The drummer is probably one of the most largest challenges for music ministries.  Some of those challenges are seen in the limitation of players, skills and availabilities, and maybe all the above.  Let's look over a few points in hopes to better assist your ministry as you find what applies to your concerns.

For you drummers out there, please don't take this article personally or seriously. Please save your drumsticks for playing not for causing damage to you, me or those around you!  These tips are only clues to help worship leaders and bandleaders as they face the challenge of drums in their ministries. In the near future, I will post an article just for you drummers to ease any of the ripples. Myself, in being a person who knows drums, I know how sensitive these issue can be.

Let's first start with the limitation of players.  You may be in the church where there may only be one or two drummers (lucky if you find 2 or 1!), or you may not have a drummer at all.  In all cases, when you were working with a small band, It may be beneficial of not having a drummer. It's better to have either a solid and reliable drummer to enhance the band, or to maintain your 2-3 instrumental group.  Here's why: the fewer instruments you have, the drums will only stand out that much more. In other words, if all you have is a piano, a guitar and a drummer, it's going to take more dynamic range for the other two instruments to balance out the drums.  Unless you're working with electronic drum kit, balance issues will always be a main challenge.  If this is a similar scenario that you are facing, then your sound engineer would be grinning at this point. Anyway, when you're working with a three-member band, keep in mind, at your small church your players may not be pros. This means that you will have reasonable challenges, but you will reap the benefits of great solutions. As for drums, the main purpose of the band is to support the singers, the end result to lead the congregation in worship and in song.  I have seen and heard many small church bands that spend way too much time on the drums, when they lack the other instrumental support to the music/singers as a whole.  The drummer's  job is like the band, to provide a clear sense of timing and pulse. Important drumming concerns can be volume, overplaying issues,  uneven tempo control, inefficient drum stick inventory and choices, miking issues or simple drum tuning.  Here is a parenthetical thought, for small band and room situations, the drums should never be miked as it will perpetuate all other volume issues. You will also need to consider what kind room you're in.  Bad acoustics such as tiled floor, shotgun alley or obtuse wide sanctuaries and hard corners will add more reverberation to the room than what you're able to control. 

The best situation is to have carpeted floors, a drum shield (if miked), a back sound-absorbent wall and acoustic tiling. Other lesser inexpensive ideas, can be found in using cloth material and foam to make a sound baffle and area floor rugs. I have seen other churches use decorative banners to hang on walls or from the ceiling.  These ideas make great inexpensive solutions for controlling room acoustics.  When you hear people in the church talk about how they do not like the drums, this is mainly what they were referring to - the noise. The better you can control the noise, the better your congregation will be able to adapt as well as your singers and musicians.

Now let's talk about skill.  As said before, it is always better to not have a drummer than to have one who is uncontrollable.  No matter how small your band, your sense of timing, dynamic, clarity and cohesiveness always wins in the end.  Your singers will always find a space to sing in the music as well as your congregation.  When a small band plays well, even without a drummer, the music will sound even, clear and consistent. As a result for recruiting new members, you will attract other musicians who will be more inclined to play.  Like anything else, if you find something distracting, you will avoid it; this goes for other musicians who may be interested in joining your band.  If you do not have a drummer, the most percussive yet musical instrument you can ever add to the contemporary band would be the acoustic guitar.  As long as that player has a good sense of timing and rhythm,  you can make up for a lot of what you're missing.  Remember what Scripture says, (Forgive the pun!) love covers a multitude of sins.  If this situation is you, then make sure that your acoustic guitar player and/or pianist practices constantly with a metronome.  Also, if you have a drum machine or keyboard in which you can create a click track, use this device at rehearsals.  For the first time, it may seem awkward and uncomfortable, but you will be amazed in a few weeks; with practice and patience your timing will improve beyond belief.  Even using a drum machine in worship sets is not a bad idea. In fact, more drum machines and drum loops are more popular than ever before. Here's a cool plug: go to Praise Charts, they now have drum loops that are musically synced to music charts. You can purchase a sheet of music with a corresponding click track/drum loop (on wav or midi file via laptop) and can play along with the printed sheet of music or chord chart. This link provides a full description, instructions and all the how-to's. Even if you have never heard of this technology before, Praise Charts has the solutions for your needs. Check out the cool here: ClickTracks at praisecharts.com

In working with drum machines/loops/clicks, it will take a responsibility and discipline on your part. You will have to make sure that you can efficiently control the drum machine/loop for starting and stopping on time without interrupting the flow of the songs.  Usually, a keyboard player can operate a drum machine without problems.  My suggestion, is to try the drum machine/loop/click track at rehearsal rather than on a Sunday.  Make sure as you work with a drum machine that you make it conducive as possible with your instrumentalists and singers before you try it out with the congregation.  A couple of months would be a good time-window for practice sake.  However, if it does not sound good and the problems keep getting worse, scrap this idea and go back to what you're doing originally.  Your comfort and pace is more important for your congregation. Remember, you want to help the congregation get where they need to go with as much ease as possible.

