Reflecting on High School Worship Team

Isn’t it interesting how perceptions change once you are outside of the situation?

 

I always enjoyed playing for the youth worship team at my church when I was in it in middle school and high school. This past Monday, the leader of the worship team came to me as he does when they are out a keyboard player and asked If I could play for him. Now, last semester when I would be asked this, I would most likely say no just because I wouldn't have the time, but now since I have a less busy schedule, I can do these kinds of things. Now, I guess first, it would be good to understand who I was playing with. The singers were 2 middle school kids who couldn't project if the audience was three feet from them. The drummer was a 7^th grader who is just beginning to learn drums and is most likely there because his father made him. The “Lead” guitarist was also a 7^th grader who tried his darnest to improv the entire night and it never really worked. And then there was me and the band leader who played acoustic. Now, most nights when I would show up and play, I never really gave it my all and never really tried that hard to be musical or anything along those lines. My reasoning for this was simple- The music never really sounded good. The drummer was always off beat and always missed when to come in and the singers were always off pitch. It is a weird feeling though going back and playing for my old worship team that was such a huge part of my life in middle school and high school. I could have sworn that we sounded better back then. Either way, something occurred to me this past Monday as we were rehearsing and it went against everything that I was ever taught about music or how to play music. In the midst of the missed notes and the poor guitar playing, I found some of the best sounding music that I have heard in a long time. In high school marching band, It was all about precision and excellence. We were always trying to make it better and better every time we ran the show or played through a specific part in the music. I remember practicing for hours trying to get a sticking right or hearing my friends complaining about how they just can’t get the fingering right for a certain part. On Monday I realized that no matter how you play music, It’s still music. Who ever said that music needs to be neat and put together? Who ever postulated that when we play music that it needs to be understood and it needs to “Connect with the audience”? I’m through with this feeling that music is only for the super talented. I’m through with the understanding that if you don’t play the music in time, and go along with what everyone else is doing then “You aren’t doing it right”. Since when was there a right and wrong when it came to music? I don’t know when this day occurred, but I think it was the day that allot of musicians put down their instruments and never picked them back up. It’s a shame to see people who really want to learn an instrument stop playing it because they are told that they aren't using the right fingering or they play out of time.

 I remember a story my dad told me about when he was in the process of buying my first drum set. I was in 5^th grade and it was just before the Christmas of 2005. My dad didn't know a whole lot about drum sets or drums so he decided to go to local shops and try to learn some things about them. I’ll never forget what he told me the one guy said when he walked into a local drum shop. “Give me five minutes with him and I’ll let you know if your boys a drummer or not. People either are or are not drummers. Its something your born with- not something you can learn” hearing this really makes me sad because to play in time, you first must play out of time. To play the right notes, you must learn what the wrong ones are. To learn to project your voice, you must know what it feels like to not project. So yeah, maybe they don’t always play the right notes, and maybe they don’t always play in time, but I’m so proud to be asked back every now and then to play for the youth worship team. I’m honored to be part of the learning process. I’m proud to call my self a musician, and I’m happy that I am part of something that at the very core of its existence, challenges us to draw outside of the lines. As musicians, we are called to make some sort of sense of what we see on a page, even if sometimes this doesn’t make sense. 

Here’s to playing what you feel. Here’s to playing something different than everyone elce is. Here’s to going into your own little drum, piano, guitar, or singers world and seeing what you can bring back with you. Here’s to spending hours learning a song so you can impress that girl you like. Here’s to the people who play what they feel and don’t care about what others think. Here’s to the drummer who plays with everything he has and maybe gets too much into it just because he loves drumming. Here’s to the guy who sings way too loud in the choir- I’ll be standing beside you cheering you on. Here’s to the pianist who enjoys plunking the keys and always gets yelled at by their parents for pounding on the piano- that’s still music in my book. Here’s to all the aspiring musicians. Play until you figure it out. Don’t be afraid of wrong notes. Don’t be afraid to be wrong because with out being wrong, how can you be right?