This article is addressed particularly to congregations without a tradition of using percussion in worship and rests on these assumptions:

• that the congregation is already able to sing together with soul, heart, strength and mind (adding percussion won't enliven feeble, half-hearted singing)
• that the congregation is willing to welcome percussion into worship (the use of percussion must not be imposed)
• that there can be a place for both/and: both strophic hymnody without percussion and "hymns, psalms and spiritual songs" with the added layers of meaning and emotion that pulse and percussion provide

Where do you begin? The psalmist had something definite in mind: the congregation must have a vision for what, how and why percussion has a place in your congregation.

First, a few "whys".

If we believe that we must bring our whole beings into communion with God as we sing, as we pray, as we worship - then expressing the rhythm of our congregational song with our whole bodies is an obvious place to begin.

Rhythm involves the whole body in another sense. Sometimes, those in the worshipping body who feel they can't sing very well can be involved in the rhythm. Even those who feel they can't sing or keep time can participate by listening and watching.

Rhythm is one worship activity in which children can participate. Swaying, clapping, stepping, hopping or jumping, are what children love to do. If we want to include children in the whole worshipping community, this is one way of welcoming them.

Much of the music of the world needs to be sung with percussion or it loses its heart and soul. Leaving out the rhythm instruments in much Aboriginal, African, Asian or South American music is like leaving out the melody of a hymn.

Rhythm is - or can be - not just time-keeping, but an expression of emotion. In the same way that a dancing melody can charge words with life and meaning, a well-placed cymbal roll can lift a congregation's song and set it soaring.

Now for some "hows".

Go to worship with a congregation that uses percussion. Ask its pastor if she or he would mind if you study how they use it. Listen to CDs of worship music (see note below) and particularly those that use music of the styles and forms you are introducing into worship.

Build percussion into your worship one step at a time. Give each new percussion idea a chance to make its own friends: use the same idea a number of times, in different worship contexts, until everyone knows it thoroughly.

Rhythm should first of all be participatory¹. Start with the congregation, and introduce clapping or other kinds of rhythmic activity. Give congregational members the choice to not clap or step if they so choose; affirm that listening and watching is a welcome contribution to worship.

Singing with percussion presents its own challenges. If your tradition is to slow down at the end of each verse of a strophic hymn, the congregation needs to learn how to maintain a pulse throughout. This can be sometimes difficult to learn at first, and the teaching must be done with grace, humor and patience. The accompanist will also need to keep the pulse by using arpeggios or other figures to fill in the single longer note at the ends of the verses.

How do you organize the percussion players?

Good percussion builds community, with all the listening and learning, giving and taking that life together implies. Therefore don't begin with one drummer who does it all, but distribute the rhythm parts to various people.

Good percussion players listen more than they play. They also watch the leader and the other players. When you ask someone to play, make sure that they are willing to practise, listen, watch and play as part of the whole group. Some players "zone out" playing repeated figures on "automatic pilot" as it were. This can make them play too loudly or too quickly, or not respond to changes in the dynamic or tempo of a song. Insist that they make it part of their training, their performing and their ministry to stay in touch with the other players and the congregation,

If your percussion players are children, have a "STOP" signal and practise starting and stopping together. Practise keeping a steady pulse, unless the song is meant to speed up or slow down. Practise playing softly as well as loudly, and have "soft" and "LOUD" signals. Have your players practise getting softer and louder together.

Plan the percussion of each song: decide what sounds is needed, and when. Often the most powerful percussion happens before the "big" moment of the song or hymn, leading the singers towards it, then stepping back and letting the voices soar.

Now for the "whats".

What kinds of percussion instruments should we use? Start with just a few, and use instruments of as high a quality as you can. Percussion instruments are not toys, and cheap instruments will not add to the quality (or the sincerity) of worship. On the other hand, wonderful instruments can be made with inexpensive materials.

Think of the kinds of sounds the instruments make: high, medium and low sounds; hard, crisp sounds, or soft swishy sounds; rattling, wooden sounds, ringing or metallic sounds. Good percussion combines and contrasts different sounds to support the pulse of the music, the shape of the hymn and the emotions expressed by the singing congregation.

High crisp sounds produced by snare drums, tambourines or claves (those round, wooden dowel-shaped sticks) cut through all other sounds; they tend to dominate and set the tempo, in the same way that hand claps do, and for the same reason.

Soft, swishy sounds, like small maracas, or rhythm "eggs" fill in the middle of the sound spectrum. They are good as a constant repeating eighth note pulse (1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &).

The deep sounds of a bass drum (or the stamping of feet) are best on the beat, especially the first beat of every cycle.

Explore the different sounds of the drum head: the centre gives the deepest sound of each drum, which can easily become a muffled thump. Striking the head just inside the rim gives a more distant "pong".

