Pedal Culture by Ronald Light

Author:Ronald Light
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Backbeat
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

PW guitarists are uneasy about calling what they do in church a “performance.” They feel strongly about the need to distinguish music as a form of spiritual leadership from the act of playing guitar solely for entertainment (despite the fact they both might appear the same to an outsider). The key distinction is that performance allows for and even encourages self-glorification, while playing music for the congregation can only be about glorifying god. Both forms use guitars, amplifiers and pedals.

Blake

You will never hear me call musicians a church “performers,” because that word means someone who is drawing attention to themselves. In a bar on a Friday night, you are a performer. In a concert outside of church, you are a performer. When you are in church you are a worship leader. Are you doing the same thing? Technically yes, but I like different terms to differentiate and remind me that I’m not focused on me and my performance. All that is to say: if you have the right heart & motive behind it and God is being praised, what more can you ask for?”

Johnny

The funny thing about music is that it always evokes a spiritual response. The vast majority of musicians say they do it for the audience, for the “music,” for the Lord, etc. In the end, we all do this because we enjoy giving what we have to others; music is inherently a mechanism for giving to others.

We might do it for the Lord and, preparation, spend our time and resources. And when we have worked, and prayed, and practiced, and studied, we take to a stage and we present what we have prepared to a group of people that will enjoy it, will exhibit a spiritual response, and will be entertained.

No matter how hard we strive to our time on Sundays completely spiritual, there is a temporal, corporeal, material aspect to it. God likes these things; he made them. He delights in our enjoyment of what he has made and I believe he equally enjoys seeing what we do with his raw materials. Crafting wood into guitar that plays excellently is craftsmanship and worship; learning to play it is education and worship; presenting the talent and instruments together is performance and worship.

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