What should I play?

John Homan (a faithful Percussion For Worship reader) sent me an email recently that described a rehearsal in which he pondered that big percussionist question--

What should I play?

Check out these excerpts from Mr. Homan's missive:

Hi Mark,

     Tuesday night at music practice we worked on a new song.  We were taking a Don Moen-type praise and worship song and making it really rock. It was starting from scratch. Once the drummer had determined how he was going to handle the skeleton of the beat, I tried to find where I would fit in. It was a very fast song, the drummer was doing a 2-4 rock beat--mainly playing 4 on the floor kick drum, snare on 2 and 4, and a straight high hat beat.

     I tried different things to add to this, but found it kind of problematic. I could add a cutting shaker to support the driving beat, I could add a rock cowbell on the chorus, I could add djembe beats to add more of a tom-tom/tribal sound since the drummer wasn't getting time to add much more to the that side of the mix, or I could just hang back and add a cymbal swell here and there, and find other little sprinkles to add here and there on the hand drums and other similar things.

     I asked the leader if he was looking for something particular from the percussion side and explained to him what options I saw and he agreed that it wasn't simple and I would just have to feel my way around it to see what sounded good. It's nice to have that freedom and that trust and a leader who lets me figure some things out. I'm fine with this and will figure it out.  I know I'm not the only church percussionist out there with these issues.

      What are some good guidelines when you have a song like this? What are some ways to determine when you are doing too much  or when you can almost trade beat for beat with the drummer? I'd like to hear your wisdom on this situation too.

 

John's email brought to my mind some writing that I have done on this topic.   I plan to post some of that writing in the weeks ahead, but let me give others a chance to contribute some opinions on this topic.

 

Comments?