(Image from www.nicholasjdanton.supanet.com)
‘Blessing and honour (clap clap!), glory and power (clap clap!), be unto the Ancient of Days!’
No.
1. Lame.
2. Completely alienating for visitors.
Imagine you turn up somewhere, everyone is singing (weird enough), and then they bust out into choreographed clapping. They all seem to know what to do and when to do it, but you have no idea. Feel comfortable?
This has to stop.
If you are a double clapper, just cut it out. Clap on the beat if you want, but if you think it’s a good idea to bust out a double clap at the end of the line, or the double-time clap in the bridge (who does that!?), then your hands should be gaffa-taped to your sides until you learn your lesson.
(In extremely serious cases, perhaps hardened repeat offenders might be encouraged to follow the advice of Matthew 5:30 and discover the sound of one hand clapping. Hey, I'm just throwing it out there...)
But maybe you’re innocent in all this – maybe you’re just an unassuming band member and the congregation is going for it without any provocation. How can you shut it down? Any thoughts?
On the remote possibility that anyone reads this, I'd like to hear your ideas – how can we stamp this abomination out?
Pete, I've never loved you more.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I'm not keen on (read: pathologically hate) the double-clap. And I know I've made clear to you that I don't like clapping in church music generally. :shock:
I think my problem with clapping--and for now I'm just talking single-claps--is not the clapping, per se, but the style of music that gives rise to it. The music that gives rise to clapping (in my memory) is stuff that generally misses the mark at an affective level (for me, at least). The claps, in those cases, only add to the un-reality of the whole experience; gives it a sham feel, I think.
Interesting perspective.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I don't recall any feeling of alienation occuring the first time I was in church as an atheist and heard the AoD double-clap. It doesn't come across random/choreographed, and you rarely get 100% of the congregation joining in. It's fairly transparent as a joyful act, I think.