Demonizing the Drums

Walking in the door of the church carrying parts of a drum set, I was told that the drums were a big problem and over 30 people had complained the last time they were used in the church service. Checking into this claim, I discerned that the number was closer to 3 people and the person with the claim was actually projecting his own biases onto other people and exaggerating the information by virtue of his personal preferences. This is not an unusual practice and I have often heard similar claims over the years such as "nobody wants to buy a Ford anymore" or "hamburgers are on their way out" or "thousands of people are pulling their money out of banks" or any number of exaggerated claims with little to no basis for truth. It all reminds me of Yogi Berra stating that "nobody goes there anymore, it is too crowded." I would not be surprised to hear someone say that nobody wants drums in the church, they are too popular!

To look at the other side, sometimes drums can be very loud and dominating (so can a pipe organ for that matter) and sometimes drums send a secular type of message that is rather antithetical to a worship environment. The pounding of a drum set is rather guttural and seems to be intent on damaging both hearing and mental sanity, particularly when amplified or played beyond the point of good taste or musical sensitivity. My experience attending and performing in rock concerts reveals a level of hard drumming that although rather appropriate for the venue, is beyond the scope of most church environments. If the sound is managed by a sound technician, audiences/congregations run the risk of poor management and hearing damage. If the sound is completely acoustic, the risk is in the hands of the person playing the instrument. Both options are potentially frightening (and exciting for some).

Having worshiped in several great cathedrals including York Minster, St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Salisbury, and Canterbury, I would nearly argue that a drum set in any of those settings would be a sacrilege on par with being a desecration of a sacred space. With the natural acoustics of these and other cathedrals demanding mostly choral music with little instrumental accompaniment or primarily the organ, drums rarely if ever would find a home in those beautiful cathedrals. Then the question arises, had drum sets existed, would church music have used them or do drum sets merely occupy a place in modern secular music?

While I am not entirely sure of the answer, I must refer to scripture for some truth. Here is a thorough examination of the issue including scriptural references: http://saintsinarmor.blogspot.com/2012/03/biblical-guide-to-drums-and-christian.html. Based on the author's reasoning and looking at the evidence, I can find no valid reason to exclude drums from worship. If this is the case, and I believe it to be correct, the only three reasons for avoiding drums are: 1) architectural design of the space, 2) genre of the music (although this is suspect), and 3) personal preference. Obviously when we discuss personal preference, we must take a collective view or find ourselves in a data quandary of trying to determine individual taste on a broad scale. Another reason for not using drums might be the culture and heritage of the church itself, but, again, this is suspect due to the lack of validity for tradition. If tradition itself is on trial, that will require another and worthy discussion on the role of history and heritage for determining the future. But for now the topic is not specific churches themselves but, rather, the church on the whole.

While the use of drums may indeed clash with the rich tradition of the culture of many churches, there is no "truth" presented as to why drums should not be included in the worship of God. Architectural space aside, the best reason to prevent drums in church is personal preference. And yet, this argument is beginning to sound empty in light of the prevalent use of drums in most recorded music of today. One may prefer to worship God without drums, and fortunately there are many opportunities for this approach, or one may prefer to use drums in the worship practices. Either choice is satisfactory depending on the preference of the person making the decision.

To put this another way, once again we see the market demand of style of music enter the scene and ultimately determine the "best practice" of what is right. We like to argue for truth in presentation, for quality of product, and for excellence in all things, but when it comes to art, that argument is difficult to substantiate by virtue of its subjectivity and personal preference. I may prefer hymns with organ and without drums or I may prefer to hear music that has withstood the test of time in history but to ignore the marching pound of progress is to live in the past. When it comes to using drums in church, it is possible that we have a situation that is similar to the Yogi Berra admonition. "Nobody wants drums in the worship service, they are too popular"--my own quote.

Using a drum set in worship is another example of a cultural clash that goes beyond that of young versus old or "classical" versus contemporary. The cultural clash is that of many parts of current society desiring a musical sound that is current and driven by a beat. Concerning to some, exciting to others, we can no longer ignore this as a trend or write it off as a fad. Fortunately our culture allows us to worship individually and corporately in ways that meet our needs and our preferences. For those preferring to avoid the "too popular" problem of drums in church, there remain many churches whose culture reflects its own rich heritage and demand a worship style without the "beat" enhancement. In contrast, and in respect of religious freedom, there are many churches using drums in the service. Rather than demonize the drums, maybe we should recognize the role of drums in the service and recognize the cultural change that allows many forms of worship.