The time my drum teacher almost made me quit drums (Part 1?)
Is there a place for hobbies in a Christ-centered christian life?
I recently decided to seek out a new drum teacher to finally start learning to play progressive rock (its a genre). I started playing drums in church when I was 15 and have mainly been playing in the church environment ever since. But I eventually developed my own taste in music, and prog soon became my favourite genre with my favourite bands being Rush, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Styx, etc. However, playing prog required a very specific skill set (like double pedal, odd time, etc.), skills that I didn’t possess and were not really applicable in church music. Furthermore, it’s not really a “mainstream” genre.... so I didn’t really have people around me that played this sort of music either. Consequently, I never started learning to play prog. Perhaps they were just excuses? But deep down, every time I listened to my favourite songs, or every time i heard some kid nail a Rush song (or songs), I always wished I was able to reproduce the musical genius of the drummers, or at least have fun jamming along. You see, to me, prog is an art I deeply appreciate - one that blends complex mathematical precision with the emotional pull of music. In fact, one might say that the complexity adds soul stirring dimensions in ways that are unattainable without it. It pushes the technical boundaries of musicianship and is often incredibly physically demanding (coordination and endurance-wise). And that's what I think is most beautiful about it - how the whole self is intensely engaged in order to play it - the mind, the emotions and body. So yes, I really really wanted to learn prog. However, at my first lesson with my new drum teacher, he told me to come up with a life vision statement - something I lived by, and asked me to write down how drumming fits in that vision. Right of the bat, I knew I was going to have a problem. “To live is Christ, to die is gain” was something I was meditating over the past few days. How was learning prog going to fit in a life lived for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of my King and His Kingdom? I quickly scribbled down something superficial and moved on. But in my heart, I knew this was something I needed to revisit.
I previously started taking drum lessons 2-3 years ago. But at that time, it was easy to convince myself that I was honing my craft to play better at church. And no doubt, I definitely did. But who was I kidding, most of what I’m gonna be learning now for prog will hardly be applicable to church music. This is hardly going to aid me in serving the Body. Perhaps this would open doors for sharing the good news? Nah. If I were to be honest with myself, this pursuit was really just a hobby. Plain and simple. “What’s wrong with that?” one might ask. Well, I asked the same thing... is there anything wrong with that? But with my current schedule, I find that I am so short of time, short of time to disciple those under me, short of time to love those around me... do I really have time for a hobby? Is there a place for hobbies in a Christ-centered Christian life?
What do you think? How does the Bible lead you to think this way? Feel free to contextualize this to your own hobbies (or we can talk about mine)! Let me know what you think and maybe we can start a Biblical and edifying conversation going : )