Soft taps on a small drum head can be used to underscore the quiet part of a song. An insistant repeated figure can express sorrow, anger, agony, or simply a steady heartbeat.

Bells and gongs are good used sparingly as accents. Small, soft bells can be used like wind chimes, adding a quiet sparkle to a meditative melody. Cymbals are loud accents like the exclamation point at the end of a SHOUT! Cymbals can also be a quiet swell that you don't know is there - until it stops.

What about strophic hymns?

A common (and accurate) complaint is that drummers accompany hymns with inappropriate rhythms, or (worse) use the same rhythmic riff from the beginning to the end. This two-fold challenge is one that faces all hymn accompanists: to play in a manner appropriate to the style of the hymn, and to support congregational singing.

It is possible to powerfully re-interpret and update classic hymns, (NICEA with jazz harmony and percussion, for example). This can be done worshipfully, with both authenticity in the "new" genre and respect for the original. But perhaps a better place to begin is by expressing a rhythm close in spirit to the original. There are many hymns we could consider, but two examples will suffice.

Listen to what Beethoven did in the final movement of the "Choral" symphony. At the exposition of the principal theme, after the melody begins with cello and bass, and moves up through the orchestra, he adds tympani in an insistent dotted-quarter/eighth note figure that both accents the melody and drives it forward.

This effect could be used in the hymn "Joyful, joyful", with first verse begun softly and unaccompanied (it is possible to sing both softly and joyfully), building the layers of accompaniment through the verses of the hymn, until percussion enters on the final verse. It is not necessary to use a set of tympani: a floor tom will do.

Another useful source for matching percussion to a hymn style is a CD entitled "Sing Lustily & With Good Courage"². This disc presents hymns of the 18th and early 19th centuries, using a variety of instruments, including different kinds of percussion. The hymn "Who would true valor see" (MONKS GATE) is performed on this disc with violin, curtal (an early bassoon), bass, mandolin and tabor (a small drum which usually accompanied a fife for march tunes). This instrumentation underscores "the marching pilgrim" theme of the hymn, and provides a vigor lost in slower, smoother renditions.

Percussion is like any art used in worship. It is first of all a natural expression (imagine a four-year old with a box of paints) enriched through tradition and training (imagine a mature painter using all her training in form and color) to help us respond with joy and awe to God's creation and to send us out to interact with the world with passion, compassion and power.

¹ It is of course possible to introduce participatory and accompaniment rhythm at the same time. But the congregation needs to feel the pulse together, and this is most effectively done actively rather than passively.

² Sing Lustily & With Good Courage, Maddy Prior with the Carnival Band, © 1990 Saydisc Records, England.. Saydisc Records, Chipping Manor, The Chipping, Wotton-Under-Edge, Glos. GL12 7Ad, England.

Originally published in Reformed Worship (No. 69, Sept. 2003) after Andrew (assisted by Hilary Donaldson) gave a workshop as part of the Calvin College Symposium on Worship in January 2003.

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Let me hasten to say that my congregation, Trafalgar Presbyterian Church, Oakville Ontario, is not rejecting "traditional" hymnody. It has, in its twenty-plus years, embraced music of many styles and forms in a spirit of "both/and" rather than "either/or". The congregation has in its memory bank both strophic hymnody and praise choruses, both CCM and global song.

We have many people from varied backgrounds, culturally, denominationally and musically. Therefore, we try to draw music from many sources, including music from the world church, and it's a very real experience for us to be singing, as John Thornburg writes¹, not only for ourselves, and within our own tradition, but for the person next to us. We are also working at singing for those not yet in our pews.

We have many children and young people whose musical leadership we try to encourage. We try to include hymns from the main tradition, the classics, yet the challenge is to engage children physically and rhythmically.

We're a very social, practical, hands on, get-things-done kind of congregation. How do you introduce the experience of mystery, of awe and wonder? Rev. Kristine O'Brien and I try to craft moments in worship where silence becomes rich with meaning and expressive rather than a mere interruption. We try to encourage members to come to worship with the expectation to learn in worship, to engage with something new, rather than always singing inside the comfort zone. Musically, we work with a rich musical palette that is drawn from the gifts of the community itself.

Leading hymns with a congregational band, of course, is nothing new. Brass bands have long played a distinctive role in Salvation army congregations. Many congregations augment their core piano/organ with other instruments at various times during the year. This instrumental grouping allows us immense flexibility: we can have most of the instruments drop out, and accompany with spare instrumental combinations, bringing in the whole band for a climactic verse. We can re-interpret a hymn in a contemporary style, as we will see below with NICEA, or evoke what might be an "original" accompaniment style - for example, playing KINGSFOLD as a folk song rather than as a hymn. As with any form of hymn leadership, the challenge is to choose the instrumentation to underscore the meaning of each verse, and to shape the singing of the hymn as a whole. One of my musical references comes from the West Gallery tradition, which the Hymn Society experienced in 2004, in Collegeville. Some of these sounds can be heard on the album by Maddy Prior, "Sing Lustily & With Good Courage"², a collection of hymns accompanied by a "gallery" band. Along with many "global" musical traditions, one of my Canadian inspirations is the Montreal duo of Kate and Anna McGarrigle, who blend Québecois and Cajun folk traditions with other popular forms.

