Eric
October 7th, 2010, 02:16 PM
Hello good people.
So, sad to say, I think I'm part of the drama at the church where I play these days. I try to be cooperative and what not, but I think I've become a little itchy with just banging out chords and not playing up to our ability as a group. Sometimes that can come out as me being a little too intense, which is easily taken as being critical, or it's me being discontent and pushing the leader of our church group.
I know church can be full of politics and drama, and I generally operate on the outskirts to avoid being hurt and getting bitter. However, I really feel like if we would work a little harder, we could do so much more.
I need some advice. Should I just chill out and accept whatever fate of malaise we are destined to achieve as a church praise band? Should I find new ways to add to the music without making waves? Should I try to find new ways to motivate people? If so, how?
I know the easy answer is "all of the above", but that wouldn't be too helpful. My basic issue is that if I try to check out a bit and disengage from caring about it, I might become kind of lifeless musically, which would make the music more sterile than it is. It's hard to just be a pleasant robot and still make good music.
Some background:
I consider myself pretty competent at the guitar. No, I can't run all over the fretboard, but I have solid rhythm and try to do things that sound good.
Our drummer is fantastic. Not Neal Peart fantastic, but always locked in and steady, incredibly sensitive to the song and adding what is needed, and has a sense of command that I've never seen in a drummer before.
The bass player has been playing for maybe 1-1.5 years, but is already better than the guy who used to play. He doesn't do anything fancy, but has excellent rhythm and doesn't step on anyone.
The drummer and bass player are, not coincidentally, my best friends there.
What bothers me is that other members just wander in, play and sing however much they want, and then leave as soon as possible (i.e. once they're "dismissed"). This leads to people being late, not trying to learn anything new, and whining if practice goes even a little long.
How do you get people motivated? I consider music to be a gift, not a chore. I love practice time. I want to get things right and go over songs tons of times to see what we can add to make it our own. It feels like pulling teeth with the keyboard player, leader, backing singers, occasional acoustic guitarist, and (especially) with the backup bassist and drummer.
Also, we never really find out the songs until maybe a day before or when we arrive for practice on Thursday night, so there's precious little time to really work out any extra parts for the songs. Sometimes there will be an instrumental gap in the song, but unless I have some time to work out a solo, there's not much I can do. If we took the time to then work through the song, that would be OK, but it's usually slam through it and go on to the next one so that everyone can leave.
I think I'm just asking for perspective here. I know the situation and I know what frustrates me, but it might not make sense objectively. We do a pretty decent job, have incredible participation from the congregation, and are allowed to do pretty much whatever we want; I use distortion regularly, can put in leads and solos, and have used wah a good bit in the past. For those unfamiliar with church music practices, this is pretty much unheard of in my experience. Do the things that frustrate me make sense to all of you, or am I blowing it out of proportion? Am I just asking too much? Any advice on what to do about it?
So, sad to say, I think I'm part of the drama at the church where I play these days. I try to be cooperative and what not, but I think I've become a little itchy with just banging out chords and not playing up to our ability as a group. Sometimes that can come out as me being a little too intense, which is easily taken as being critical, or it's me being discontent and pushing the leader of our church group.
I know church can be full of politics and drama, and I generally operate on the outskirts to avoid being hurt and getting bitter. However, I really feel like if we would work a little harder, we could do so much more.
I need some advice. Should I just chill out and accept whatever fate of malaise we are destined to achieve as a church praise band? Should I find new ways to add to the music without making waves? Should I try to find new ways to motivate people? If so, how?
I know the easy answer is "all of the above", but that wouldn't be too helpful. My basic issue is that if I try to check out a bit and disengage from caring about it, I might become kind of lifeless musically, which would make the music more sterile than it is. It's hard to just be a pleasant robot and still make good music.
Some background:
I consider myself pretty competent at the guitar. No, I can't run all over the fretboard, but I have solid rhythm and try to do things that sound good.
Our drummer is fantastic. Not Neal Peart fantastic, but always locked in and steady, incredibly sensitive to the song and adding what is needed, and has a sense of command that I've never seen in a drummer before.
The bass player has been playing for maybe 1-1.5 years, but is already better than the guy who used to play. He doesn't do anything fancy, but has excellent rhythm and doesn't step on anyone.
The drummer and bass player are, not coincidentally, my best friends there.
What bothers me is that other members just wander in, play and sing however much they want, and then leave as soon as possible (i.e. once they're "dismissed"). This leads to people being late, not trying to learn anything new, and whining if practice goes even a little long.
How do you get people motivated? I consider music to be a gift, not a chore. I love practice time. I want to get things right and go over songs tons of times to see what we can add to make it our own. It feels like pulling teeth with the keyboard player, leader, backing singers, occasional acoustic guitarist, and (especially) with the backup bassist and drummer.
Also, we never really find out the songs until maybe a day before or when we arrive for practice on Thursday night, so there's precious little time to really work out any extra parts for the songs. Sometimes there will be an instrumental gap in the song, but unless I have some time to work out a solo, there's not much I can do. If we took the time to then work through the song, that would be OK, but it's usually slam through it and go on to the next one so that everyone can leave.
I think I'm just asking for perspective here. I know the situation and I know what frustrates me, but it might not make sense objectively. We do a pretty decent job, have incredible participation from the congregation, and are allowed to do pretty much whatever we want; I use distortion regularly, can put in leads and solos, and have used wah a good bit in the past. For those unfamiliar with church music practices, this is pretty much unheard of in my experience. Do the things that frustrate me make sense to all of you, or am I blowing it out of proportion? Am I just asking too much? Any advice on what to do about it?