I see this happening so often it’s sad. An unprepared, unequipped music student is thrown into the deep end of the pool of music ministry, pressurized into playing for worship before he or she is ready.
The usual excuse given is “He’s grade 08 in piano/guitar. I’m sure he can do it, after all the other guy is only grade 05 (or has no formal training) and he plays so well for church!”
And the poor unfortunate soul is plunged into the deep end of the pool, thrown in to either sink or swim. More often than not they sink. So that’s why I say, don’t drown them!
Let me make this really clear. There’s a world of difference between classical music and contemporary music. And between the contemporary music used for entertainment and the type used for worship.
Thinking that a person with extensive classical training is able to manage contemporary playing is like thinking that a person who has studied Chinese is able to manage Japanese also, since they use a large number of common characters. The only people who can believe that are people who don’t know either language. The grammars of the two languages are radically different.
Just as people who know Chinese can fully utilize Japanese ONLY if they’re been sufficiently exposed to Japanese AND given some teaching (because you can’t learn pronunciation without some form of help), likewise people who know classical music can utilize contemporary music only with some help. The concepts and ideas (the grammar, from a language point of view) are radically different. That’s a huge gap we have here.
And just as large is the gap between contemporary music for performance and contemporary music that works for worship.
Performance music gets people to sit back and listen, to go “wow! What are they doing? How did they do that?” Music meant for worship gets people to sing their praises to God. If it’s working no one notices the music. They’re too busy worshipping God and the musician(s) just kinda fade into the background. Can you see how the two are diametrically opposite?
The problem is this: True worship music isn’t attention-getting and it isn’t appealing to listen to, in fact it’s quite boring. It fulfills its purpose ONLY if people are singing along with it. And that’s not what we hear from the so-called ‘worship’ albums and CDs that are being sold these days and that our church musicians find inspiration from.
So what’s a classically trained musician to do? Seriously, they are starting from scratch. In fact, they often have lots of unlearning to do. And frankly, the ‘worship’ trainers that I know of are not much help, teaching performance music and calling it worship. Not only is performance music more complicated, it doesn’t work in worship and leads to serious problems.
Why don’t more people want to teach true worship music, music that edifies the people of God instead of entertaining them, music that doesn’t distract the people from worshipping God? It’s an absolute mystery to me. Can it possibly be that people just don’t get the secret to worship music?
Let me spell it out for you right now. If you get this simple principle and know how to apply it to any instrument or to worship leading, you don’t need me to teach you anything. It’s this: always keep the congregation in mind!
That simple principle has been the foundation of all I teach in the worship context. I don’t care if it’s not fancy enough to create an intellectual property asset that will rake in tons of money, it’s what I’m doing and I’ll stick with it.
So if you’re thinking of getting worship training, get the real thing. Evaluate what you are being taught with the principle I’ve just explicitly shared. And if it’s true worship music, use it to bless the people of God.
God knows, they really need it!
Prayer time: In the midst of everything else I’m doing I’ve just started a special intensive worship drums course for a couple of drummers from Petra. Pray for me to be blessed with wisdom and discernment, because I am holding myself to higher standards of teaching now, to get more skill imparted in a shorter time. Pray also that I will manage my time effectively to get my next post out to you quickly. It’s something that has been on my heart for nearly two months. Thanks!
Be blessed, everyone!
The usual excuse given is “He’s grade 08 in piano/guitar. I’m sure he can do it, after all the other guy is only grade 05 (or has no formal training) and he plays so well for church!”
And the poor unfortunate soul is plunged into the deep end of the pool, thrown in to either sink or swim. More often than not they sink. So that’s why I say, don’t drown them!
Let me make this really clear. There’s a world of difference between classical music and contemporary music. And between the contemporary music used for entertainment and the type used for worship.
Thinking that a person with extensive classical training is able to manage contemporary playing is like thinking that a person who has studied Chinese is able to manage Japanese also, since they use a large number of common characters. The only people who can believe that are people who don’t know either language. The grammars of the two languages are radically different.
Just as people who know Chinese can fully utilize Japanese ONLY if they’re been sufficiently exposed to Japanese AND given some teaching (because you can’t learn pronunciation without some form of help), likewise people who know classical music can utilize contemporary music only with some help. The concepts and ideas (the grammar, from a language point of view) are radically different. That’s a huge gap we have here.
And just as large is the gap between contemporary music for performance and contemporary music that works for worship.
Performance music gets people to sit back and listen, to go “wow! What are they doing? How did they do that?” Music meant for worship gets people to sing their praises to God. If it’s working no one notices the music. They’re too busy worshipping God and the musician(s) just kinda fade into the background. Can you see how the two are diametrically opposite?
The problem is this: True worship music isn’t attention-getting and it isn’t appealing to listen to, in fact it’s quite boring. It fulfills its purpose ONLY if people are singing along with it. And that’s not what we hear from the so-called ‘worship’ albums and CDs that are being sold these days and that our church musicians find inspiration from.
So what’s a classically trained musician to do? Seriously, they are starting from scratch. In fact, they often have lots of unlearning to do. And frankly, the ‘worship’ trainers that I know of are not much help, teaching performance music and calling it worship. Not only is performance music more complicated, it doesn’t work in worship and leads to serious problems.
Why don’t more people want to teach true worship music, music that edifies the people of God instead of entertaining them, music that doesn’t distract the people from worshipping God? It’s an absolute mystery to me. Can it possibly be that people just don’t get the secret to worship music?
Let me spell it out for you right now. If you get this simple principle and know how to apply it to any instrument or to worship leading, you don’t need me to teach you anything. It’s this: always keep the congregation in mind!
That simple principle has been the foundation of all I teach in the worship context. I don’t care if it’s not fancy enough to create an intellectual property asset that will rake in tons of money, it’s what I’m doing and I’ll stick with it.
So if you’re thinking of getting worship training, get the real thing. Evaluate what you are being taught with the principle I’ve just explicitly shared. And if it’s true worship music, use it to bless the people of God.
God knows, they really need it!
Prayer time: In the midst of everything else I’m doing I’ve just started a special intensive worship drums course for a couple of drummers from Petra. Pray for me to be blessed with wisdom and discernment, because I am holding myself to higher standards of teaching now, to get more skill imparted in a shorter time. Pray also that I will manage my time effectively to get my next post out to you quickly. It’s something that has been on my heart for nearly two months. Thanks!
Be blessed, everyone!
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