Different parts, One Song

I am a student of support rhythms, there are no solo actions. Really, an accomplished drummer much farther along than myself would be a solo artist. I support others who play and I engage in corporate drumming. In my class there are 5 students and our teacher. Together we sound amazing (if I say so myself) as we play different parts which when paired in various ways bring out a life and energy that a solo drummer of our ability simply could not produce. My teacher informs us that together we border on concert readiness. After three sessions, we almost have two songs! o:)

Playing with the group not only holds a lot of responsibility (I must keep my part), it also holds the excitement that one has when working towards a common goal. But playing together ALSO means that a mistake could jeopardize the whole group. We have many beats and bell sounds that play off one another. If one person fails, it could throw the whole thing off. We can all play almost any of the parts independently. But when played together it becomes more difficult to sync it all up. It involves a ton of listening, focus, trusting, etc.

One of the more challenging parts to play has only a few notes repeated but it almost brought me to tears when trying to sync up. I overcame, thanks to a supportive class, but it proved to be my greatest challenge yet. I kept declaring how "it shouldn't be so difficult", as when playing by myself I could do it just fine. It was with the added drums and bells, that I found my rhythm lost and thus derailing our song. Despite the other sounds around me, I had to maintain my specific rhythm.

The other thing I find fascinating is how different drums can really add to various sounds. Sometimes we will silence three of the drums to pair two other ones together. If played solo, one drum may be uninteresting but when two of them are played together, a beautiful sound arises.

Every time we play a song together, we take an audiences attention away from a single drummer to the beauty of the song as a whole.

This all leads me to think about living for The Lord. We all have our roles to play which when we focus on individually may seem very mundane or unimportant. Oh the age old question, is the life I live have any importance? But when we play together, supporting one another in the shared Redemption song, we can see how different actions together can glorify the Lord. Since life isn't about us, and is all about pointing to the one who offers redemption to ALL, it makes sense that the roles we play must not only be intertwined with one another but in some ways very dependent. We need one another to play a better song and we must learn that the song we play is never about us. Playing solo is unnecessary when we have one another because together we can point to the truest masterpiece - Christ.

1 Corinthians 14:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.