Metronome Musings

Hi, everyone!

I played drums for church for the past few Sundays.

It was a stressful experience, because of both my role in the band (the time-keeper and the mood-moderator) and my own personal standards. Yes, ego does drive me hard! How did I do? Let's just say that I have a lot more work to do, and a lot of it involving training with metronomes!

Metronomes really help a drummer keep time. Usually if a drummer has sloppy playing, it is because he/she doesn't have a good internal sense of tempo OR because he/she is unable to express the sense of tempo through his/her limbs while playing. Either way, this comes out very clearly when you train to a metronome. It shows you what it means to keep strict time as well as the areas you are sloppy in your playing, whether fills or changing the drum beats.

People who refuse to train to a metronome often have an undisciplined and individualistic spirit. They want to play at what tempo feels right to them, or what their current level of technique can manage, not what tempo the rest of the band can work with. If we are playing for church, and our effectiveness as worship drummers is very dependent on how well we keep time for the band and the rest of the congregation, this kind of attitude should not be tolerated at all. If the drummer plays inconsistently and yet refuses to train to a metronome, this person does not have the basic servant's heart to serve in the worship ministry, especially when it comes to playing drums.

(I could go on ranting about this, but I think that's enough for now. It's obvious now why I give myself so much pressure when I am behind the drum kit!)

One thing I discovered when I started training with a metronome - there are two ways you can perceive the metronome. The first is to see it as an external standard and you are trying to react to it. The second is to allow your inner sense of tempo to tune into the counts from the metronome and then play according to that. You'll still have the metronome to remind you when your inner sense of tempo goes off, but because you calibrated yourself to the metronome first it becomes a lot easier to keep yourself in time.

It's like how we believers are supposed to relate with the Bible. We can see the Word of God as something external, we refer to it when we've got questions or want to have an intellectual understanding of what God expects from us. This doesn't need much engaging with the Scriptures at all, and for many believers that is all they are willing to do.

Or we can let the Word of God tune us into God's frequency. I have two main ways of doing this: the first is to take a particular passage of Scripture and read it aloud many times a day for a few days in a row (mindless, I know, but it works for me) and the second is to do inductive Bible study, when I go through a book of the Bible a few times, looking for key themes, drawing up lists of facts, making notes and all that.

Whichever way you do it, the idea is to engage with the Word of God as much as you possibly can, and in a more active way. Make it a part of you, and you'll find that you're following it even without thinking.

And that's always good!

Training with the metronome by yourself is important, but unless you have a fantastic sense of musicality (OK, just more than I do) you'll find things slipping past your notice. And sometimes it's just easier for an outsider to pick up your mistakes. Last night a singer (a non-musician) was telling me that the part of me that keeps going out of time (lagging behind) is my snare. I tend to slow down when changing from one section of the song to another, like from the verse to chorus, for example.

You know a problem is bad when even a singer can pick out where my mistakes are!

It's like how we can read the Bible by ourselves and yet miss the parts where we fall short or need to put in some effort. We think we're doing fine, while anyone else who has lived with us for a while can easily point out that we need to correct some of our blind spots. That's why we need to live in fellowship with each other and be teachable (Pro 9:9).

Psalm 19:9-12 (NIV) The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.

Notice that just after David declares how precious the Word of God is, he realizes that even with the Word of God he still needs help in discerning where he falls short and misses the mark? That's the same for us. Even when we know the Bible, we have done our inductive bible study, attended Bible Study Fellowship's entire 7-year course or just simply read the Bible cover-to-cover, we will still have blind spots we need loving siblings-in-Christ to point out to us. And we need to teach one another in all wisdom (Col 3:16), to be ready to receive wisdom from each other.

So, are you submitting your life to the Word of God and allowing some trusted siblings-in-Christ to help you work out your salvation into your life? And are you likewise committed to helping someone to do the same?

Think about that while I take out my metronome, my drumsticks and sit down and get some more practice done!

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OK, be blessed, everyone!