I am an Offering

• PLAY IN TIME.  Period. The sign of a good drummer is not how many fills he can play in time, it is the fact that he can play in time.  Buy a metronome that you can hear over your playing and practice with it every time you play.  Be able to be as steady as a metronome.  Use your metronome during practice and worship services as well.
• Learn to control your volume, especially if you use an acoustic kit.  If you have a hard time controlling your volume, ask if the church will buy you a drum shield, or buy yourself some brushes or hotrods (rute/tala).
• Vary your fills and play them skillfully.  It’s very difficult for a band to get back on track if a drummer’s fill ends a beat too late or half a beat too early.  Be able to nail your fills every time.  If you can’t, simplify your fills until you can.
• Learn different patterns.  Four on the floor doesn’t work with every song.  The country “train” beat won’t work with every song.  Hint: A waltz beat won’t necessarily work with a driving 6/8 song as much as you might think 6/8 is the same as 3/4.
• Practice.  Practice.  Practice.

Do any of you have any back to basics tips for percussion (bongos, congas, shakers, djembe, etc?)?  While I do play percussion I haven’t had much experience with it in corporate worship settings and I’d love to hear your thoughts.