Talent vs. Taste

There is an interesting battle that happens inside every musician. This battle is what I will call talent vs taste.   This is the battle every drummer, guitar player, and pianist must overcome to become a productive contributor to any worship band.

Most musicians start out with an instrument, learning very simple parts or simplifying hard parts because what they play is restricted by their talent.  Their main focus is to merely hit the correct notes.  Over time the musician gains more technical skill and confidence and begins to start playing the intermediate and advanced parts.  Often times what they play is still heavily influenced and restricted by talent level, but they play the parts similar to how they hear it on the recording without embellishment.   (I call these the golden years)

The next stage of the musician’s progression often times turns for the worst.  Their skill grows to a point where what they play is no longer constrained by talent.  Often times they begin to get bored with the simple parts they hear on the CD and usually begin to embellish the song ad nauseam with riffs and perpetual solos.  Instead of supporting the band by playing what the song needs and leaving room for their band mates, they use the band as an opportunity to show of a cool new trick they learned that week.  I am unwilling to reveal the amount of times I have over played a bass line with the motivation to impress someone. This musician is like a race car that has a giant engine but lacks the suspension and tires, to keep the car in control.

The next stage in a musician’s career is when they attain the title of musician.  Up until this point they have been merely an instrumentalist.  They have shown glimmers of musicianship, but they do not play with the intent to benefit music because they are too busy playing their own instrument to be a part of the music that a band is doing. Like a basketball player that keeps shooting up 3 pointers and refuses to play defense, the instrumentalist plays his instrument, often oblivious to the context of the band. It is surprising how many people stay at this level and refuse to take the plunge into musicianship. At this stage, a musician is not constrained by talent but chooses to constrain himself for the sake of taste and bandsmanship.   As an asset to the worship band he learns to prefer his band mates above himself and plays with a motivation to add to the music instead of adding to his guitar hero score.

I can’t count the times I have walked into Guitar Center and have seen a very skillful instrumentalist, shredding for the pleasure of everyone in the store’s ear drums.  He demonstrates his sheer mastery of guitar by not even looking at his hands (because he is too busy looking around to see who is watching him).

(This guy knows as of where I speak.)

How can we become better musicians, instead of just skilled instrumentalists?

Humility, Heart, and Trust

The MOST important part of being a true worship musician is humility, purity of motivation, and trust.  We must continually remind ourselves that music is a team sport and the “show” is not about us.  We must be willing to serve, and do what is asked of us even if that means playing parts that we find unflattering.  We must be willing to receive criticism from others; even from band mates/leaders that you think you’re better than technically. Even more fundamentally, we MUST realize that we are playing music with the intent to lead others into worship.  We have to be willing to let God mold our motivations and have a soft heart for his purpose.  A worship musician should always strive for excellence in his talents.  Finally, we must be willing to trust our band mates and prefer them over ourselves.

(Great video on Performance Vs. Worship and the heart behind it, from Paul Baloche) 

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