#169. Clapping our hands (a step by step guide to the death of rhythm)
Apr 21st by Jon
I took tap dancing in high school. And ballroom and tango and a variety of other dances. I thought about telling you that in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, it was cool for Seniors in high school to take tap dancing, but who is going to believe that? I was and continue to be, a dork. Taking all those dance lessons however did give me an appreciation for rhythm. I wouldn’t necessarily say an understanding of it, but at least I can recognize it. Which is why I always cringe a little when a worship leader says, “Everybody clap together” at the beginning of a song.
Instead of marching forward in a united rhythm, what usually happens in church sounds like someone lit off a box of hand firecrackers. Smacks and slaps and claps just ringing out randomly with no sense of where the song is headed. So this morning, after witnessing several claps die merciless deaths yesterday at church, I thought I would analysis how the clap goes so wrong so quickly. Here is what I think happens, laid out in a convenient step by step approach:
1. We get the “call to arms.”
This is when the worship leader tells everyone in the crowd to start clapping. Often, he or she, will raise their hands above their head to give you a visual of how the whole thing is supposed to go down. It’s an exciting moment, the world is so fresh and new. We’re all a little intoxicated on the sense of potential and possibility. So together, we start clapping.
2. We realize that there’s no leader.
Eventually, the worship leader stops clapping above their head. Either they start playing an instrument or just grab their microphone in kind of a dramatic, Creed-like moment. Suddenly, we in the crowd realize no one is leading this clap-a-thon. We scan the stage for direction but no one bails us out. The main singer is focused on the song and the back up singers are doing some sort of rhythmic clapping that is beyond us. It’s like the Phd program of clapping. At least 15% of people quit clapping right here.
3. We’ll give you the first verse and that’s it.
Most people feel pretty generous if they clap for the entire verse. We won’t go the whole song, but at least we pitched in. It’s the equivalent of serving at church by stacking up chairs. You still feel like you gave something back to the church, but you didn’t have to interact with anyone or be overtly compassionate. 40% of people quit clapping here.
4. We find out the chorus is faster.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just when some of us have decided to clap for the second verse too, we run into a chorus that defies all logic. It’s suddenly faster than the verse was and we don’t know what to do. Do speed up our clapping too? Do we just stop clapping and pick back up on the second verse? Somebody, please, a little help. 20% of people quit here.
5. We run into a slow bridge.
This is the opposite of the chorus issue. Now you slow the song down and get a little emotional. And we’re clapping, loud and proud but suddenly it’s quiet and we’re the one guy banging away on our hands while you whisper, “the blood of Jesus.” This is no good. 10% of people quit here.
6. We finish the song.
At last this crazy ride is over, the clapping is done. We’re finished and can feel good about what we have accomplished. But just know, if you’re going to ask us to clap on another song, about 50% of us are just going to flat out refuse. We’re all clapped out.
That’s what we’re feeling in the audience. I trust that any worship leaders reading this will let us know how they feel. Do you notice I’ve stopped clapping? Do you care that I’ve stopped clapping? Do you talk about how bad my clapping is when you get together with other worship leaders to play racquetball?
Comments
At our church we have the fancy clappers. These are people who have a special way of clapping for particular songs, like maybe a double clap between particular words. They do it with a smug look on their face, as if they are on the inner circle of clappers.
I used to lead worship and I swore off claping for three reasons:
1) I’m from the midwest. People try to have soul and clap on 2&4 but it’s against their scandanavian nature. There’s always the danger the flesh will win and we’ll end up clapping on 1&3. I’m not afraid to stop a song if that happens.
2) Congregations rush. They get all that adrenaline from clapping and the next thing you know the worship tune sounds like the sound track of silent train robbery film.
3) One person always sees clapping as their chance to lead everyone else in an eXtreme clap rythm. I understand they’re a fantastic clapper and don’t get to lead a room full of clappers very often, but this isn’t the time. If you want to take initiative to organize a clap night more power to you, I’ll even let you use the church, just stop taking over during worship.
“Last time I was in a black church, I felt ashamed to be a white guy. I was managing the up-beat well enough, but there were some other white folks there who clapped whenever they felt like it.”
As a black person who since birth has been bound by rhythm, I’ve kind of envied the white people who feel comfortable enough to clap wherever they want. The beat does not tell them what to do! The drummer nor the worship leader are in control of their praise! They will put their hands together whenever the d*mn well please! What freedom to be able to move however you want without actually listening to the music. Me in my blackness can’t get off rhythm to save my life and unfortunately, immediately become aware of it when others around me do.
Anonymous at 8:48am most likely brings a tambourine….and sits on the front row.
Hilarious post! If you sold t-shirts, I’d sell them for you out on the bay. With some jazzy worship music playing, of course.
