Role of Drums in Worship

Drums are the foundation of any band. The drummer’s role in any band is to give the music a pulse to make the group sound full and more interesting. Whether playing in compound meters or playing simple 4/4 drum beats every song has rhythm. Drummers unlike other musicians can absolutely anything they want and make it fit in the context of the song. Drums help control the dynamics of the song and keep transitions flow together. Musicians rely on the drummer to keep the drive and the tempo of the song. Drummers are unique because they can have and use different variations of equipment which contributes to certain sections. For example, gospel drummers usually tend to have large drum kits because they tend to add more fills and hits to help drive the band. Where as in jazz drummers tend to play on a standard kit which consists of high tom, floor tom, snare, kick, hi hat, crash and ride cymbals. Some churches have electronic drum kits and some drum players use electronic drum pads to get unique digital drum sounds. There are hundreds if not thousands of different combinations of things drummer can do to enhance or “spice” up songs.

Dave Herlo was the first person who pushed me to strive on drums. Dave would help me with everything I struggled or had problems with. After getting lessons from Dave I started looking up videos on YouTube to increase my playing ability. From there I started to develop my own technique, beats, and even fills. I started to look up worship bands and saw how drummers would set a certain atmosphere for worship by using cymbals and increasing volume for build ups. Big influences for me were Mike Webber, Cobus Potgieter, Tony Royster, Calvin Rodgers, Chris Coleman, and Rolf Wam Fjell.

Playing with Seven38 band has changed how I play drums as a whole. I find myself listening to what the band does and feeding and contributing more. I started to play less and worship God more. I try my best to blend with the band and ultimately get the church to an atmosphere where they can feel comfortable and free to worship. Drums can be a loud soloing invasive thing but I try my best to support the band the best I can with the talents God has given me. -Mike