I propose that we explore how this approach to the leadership of congregational song plays out in two standard hymns, What a Friend We Have in Jesus and Holy, Holy, Holy (NICEA).

What a Friend We have in Jesus

Because of the themes of the worship service, I felt it was appropriate to explore the emotional heart expressed by opening words, "What a Friend we have in Jesus", rather than, for example, its spirit of exortation in the lines "Take it to the Lord in prayer". Therefore we incorporated some African-American elements: a slower tempo than usual (quarter note at about 55), balanced by a very strong pulse (underscored by percussion), and a countermelody in two parts for violin and flute (see illustration). The countermelody enriches the familiar tune and maintains the forward motion between the phrases. "Namhla Niyabizwa", an African version of this hymn³, uses the same technique as singers extemporize melodies that hook into the following phrase of the hymn.⁴

The piano provided the core instrumental sound. It began the introduction at measure 9. The pianist filled in the vocal part with arpeggios, and short melodic passages - the fills and runs of gospel piano style. The rest of the instruments joined at measure 13 giving the indication for the choir and congregation to stand. Then the piano played alone for the first verse, with spare elaborations. True to the style, the players might relax the tempo slightly, but do not pause between verses. To keep the pulse moving, the piano played a broken chord pattern during the final measure of each verse.

In verse two, the guitars thickened the texture, particularly on the 2nd beat of each measure. They plucked the strings, classical style, in order to keep the rhythm crisp. The violin and the flute began the countermelody. A percussionist⁵ added shaker, playing a straight eighth-note pattern.

The instruments played with decrescendo through the final chord of verse two, and sounded the downbeat chord of verse three. Then they dropped out as the congregation sang verse three unaccompanied until the end of measure 8.⁶ At measure 13 (with some instruments leading in from the middle of measure 12), all the players rejoined the congregation with violin on the alto line, and flute on the melody.

We kept the pulse strong at the end of verse three, and the choir and players led the congregation into a repeat of verse one. Both flute and violin played their countermelody parts as the choir led the congregation in a reprise of verse one with a very strong dynamic. We repeated the final 8 measures again through to the end.

The affect of this version of the hymn was what might be called robust affirmation. The energy of the accompaniment was counterbalanced by the quiet simplicity of the a capella singing of verse three, which underscored the words "Precious Saviour, still our refuge: take it to the Lord in prayer."

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty (NICEA)

A slower tempo also marks this approach to NICEA. We chose what I call a "power pop" feel for the rhythm of the hymn.⁷ We slowed the tempo to about 60 beats a minute, and emphasized the 8th and 16th note elaborations. We added other instruments gradually verse by verse, so that the whole band was playing by verse four. We sang the first part of verse three ("Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee") without accompaniment until measure 9, adding piano until the end of the verse. We added egg shakers, playing a straight 8th note pattern and a spare cajón beat in imitation of a bass and snare drum pattern at the beginning of verse 2.

The affect of this hymn was, like that of "What a Friend", joyous affirmation balanced by the unaccompanied singing in the third verse. This affirmation was emphasized by a three-fold repetition of the final phrase of the hymn ("God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!"). The repetition of the final line of the hymn, though redundant in a standard hymn tradition, was faithful to the power pop practice. It also gave this particular congregation a chance both to explore awe and mystery, and to express a strong devotional emotion within the language of a traditional strophic hymn,

¹ John Thornburg, in his preface to "The One Who Taught Beside the Sea" (Colfax, North Carolina: Wayne Leupold Editions, Inc. 2003), writes: "...even if the songs we sing in church next Sunday are not the ones which resonate most deeply within our spirits, they may well be transforming the life of the person seated next to us, and so we must sing those songs as if they are."

² "Sing Lustily & With Good Courage", Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band, Saydisc Records, 1990.

³ "Namhla Niyabizwa", #1 in The Rough Guide to South African Gospel, World Music Network, 2003.

⁴ The basic countermelody is one I learned as a child in church. To the best of my knowledge, it is anonymous. If anyone knows of a composer, I will be glad to give credit.

⁵ This is often a member of our congregation who sits near the band and adds shakers, tambourine, and other percussion as needed.

⁶ Sometimes I conduct the congregation, particularly at beginnings and endings; sometimes I conduct the choir in order for them to model dynamics for the congregation.

⁷ The piano part is included more as an indication of a performing style, rather than to be played literally.

Reproduced by permission from THE HYMN, Winter 2008, Vol.59, No.1. www.thehymnsociety.org

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