Just for the record, we DO talk about how bad the clapping is.
i don’t think it matters how bad you clap. God looks at the heart and also if what’s on your inside doesn’t desire to leap out and make you wanna clap,sing, shout and jump around not caring what other people think, well then i think you need to re-evaluate if it’s a religion or a true faith-filled lifestyle you are living. Bring on the bad claps. if we don’t praise then the rocks will cry out.
This one time during a particular fiery worship song, ( we have the contemporary services with drums and electric guitars), the clap-a-thon began. It was fun to clap to the first verse, but then my hands were starting to get tired and itchy (like those of the other commenter’s before)but the people kept going with more and more fervor. It was becoming quite funny, because my side of the church was getting quieter and quieter, and the other side was getting faster, louder and more creative with their clapping. It’s like we were the quitters in this race, and the other side was clearly winning. They noticed our impending failure at the clap-race, and they started egging us on. They actually tried creating a clap echo with the handful or “survivors” on our side, but alas with each “challenge” from our rivals, our side just kept dropping in numbers.
The end of the song ended with pretty much loudest clapping on the winning side I have ever heard in church. It was like the machine gun fire, and all we could do is sit down quietly, humbled and ashamed at our pathetic loss at the clap-a-thon of the year.
I don’t clap during songs. I always feel a little rebellious when the worship leader tells us to clap. My first thought is:” I ain’t doing it just because you told me to.” Feels like being 10 years old again. =)
I love when the clapper is also tapping their foot… and their foot is going double the speed of their clap, but the tap and clap are out of time with each other.
Thats a gift as far as I can tell, I couldnt do it if I tried.
Ah, the “clap rub.” Glad you brought that one up, Steven.
I can either clap OR sing, never both at the same time. I quietly pat my leg with one hand so that I look like I’m doing something rhythmic without looking/sounding like a total loser.
you know how “staff” will sit on a platform for the service? our p&w band expanded (spread out) because the pastor’s wife held an intervention. we rock out some great songs, and our pastor has no rhythm. he now sits w/ wife & daughter on front row, worshipping w/ others, unti it’s his time to hop up the stairs and speak. occasionally i’ll see her put a hand on his arm…the claps are always off, and he’ll want to dance in place, if he’s throwing off the folks around him. i think he’s one reason we play loud songs too…it’s great to sing and get into a worship song, not worrying that the row in front of you is going”who is that singing off-key?”
Totally agreeing with Autumn here. As the Children’s Pastor at our church, I’m trying to rectify this problem with the next generation – teaching them to clap with me and hear the offbeat
Our church is clapping-challenged, and it’s always awkward if you’re the only one clapping while everyone around you (and even the worship leader) has stopped. Nevertheless, I will persevere! We *must* learn to clap on the same beat 
Just follow the snare like Charlie said. That’s that loud peircing drum usually hit on the 2 and the 4 if you’re counting “1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4,” in your head. As a worship leader I must say when clapping participation drops below the 60% mark I die a little inside. What always makes matter worse though is when people INSIT on clapping on either the 1 and the 3 or just clap on all of them, the 1, 2, 3 AND 4, just to be safe. Scary stuff.
-John Hall
Fresno, CA
HAHAHA.
Today at church we had a gospel singer and she insisted we clapped to everyone song. The event that ensued was pure awesomeness and reminded me of SCL and this post. I died laughing. As my church is 99.9% old people (no offense old people), the rythmic beat she had expected unfortunately did not occur as planned. If she got an scattered knee-clap for the first line of a song she was lucky. I really should have printed this post out and handed every member of my church a copy, but instead me and my friends on the back row (and one persistent lady in the third row) continued the clapping well into the second verse and even incorporated some moves of our own invention to spice things up a bit. I feel we were really able to educate the congregation in the fine art of “the clap.”
HILARIOUS post, anyway. Keep up the awesome work :]
“Do you talk about how bad my clapping is when you get together with other worship leaders to play racquetball?”
no, and we don’t play racquetball.
Personally, I agree with you. I pretty much swore off clapping for many of the reasons you listed. I used to look over and see other members of the worship team trying to get a clap started, and cringe. They mean well, and sometimes they just want to get the congregation more “involved” (whatever that may mean.)
Ultimately, I look at it in light of what Paul said about tongues in 1st Corinthians 14: the question is; does it build up the congregation? Is it profitable, useful, and edifying for them.
If not… maybe we worship-leading-type-peeps should just chill out on the clapping stuff….
This post is hilarious and really hits home with me. I have an excellent sense of rhythm and for some reason our church seems to be quite rhythmically challenged. So some years back I became the unofficial and self-proclaimed clap leader. I sit in the front row and start clapping the second a song starts, getting everyone on the right beat.
