Looking For The Right Musician: Drummer

I started playing the drums at church at a very young age and through that long and hard journey I have developed some criteria that church music teams can use to identify their drummer of choice. Getting the best drummer for the team can level up its musicality. A common observation is this: when the drummer sounds good, the band will sound great.

Okay, here we go. Spiritual maturity. Really! We have heard of this for so long it has become a cliche rather than the hard truth. The drummer is technically the cornerstone of the band. And this truth holds true in the spiritual level. Get this right first - always! This can sometimes be a process especially if you are just starting out as a church but you need to have the committment to make sure that by the time the church is growing musicians are ready to take on the spiritual burden of leading worship and not just make music.

Technically the drummer is the band's time keeper. The least kind of drummer that you want or need for that matter are those that goes around keeping time. The drummer must have a solid grasp of the song's tempo and keep at it from the very first note to the last. Having a drummer that cannot keep simple time can mess up a song and in a bigger picture, ruin the flow of worship.

Musical maturity also comes to play. The drummer must be a well rounded musician, meaning he must have the right degree of appreciation of all genres and have the skills to execute them when needed. Sure, jazz is great, but there are many great songs out there that are done with a rock or pop flavor. That must be delivered with justice too.

Another sign of musical maturity is knowing when to play out and when to provide a post for the music to just flow. Many drummers tend to overplay and this can be forgiven - up to a certain level. Putting in amazing fills and impressive chops can be great in moderation. But when this is done with every other bar then the element of musicality fades away.

Last but not the least, the drummer must be hungry to learn more and be better all the time. This is the secret for the skills to appreciate consistently. Practice should not be just a saturday routine when and only when the team rehearse for Sunday's worship.

These criteria can go through a process. And when talking about a process, certain "weaknesses" that are discussed above must be a passing problem, just a phase of growing up as a musician. This should not be a persistent and chronic problem that the team has to contend with forever.