FRONT OF HOUSE
CAN FAKE MUSIC ENABLE REAL WORSHIP ? | Kent Morris
It was 1956 in Washington , D . C . and Les Paul and his wife , Mary Ford , were on the gig of a lifetime : playing at the White House for the President of the United States ; Dwight D . Eisenhower . Using his Paulverizer , a remotely controlled tape playback system , Les Paul was able to reproduce multiple pre-recorded tracks playing in realtime along with his live guitar . The result was a rich sonic tapestry , belying the slim visual appearance of his lone guitar . As Mary sang , Les played and triggered the tape player hidden in his amp set-up . As a tape-based rig , each song could only be played in its order and only completely from start to finish . After a few songs , the President spoke up and asked if he could submit a song request . Les and Mary froze , knowing their trick was about to be revealed in the most public of ways . Whatever the President ’ s choice , either they had to perform it with only the live guitar , marking a stark contrast between the full arrangement of the previous song or feign ignorance of the requested song , making them appear musically incompetent . However , in a remarkable twist , the President asked for the very song which happened to be next on the tape playback system , allowing Les and Mary to pull off the ruse of a lifetime .
Today , the vast majority of churches of all stripes use tracks to bolster the sound of the worship team . Whether it ’ s simply replacing an ill bass player with a pre-recorded version or using a dozen stereo stems to essentially replicate the original artist ’ s sonic signature , tracks are the norm . However , is this norm right ? Does the ability to sound like Hillsong make the team Hillsong ? Or , are we experiencing a Sunday morning Milli Vanilli moment on repeat ? Does hitting play on a Mac equate to playing the chords on a Nord or does the Nord equate to its emulation of a properly mic ’ d grand piano ?
Where does authenticity begin and end and does it really matter ? In other words , can God use fake music for real ministry ?
To answer this question , purists will stake a claim on Mt . Talent , where the only path to the summit lies on the trail of scales with a side route through rote memorization . Gigging musicians will point to Hard Knock Top with its battered slopes shaped by hundreds of gigs replete with back alleyways , narrow staircases and butchered , old sound systems . Worship leaders in small churches will clutch their Ableton Live with the ferocity of a three-yearold holding a Happy Meal . They can ’ t possibly all be right , can they ? The answer is , maybe so , in a Matthew 25 sort of way .
When Jesus gave us the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 , it was part of the end times answers he was giving His disciples beginning in chapter 24 , so it must be taken in that context . And , it may be the original audience would have construed the servant with one talent who buried it as the only one of the three doing the honorable thing . However , Jesus ’ parables have broad application and a case can be made for considering this parable as a study in how God imparts resources in His Kingdom . When the ruler gave one servant five talents ( possibly equal to $ 6 million today ), it was because he knew the scope and reach of that servant ’ s area of influence and ability . The same criteria were applied to the servants who received two and one . All three were equally servants , but all three were not equally skilled or resourced . Without getting into the complex ending of the parable , the point here is the ruler parsed out different resources to different people with an expected equivalent outcome .
For those of us who work in contemporary settings , most of us have our hands full just populating PCO with enough names to pull off the services each week . We don ’ t have the luxury of volunteers asking to be put on the list as audio assistants and back-up stage managers . A minority of us are blessed to be in places where the talent pool is adequate and the church resources the music ministry enough to function without having to max out our Sweetwater credit card in order to produce the Christmas program . Finally , a few of us have been planted in amazing ministries with a commitment to excellence and deep pools of talent where the third-string guitar player is regularly on tour playing with Eric Church .
God ’ s wisdom allows for struggling ministries to utilize Abelton Live as a means to bridge the gap between expectation and capability when not doing so would itself create a distraction and harm morale . On the other hand , a church with vast talent and resources would be acting as a sluggard using the same product since the ability to deliver live is there . Each ministry must provide an environment conducive to worship with the tools at hand . Perhaps , in place of seeing these tools as a crutch , a better approach is to view them as physical therapy devices whose purpose is to make the natural limb stronger and eventually able to function on its own . By starting with all the “ tricks ” and then gradually weaning off them , an equilibrium can be achieved which balances the live and recorded while granting more flexibility and performance than either on its own .
Yes , God can use anything for His glory . After all , He uses us . I have to think Les Paul would be proud .
Kent Morris Kent is a 40-year veteran of the AVL arena driven by passion for excellence tempered by the knowledge digital is a temporary state .