Print this article Grace Notes: Tips from Drummer Carl Albrecht “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. If your church is introducing contemporary worship into what has been a traditional setting – or – if you’re already striking up the praise band, we’ve solicited the advice of an expert to offer some practical guidance. Carl Albrecht, a professional drummer for over 30 years, is an accomplished session man and producer, having worked with a wide range of Christian and pop artists, a group diverse enough to include LeAnn Rimes, John Tesh and many Integrity Music artists. He will join Shure this year, leading workshops at Seminars4Worship. In Part I of our series on drums in worship, we asked Carl to talk to us about praise and performance. You’ve been a professional drummer for over 30 years now. When did you first start playing the drums?

I was a typical little kid growing up, always banging on things. Gradually, my mom and dad bought me a little practice pad and I started taking lessons about the time I was in seventh or eight grade. I come from a family of musicians – my mom was a keyboard player, my dad played guitar and sang, He was in bands for years – but I was definitely attracted to drums. I took lessons through the rest of high school and started playing professionally when I was sixteen. What kind of music? We played a little bit of everything … country, pop, even lounge music. Some of my buddies got together and we played Top 40 stuff. I was a music-aholic at that time. I played whenever I could – that included bar mitzvahs, polka parties … the whole deal. Where did you grow up? I grew up in the St. Louis area – that’s where my formative years were spent and where I studied – I went to Webster in St. Louis and got a degree in composition and arranging with an emphasis in percussion studies. The Next Step When did the praise drumming part of your career start? I was brought up in church and some of the music groups that were in our church. But I had a serious meeting with the Lord when I was in college studying music. The music was supernaturally tied in to what I was doing – I was meeting with music ministers and Christian musicians who were doing the contemporary Christian rock of the era. Met some of the guys at some of the other churches who were producing records that were precursors to the contemporary praise music we hear today. What happened after college was that newer non-denominational fellowships were being formed and they were the ones doing contemporary music with full-fledged bands. I became involved with a church called the Grace World Outreach Center where there were a lot of musicians and a lot of singers and the leadership were really into contemporary music. It was pretty aggressive, even at that time, with a lot of music that was well produced. It was a transitional time for a lot of churches. Joyful Noise or Just Noise?

For the less progressive churches, though, there was still some debate, though … In the early years, there was a lot of debate about having drums in church – or even guitars. It was a cultural change. Drums kits aren’t mentioned in the Bible, but even the early temple musicians had many different kinds of instruments like hand drums and tambourines.

Still, there are some critics out there who think drums are the instrument of the Devil. I’ve heard all those arguments. A lot of it has to do with the style of contemporary music – as it became more rock-driven, you have new influences. You have Christian heavy metal, you have Christian rap.

Bands like P.O.D. for instance … That’s right. The whole gamut creates a clashing of styles. My personal feeling is that it’s stylistic, not spiritual. I have a friend who says that God made everything and the Devil didn’t. So it all belongs to the Lord. We live in a world where everything can be perverted. Biblically, there are no instruments like the ones we have now. But King David was always inventing instruments to play. So I think that all things can be made to serve God. It’s the heart of the musicians that creates the real musical sounds. But even in ancient times, there were cymbals, tambourines, and timbrels that were ancient drums. Physical and Spiritual Nuances Let’s talk some specifics for our readers here. How does the set-up – or does the set-up change – for worship drummers playing in churches? I try to create the same kind of excellence in either arena. So you’re saying the drum kit itself wouldn’t necessarily change … Right. I wouldn’t say “I’d do this in a concert, but not a church” or vice versa. I am sensitive to acoustics in a church building … What can a drummer do about acoustics? Not much. Churches weren’t built for this kind of music. They were built for spoken word and classical music and choirs. I might use a smaller drum kit for acoustic reasons, just like I would in a jazz gig at a small club. Smaller drums produce less sound. I might use smaller cymbals or lighter sticks. It’s a matter of making the room work, which is the way I approach any gig. It’s not a matter of style. It’s acoustics. What about electronic drums? They’re becoming more popular. The technology is as good as it’s ever been, but my concern about that is that a lot of churches jump to that solution and don’t have the right PA to reproduce the sound. They sound great in the headphones at the store, but without the right equipment, they can sound terrible in church. Technically, you’ve got to be ready to make that work. Roland and Yamaha make some great stuff. I use them to supplement the acoustic things, but it’s not something that I use all the time. In terms of attitude and performance, how is church drumming different? This is a real significant thing for church drummers and people doing ministry. The question always comes up in conferences - "Are we performing or are we ministering?" The fact is, you have to be able to execute your skill on the instrument. You have to use your training. The mindset of some people is that musicians are trying to promote themselves. I like to think of musicians as gatekeepers to the presence of God. You're inviting people to meet with the Lord - you're not inviting people to meet with you. It's much different than a concert or a club thing where minstrels (that's what I call them) are promoting themselves, or the record or their music, as a product. It’s a matter of mission, then. That’s right. What you don’t want to see in church is musicians trying to be rock stars. The Lord is the star of the show. Is that hard for young drummers to do? It takes a while because they work so hard to be able to play an instrument. That takes self-confidence, but it can't become a situation where anyone is thinking, "I'm the world's greatest musician". It doesn't work like that. At the same time, though, fellow musicians look for drummers to have confidence in their abilities. There's a balance. I always tell young drummers "Look, if we die today, there'll be another drummer tomorrow." You find in life what God has given you to do and you do it faithfully. Who attends your workshops? Seminars 4 Worship, for instance, is open to worship leaders, staff, administrators – anyone, really, who wants to learn about worship is invited. It’s a real mixed group in terms of their training – even in my drum master classes, I see the whole gamut of players … From neophytes to pro drummers? Right. I try to give an overview of the principles of playing that will apply at every level –like having a practice routine, learning how to do rudimentary drumming, how to read music, playing multiple styles and learning how to express yourself doing solo material and improvisational playing on your instrument. It’s a lot different and more challenging that in private study where I can really gear the lesson to the student’s ability. On the subject of workshops and instruction, how can our readers keep learning from you? My website (www.carlalbrecht.com) has a readers’ forum along with some recent articles I’ve written. Worship Musician is a great source of information, with several pro drummers contributing editorial. Of course, I’ll be at Seminars4Worship this year and finally, there are two instructional videos that I appeared on with worship artist Paul Balonce at www.leadworship.com.

Also in this issue: An Introduction to Drums in Worship Grace Notes: Tips from Drummer Carl Albrecht Joyful Noise: Worship at Bethel A.M.E. Church The Shure Calendar     Product Spotlight: Drum Mics Shure Notes™ Archive Change My Preferences    E-mail to a Friend     Privacy Policy