“A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’” – Isaiah 40:3

‘Lord‘ is translated from ‘Jehovah‘ as in God Himself. So it’s not His angels or some ambassador, it is God. That’s quite a responsibility. John had that mandate at the forefront of his life’s mission : make a straight path for the Lord. How did he do it? One way was using his voice.

A headless guy named John

In Matthew 3:1-3 we read about John. He was, shall we say, different. Read on from verse 4 to verse 10 and you’ll see just how different he was! His voice was heard clearly and his message was explicit and intentional. He stood up to the religious leaders of the day and did not mince his words. He challenged the religious status quo and just kept preaching the same message that God had given him. Of course, the final result of his preaching was his head being chopped off and put on a platter as birthday gift for someone! Not the most glorious ending for the voice…but the voice was heard and made an impact on all who heard it. Continue reading »

A succesful drum solo is one that takes the listener (and even the soloist) on an audio journey, washing over the participants with dynamics and emotion.

A drum solo that is inspired by God has a definite purpose. I will discuss soloing in church further on in this article. I will begin first by looking at a drum solo in general. Continue reading »

I came across the Waywood site a while ago and was pleasantly surprised to find content that just seemed to make a lot of sense! It was real, practical advice that I would have lavished as an amateur drummer and, the best part, it was all free! Wow, why would someone put up all this information for free? I don’t know, but they just did! Continue reading »

When you get a whole lot of drummers in a room, you’re asking for trouble! Lots and lots of rhythms all over the place! Most of the time it can sound pretty good if you have enough ‘experienced’ drummers. What about drummers and percussionists? “Is there a difference?” I hear you say. Well, I believe there is. I have seen percussionists play their instruments and I have seen drummers on their kits. It’s very different. I have seen drummers playing percussion too and they play like…well…drummers! [I will elaborate that point of view later in this article] Now, don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying percussionists and drummers cannot play each other’s instruments, because they can. It’s HOW they play those instruments that differentiate them from each other.This article is about playing percussion alongside a drummer in a worship team. What can you do? How do you do it? What things should you consider and some practical tips will be provided.
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I read this interview with Carl Albrecht on the Shure web site and found it useful and applicable to the site, so here it is:

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” – Ephesians 5:19

If one factor separates traditional from contemporary, it is drums. Think of the music you hear every day – on your car radio, in commercials, in movie soundtracks and television – all of it uses drums. One writer said, “Music without drums is foreign to the modern ear”. And he’s right. Maybe one of the things that made traditional church music sound so different to most of us as children wasn’t the old-fashioned lyric of the hymns, but the instrumentation. Maybe a piano. Probably an organ.
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