{"id":3333,"date":"2010-12-12T01:06:20","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T01:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=3333"},"modified":"2021-03-25T13:21:46","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:21:46","slug":"whats-wrong-with-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s wrong with tradition?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was watching the BBC News this morning and in between the tales of stranded motorists, planes skidding off runways and items telling me how to make the perfect mince pie, was a performance from a gospel quintet singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing.<\/p>\n<p>The five sang jazz, accompanied by um\u2026 jazz piano. They sang with a swing and moved with the kind of rhythmic bounce that would compel even the Grinch to tap a toe. All dressed in full-length red gowns with &#8211; rather bizarrely &#8211; dog collars, I realised that what I was watching was, to your traditional pearl-wearing BBC viewer, an \u2018alternative\u2019 version of a standard Christmas carol.<\/p>\n<p>Now, here\u2019s a thing. I\u2019ve played drums at two Christmas services and one full-on carol service this year and I\u2019ve not heard one \u2018traditional\u2019 version of Hark the Herald. I\u2019ve played jazzy versions, rocky versions and even a punky version but not once has the worship leader, prior to the rehearsal of this song, said: \u2018I\u2019ll tell you what, why don\u2019t we do it in the traditional way?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Pretty much every carol I have done has a modern take on it \u2013 except Silent Night because everyone thinks \u00be is too weird a time signature to muck about with \u2013 and it\u2019s starting to irritate. Thankfully, nobody\u2019s suggested reggae but I do remember somebody in one band say the words \u2018acid jazz\u2019 as a serious \u2018style\u2019suggestion.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019m a drummer and therefore I am predisposed to play loud, out of time, insensitively etc. My knuckles drag on the ground, I drool regularly and my communication skills consist of irregular grunts. Kebabs and chips are staple foodstuffs for me. People put me behind a Perspex screen and if they are feeling brave they\u2019ll put their head around it and ask me if I have been fed and watered. Then they ignore me for the rest of the service, quite convinced that they have at least done their bit to make the marginalised feel appreciated. These people have read the Bible particularly the bit where Jesus mixed with the tax collectors.<\/p>\n<p>But hey, let\u2019s tear up Noughties formbook and go trad\u2026 man. I don\u2019t need to play four on the floor all the time. Let us play the Holy and the Ivy without putting a musical skewer through it. Let\u2019s slow down the tempos at the end of verses in the traditional fashion. Ditch the loops and embrace the rolls and marches. Say goodbye to groove because\u2026 what the heck, it\u2019s Christmas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other posts you may like:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/beautiful-christmas-images-free-for-use\/\">Beautiful Christmas images \u2013 free<\/a><br \/>\nFree Christmas songs<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/looking-for-christmas-songs\/\">Looking for Christmas Songs?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-magi-cal-approach-to-worship\/\">A magi-cal approach to worship- a reflection for epiphany<\/a><br \/>\nChristmas carol medley ipad style<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other drum related posts written by Tim Bowdler <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/get-your-kit-off\/ \">Get your kit off<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/drum-teachers-blog\/ \">Drum teacher&#8217;s blog<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/263\/ \">Worship drummer on fire<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was watching the BBC News this morning and in between the tales of stranded motorists, planes skidding off runways and items telling me how to make the perfect mince pie, was a performance from a gospel quintet singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The five sang jazz, accompanied by um\u2026 jazz piano. They sang [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":22508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,6],"tags":[930,119,118,12,11,1502],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s wrong with tradition? | Musicademy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, nofollow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s wrong with tradition? | Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was watching the BBC News this morning and in between the tales of stranded motorists, planes skidding off runways and items telling me how to make the perfect mince pie, was a performance from a gospel quintet singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The five sang jazz, accompanied by um\u2026 jazz piano. They sang [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-12T01:06:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-25T13:21:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/01155454\/whats-wrong-with-traditional-christmas.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"776\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Bowdler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Bowdler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s wrong with tradition? | Musicademy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-12T01:06:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-25T13:21:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/df3874f0e6207fde987a5ef4d3e0beaa\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/df3874f0e6207fde987a5ef4d3e0beaa\",\"name\":\"Tim Bowdler\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What\u2019s wrong with tradition? | Musicademy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"nofollow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What\u2019s wrong with tradition? | Musicademy","og_description":"I was watching the BBC News this morning and in between the tales of stranded motorists, planes skidding off runways and items telling me how to make the perfect mince pie, was a performance from a gospel quintet singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The five sang jazz, accompanied by um\u2026 jazz piano. They sang [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/","og_site_name":"Musicademy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy","article_published_time":"2010-12-12T01:06:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-25T13:21:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":776,"url":"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/01155454\/whats-wrong-with-traditional-christmas.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tim Bowdler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@musicademy","twitter_site":"@musicademy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tim Bowdler","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/","name":"What\u2019s wrong with tradition? | Musicademy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-12-12T01:06:20+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-25T13:21:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/df3874f0e6207fde987a5ef4d3e0beaa"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/whats-wrong-with-tradition\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/","name":"Musicademy","description":"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/df3874f0e6207fde987a5ef4d3e0beaa","name":"Tim Bowdler","sameAs":["http:\/\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3333"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23555,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions\/23555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}