The Roots of Rhythm at Bethel A.M.E. Church "If you can’t rock hard on the 2 and 4, people are going to leave." James Foster is part of the Praise Team at the 350-member Bethel A.M.E. Church in Evanston, Illinois. We guessed that drums in worship are nothing new to America’s black churches and our advisor, also a Master of Divinity student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, graciously agreed to provide the enlightenment.
			Tell us a little bit about A.M.E. A.M.E. stands for African Methodist Episcopal. It’s an offshoot of the Methodist Church, which was founded by an Anglican, John Wesley, in the 18th century. He started a movement to improve the spiritual life of his church. Many of his followers immigrated to America. The A.M.E. church has a glorious history related to that because it was the first major religious denomination that had its origin in sociological rather than theological objectives. The founders wanted freedom of worship and an end to the segregation that took place in the Methodist church. Some blacks were relegated to the gallery of the church. One important black congregant, Richard Allen, kneeling to pray, was asked by white parishioners to move to the gallery.
		He said, “If you will just allow us to finish our prayers, you won’t be troubled with us anymore”. And he started the A.M.E. Church in 1787. How does music fit into the picture today? We have a traditional worship style that includes more progressive musical elements. But as I visit other churches and consult with them, we find more similarities than differences in worship style and music these days than we did in the past. Back in the old days, we had drums, guitars and of course, the staple of African American music, the Hammond organ. We’ve always been known for a heavy rhythm section – drums, organ, piano and later on, guitar. We have acoustic guitar and strings – those are elements that we added later. But rhythm is an integral part of the black experience and the church experience. It’s even there when there is no music playing – the cadence and rhythm and dialog between the minister and the congregation. We had written a contemporary praise piece that has a segment in it where the music just stops. It’s one of the more effective elements in that piece — the drums just stop. It was meant for there to be no music at all, but people felt the rhythm, the foot tapping became infectious and a communicative process took place. In a way, it’s kind of a throwback - this is something that our parents and our grandparents experienced in the days when there weren’t instruments in church but there was a strong dependence on rhythm, even in the cadence of the preacher’s speech. It’s the call-and-response element of our music – the choir and congregants exchanging phrases. Let’s talk about drums, then. We used to have young drummers two and three deep at every practice and service, just waiting for an opportunity to learn to play. The drums were the instrument of choice for most kids. I deal with 55 or 60 churches and rhythm is part of the doctrine – you take the drums away and there’s something wrong. So there isn’t a struggle over preaching the Gospel and praising the Lord? Not here. We were founded partly on a worship style that included music. Our regular morning services are very intense musically – and that’s not an indication of volume levels but the sheer amount of music. We have friends come to our services – bass players, keyboard players from predominantly white churches – who actually sit in. They’re amazed that on any given Sunday we can have 14 or 15 songs. Who chooses the music? We’re fortunate in that we have a Minister of Music and three assistants. I’m one of the assistant directors. I work with the Male Chorus, the Youth Gospel Choir and the Children’s Choir. The church organist helps with anthems, choral music and spirituals. The pianist is involved too, especially what it comes to detailed harmony – so depending on the service, we all help to choose the music. How often do you rehearse? Practically every night of the week is taken up with some form of rehearsal. The music is well rehearsed.
			What about instrumentation? We use some electronic orchestration … then drums, acoustic piano, Hammond organ, electric bass, saxophones, congas, timbales, triangle … Are volume levels a concern? Most churches weren’t built for this kind of set-up. There’s a decibel level at which you’re really not communicating anymore. It is a concern with the drums – we had a meeting about trying to adapt our space acoustically to handle the drums. We were talking about building a Plexiglas shield. Our drums are located in the choir loft, adjacent to the choir. Our drummer tries to use a sticking method to control the volume. He’s a perfectionist. We play a lot of Gospel music so we try not to get louder as we speed up. We want people at the far end of the church to have a sense of the rhythm, but we don’t want the closest soprano to have a headache.
		How do you think the music has changed in the last 10 or 15 years? In black churches, it wasn’t a matter of instrumentation –It was a matter of style. Our worship music is still heavily Gospel with some Contemporary Christian. We try to play what people hear and what they bring us - everything from Promise Keepers to hymns. But the nature of what the church allows is different today. If contemporary Christian music had been more prevalent In the 60s and 70s, it would have been accepted before Contemporary Gospel. People like Tramaine Hawkins and Edwin Hawkins and Andre’ Crouch caught hell in the churches because their music didn’t have a traditional feel. The instruments were accepted but the blues and rock feel of the gospel music didn’t play. Many of the ministers wouldn’t allow groups to play that music. It had to have a more spiritual feel to it. But, of course, that’s all changed now … If you can’t rock hard on the 2 and the 4, people are going to leave. This is especially true as we consider the influence of the Hip Hop Generation on Gospel music. We thank James Foster for taking time from his busy schedule (which include full time employment, church work, graduate studies and parenthood) to speak to us. Visitors are welcome at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Evanston. For more information about the church, click here. We hope this issue of Shure Notes has shed some light on probably the oldest forms of expressive worship – praise drumming. The fact is, with just a couple of minor modifications – in most churches, a nod to volume control and acoustics — the mechanics don’t change much from club to church. What does change is the mission. In the next issue, we’ll gather dozens of practical tips from a panel of leading worship drummers.
	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