Now let's jump to the scenario when drumming skills are the issue.  As much as it can depend on the drummer alone, I strongly encourage private lessons, practice time and working with a metronome (click track).  Your drummer can work in a vacuum, if they are not working on other skills for growth.  I have heard many o’ drummer say, “my practice  and/or instruction time is at band rehearsal.” This is not being real.  The rehearsal time with your church band is for your church band (worship team), not for the drummer's "pracitce time."  When you come together for rehearsal, you are rehearsing the whole entire sound of the band and the songs.  Rehearsing the overall big picture is much stronger and more important in the preparation for your singers and congregation. Individual practice time is done at home.  I have also heard, like you, “I don't have the time to practice at home.”  I don't mean to sound harsh here, but if you cannot find the time to practice at home, you are not best serving your band and church. All of us are busy.  Finding time to practice, even if it's 10 minutes a day, is doing everything in your power to better equip your team.  In example, if you are on a volunteer sports team, you're always practicing your skill and position at other times, rather than on the team's practice day. You show up and know your part. God honors our self-discipline, commitment and dedication in our team settings.

It is important for all drummers to learn how to play different volume levels and tempos It takes a lot of control for any musician to practice soft volumes at slow tempos; this well defines a musician at having superior control over his or her instrument.  With this in mind, the drummer needs to use the right tools for the right musical settings.  Drum grooves are not always 4 on the floor rock beats.  The drummer's job is to maintain pulse and timing for the rhythm section.  This could be as simple as a single high hat groove, a little kick for punch and a bit of snare for accents. Timing is everything. The best bands are the ones who can play clean and in time, every time.  Again, the bigger picture is involved where the band supports the singers.  Any time in which the band's volume overrides the singer, the congregation will have a more difficult time a catching the lyrics.  In my past experience, I have worked with outstanding drummers that are professionals, to weekend warriors and to novices who just put a drum stick in their hands for the first time.  All in all, you want to have drummers play with their strengths.  Let's say your drummer has a strong right-hand, but a very weak left hand, then your answer is to have the drummer play the high hat and kick drum, with limited snare. Another scenario could be that your drummer has both strong right and left hands, but their feet coordination tell a different story.  In this case, have the drummer play with both hands and limited foot action on the bass. Another example, let's say both feet and hands work well together, but they're only used to play one tempo…ah here is a struck a nerve.  What do you do?  Who says you have to have drums play on every song?  In my experience of working with inexperienced drummers, I’ve had them play shaker or some other hand percussion parts just to hold down the time. We would resort to other percussion instruments on similar slow or medium songs.  As we would do faster songs, the drummer would switch back to his kit. As they continued to practice at home, the alternation of percussion and drums worked to our advantage for style, color and sound variations. I have found that it's better to look for the positive opportunities in being creative instead of deeming that things can’t be done.

Last point, here is the issue of the availability of your drummer.  As said before, the band is a team effort.  If your drummer has (or any other band member) has commitment issues, this needs to be addressed first outside of rehearsal. The team is for the greater good, not for the silo of one. The drummer's part is essential to the worship band.  However, negative attitudes and personalities are not healthy to the team (no one is critical). Okay, we have squashed that issue. If I left out something – let me know. Moving on. Let's say your drummer, being a committed team player, travels often and is not able to play every week.  In today's world, and the busyness of people, this is common.  As seen before, pick songs were drums are not much of a requirement, use a drum machine or train a singer to play hand percussion like shaker or something similar. 

You are only able to do what you can accomplish reasonably by manpower.  When drums are not an option, there is nothing wrong with completely redoing a worship set to make it more acoustic driven. Be creative and vary up the worship band sound occasionally.  Don't get locked in to the idea that you cannot accomplish a full sound without a drummer. There is plenty of enjoyment that music diversity can bring.  Be as open-minded as possible and try new things; it will bring refreshment to you as an artist and more importantly, to your congregation.  Always remember who the worship is for: our Lord.  Our God desires for us to give him our best.  In situations when we are without, work the best with what you have. Check Out: ClickTracks