Sunday; I Love It Loud-- or Quiet?!

This weeks Softer Sunday went pretty smooth. We didn't have any last minute changes, the songs were all familiar tunes which I've played a lot over the years. And the band, which is comprised of different members each week was locked in pretty well. There was however, one thing which like a bad penny, keeps resurfacing in this service; volume.

"BLF" Bass guitars Before Leo Fender...

The term "softer" in Softer Sunday refers to lower volume than that found in our main services. This service began life as a completely separate gathering of about a dozen, more... seasoned people. The music was made from a piano and upright bass. Over time an us-vs.-them situation began brewing. So in conjunction with adjusting service times the Softer Sunday service as we know today was created. Naturally, some of those in the original small group became disenchanted over the change, while a strong personality that lead that group retired and moved on. 

Leo Fender; invented electricity... mostly

This situation is a great model for studying group dynamics, but I won't go into those details here. Suffice to say there is and will always be-- in any group-- an element who will never be satisfied. There are also those who will complain about anything just for the attention. "It's too loud!" some complain to the pastor. The band is then asked to lower the volume. Next week the band is still too loud, and complaints are directed to the band who again lowers their volume. A few months ago this got so bad that the drummer couldn't hear the bass player (me) and asked our sound guy to turn me up a bit (we don't have personal monitors in this service). The very next moment our sound guy was asked to turn every thing down due to more complaints. 

"ALF" Bass guitars After Leo Fender

This weekend we had the same group dynamic problems-- too loud/too quiet. To please one person another is upset. A lot of churches have this problem, it is not uniquely ours. I do believe however, what is unique to us is this little group of people who wish to return to the days where they have their own little club complemented with nothing more than a piano and an upright bass. A club that could come & go through the side doors without any interaction with anyone but themselves. Then and only then will they be happy.

Thankfully this is not my problem to solve. I am very happy to accept any opportunity to make music-- especially when it praises God. It's also my guess that 99% of the others in the worship arts collective feel the same way. The focus needs to be on God-- not us. If the music truly is too loud, then by all means we are happy to turn it down. However, there comes a point when turning it down any further is counter productive. Unless of course your intention is to replace the band with a piano & upright bass.