your improvisational skills, or as a mentor to help newer players. In a kind way, maybe approach the drummer about the importance of holding a steady groove so that you can lock in with them…making everything sound better.

I could list a number of issues that I have come across while playing in churches. Mostly though, they can be narrowed down to those three things.

 

[Norm Nelson]

Is this just musicians expressing their boredom with milquetoast modern worship songs, some strange contempt for the music they're playing, or just a lack of self control and discipline?

Could be all of those things. You could ... just ask them, I suppose. If you're unhappy about it all, the risk of being dismissed for asking shouldn't be that much of an obstacle (this is easy for me to say, of course). My church band is a mix of pros and amateurs (I am the latter) but we really try to do our best to serve the songs. That said, we don't do much contemporary P&W music at all. And when we do we're usually extremely tight and controlled because you know the congregation can hear it if your eyes are rolling

 

[darwin-bass]

Is this just musicians expressing their boredom with milquetoast modern worship songs, some strange contempt for the music they're playing, or just a lack of self control and discipline?

Yes, yes, and yes? The music is fairly simple so boredom can be a real thing but I believe that is just a symptom, not the real problem.

I suspect the real problem is a lack of spiritual maturity resulting in a self-serving approach to the role.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Well, I admit to doing some over-playing in my boredom but it has only resulted in compliments so I guess I'm not blowing it yet? But it is an ongoing minor struggle for me.

I've actually seen more of the opposite where folks don't take it seriously and just phone it in. Show up at rehearsal unprepared, just sort of wing it and produce a result that is below their true ability.

 

[logdrum]

I would probably enjoy your band and will join the keys and the drummer but will probably be the last straw for the pastor or worship leader to throw them and me out.

 

[micguy]

You can look at this a bunch of ways. The parts that are on the original artist's recording are often intentionally simplified - they know that thousands of weekend worship hacks will be trying to play their tune, so putting a fairly simple part on the record means that a lot of musicians can replicate the original tune pretty well. That's a good thing, but.....

I play at a bunch of different churches/campuses/locations, and the range of players I get to play with is pretty wide. Sometimes, my job is to help keep everyone glued together - getting rhythmically adventurous when the drummer needs help keeping time is not a good idea, so you keep things pretty simple - the idea being that you're there to make the BAND sound good, not show off.

That said, when I'm at a place where everyone on stage has great chops, and some originality will make it interesting, then I have at it, always keeping in mind that we're there to support the vocalists (who do the heavy lifting of engaging the audience), not show off our instrumentalist chops. In the process of writing and recording a tune, a lot of times the band has played the thing half a dozen or so times before they record it. As often as I play (pretty much every weekend) and as much as I practice (every day), I have often practiced/played a tune a few hundred times, and I started playing bass before most of the artists/bassists on the recordings were born - am I supposed to ignore all that, or do I apply what I can to make the tune better? I am also the one in the room (not the original artist), and I nave access to everything going on around me - how the singer is singing, how the other players are playing, and what is happening in the audience. If I play exactly what is on the recording, most of the time it won't be the right part for the situation.

The trick is to know how to make a part interesting without ricking wrecking the vibe that the band is engaged in. A LOT of practice at home (before you get to rehearsal) can give you a big bag of tricks that you know that you can apply judiciously as the vibe shows itself in rehearsal.

 

[Ellery]

Maybe if these organizations want musicians to play the way they want, they could actually pay them?

 

[allanhearn]

These people have forgotten that worhip music is not for the band or individual. It's a collective to bring worship to the people and connect with the message of Christ.
Sure its fun to show off, but that is 100% not bringing THE WORD to the people. Be humble as Chist was. Know that you are bringing THE MESSAGE, not your message.

 

[klokker]

I played in a praise band at a large church for 9 years. The whole genre is warped in my view. The point was to give people a "worship experience" and if people weren't "feeling it" the Spirit was absent.

Maybe an exciting drum fill will work , or a flashy guitar solo. Super deep bass etc. As others have implied, I agree that the problem is more of a spiritual issue.