So I am a musician in my church. My father and oldest brother are both musicians active in ministry, so there is a genetic factor that plays into the ministry. What is different is the fact that they focus on mostly melodic instruments (piano, accordion, bass, guitar) while I focus on both melodic and percussion instruments. When I first started in music, I focused on percussion because it was visibly easier to master. I liked figuring out how to translate a rhythm or melody that is in my head to the instrument.
To write this post, I did a google search on the personality of a drummer. I found the following blog posts that discuss this topic:
http://drummers-paradise.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-personality-traits-of-drummer.html
http://www.davidsantistevan.com/effective-drummers/
http://www.musicradar.com/news/drums/why-drummers-really-are-the-backbone-of-the-band-580362
When I read these posts, I felt that I was being confirmed everything that I had thought about drumming in the past. I realized that I wasn’t crazy in my thoughts. I also realized that the feeling that I got that I was the leader in the music ministry and that it was my duty to make sure everything was okay was actually based on the nature of my ministry and not on my imposition. I realized why God was purposely getting me to become the musician that understood what the music ministry is and what is my role in it.
What’s the irony of me playing the drums? I’m an INTJ playing a loud instrument. I have the everlasting conflict of playing loud enough for the congregation to hear me and to keep the noise down so as to not cause a disturbance. I am a “natural” leader (or so my personality description says), yet I have to deal with a particular ministry that requires me to be a leader and a follower at the same time. The general expectation is that I need to be a follower only. I have the need to be free to do that which I think is right, yet I am constrained by people that doesn’t want me to really creative.
The good thing: the drums are an isolating instrument: the drum ministry is one of the loneliest ministries in the church, both physically and emotionally (at least in my church). That is good for introverts who want their own space. At times, though, the fact that no one else is going through what I am going through means that I am alone in dealing with the ups and downs of being a drummer.
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