Except on those rare occasions when someone beats me to it and the entire congregation is clapping on the wrong beat and I’m the lone person clapping on the right beat and everyone looks at me like I’m some kind of clapping rebel or perhaps a clapping snob. Which I guess I am since I take it way too seriously.
reasons not to clap;
3. whenever i ever talk to anyone about this, i always get the same defense, “it makes me feel closer to God.” since when has worship been about what you want? how arrogant are you that you would do what ever you want? what about what God wants? The Rastafarian religion lights up their finest weed in order to “get closer to God.” Great reasoning.
2.The bible doesn’t command it. The bible does however command us to sing. If you are singing with all your heart, there is no reason to add anything else to worship.
1.Time for a history lesson. ever wonder where clapping came from? In the mid 1800s pagans and satanist began to convert to Christianity. They brought the custom of clapping and playing instruments with them. All you super pious people who would attempt to crucify me for standing against you might find it useful to know that this is actually mentioned in the satanist bible. Gasp! He has read the satanist bible! Yes i have. How else could i try to persuade them to join the cause of Christ? I have also read the Koran, and am currently working on the Buddhist scriptures. So go ahead fling your flaming arrows at me, at the end of the day i get to say get behind me Satan. The satanist actually laugh at Christians who clap in worship. Therefore get your act together. Be an example. Help a brother when he is in need.
Actually, Psalm 47 says “Clap your hands, all you nations” (NIV; thanks BibleGateway.com). So while I’m not saying that we have to clap, it’s also not forbidden.
Also, just because satanists do something doesn’t inherently make it satanic (I haven’t actually read the satanic texts, but I’ll assume they command clapping). I’m sure they also sleep and eat. Should we stop doing that, too?
Oh dear, Heather, they must’ve taken that verse out of our KJVs since so many of the churches like ours (IB) don’t “allow” clapping – it’s too worldly, emotional, etc. I like clapping because I like music. Especially on fast songs. I don’t really give a rip what anyone else thinks about clapping. Unfortunately, as I said, it’s illegal at our church now. Too charismatic or something, they said. *rolleyes*
Yes, worship leaders do talk about your bad clapping.
Head to a small leadership retreat to hear the worship leader griping about the pastor's son being a terrible clapper and the guy in the front row have no rhythm but a crap load of enthusiasm.
You should do a post about clapping for the offering. Our pastor wants to stop it, but that train has already left the depot and the body insists! How do you quiet those clappers?
I laughed til I cried. I am so grateful to know that there are others who aren't claptastic.
1 – I am definitely a chair drummer, but mainly because i'm not a hand-raiser.
2 – I can't stand it when worship leaders or even christian bands drag out songs to repeat the same grouping of words 5 times at the end…i understood the words after the first time i sang them!
3 – Jon, great site. Please keep posting!
John
Waaaay late, but I just found the blog and am reading through it…
One time at our church, the worship leader told us we could "stand, sit, clap, raise our hands, pray and worship however we wanted." So about half the congregation was sitting during a particular song.
He tried to get everyone to clap along, and since we had just been told we didn't have to clap, probably half weren't. A couple minutes later, he told us to all stand up.
I think he was punishing us for choosing to not clap.
I run sound and play drums at my church, so I have a good perspective for how we sound. Here is an actual conversation between me and the worship leader.
Me: I don't think we should have the drums and the tambourine at the same time.
Leader: Why?
Me: Because the tambourine drowns out the drums (we have a weak electric set). Why do we need both?
Leader: Because no one will clap without the tambourine.
Me: Why do people have to clap?
Leader: …
I'm a non-clapper so I'm biased. I do think people clap better with the tambourine, but our church likes to have as many instruments as we can get ("you can play the triangle! you're on the schedule next week!"), even if instead of complement each other, they just drowned each other out.
Sorry for the long post, but your website inspires me. It's good stuff.
haha! This is awesome. At my church I observe all of this taking place. And yes, I find myself stopping after the verse and trying to figure out the tempo and.. so funny
hilarious this is my church.
I'm actually the person in the audience who can keep a beat but purposly tries to get others to get off beat. And what's sad is I can only think of 2 times that it didn't work.
This is hilariously awesome! I stopped asking people to clap because it's just bad. There's that one person or handful of people who, no matter how they are directed will clap completely off beat.
And besides, I play the piano so, lifting my hands above my head to direct the clapping is not necessarily an option for me. 
Every summer I attend two camps. One is filled with musical ability, the other apparently is not. At my first camp we usually don't need the leader to get us going in our claps. But at the other camp, these kids can't stay together for ten seconds. We get this group who literally claps completely off beat–the opposite of everyone else. By the bridge the leader puts us back on track, but it doesn't last through the end of the song.