The Trouble with Tempi

I suspect we’ve all experienced it: a hymn or song that was too fast, too slow, too mechanical, or too unpredictable in its pace.  I’ve encountered stories of pastors grumbling about their organists who refuse to play a hymn faster. I’ve personally experienced the problem of trying to lead a song with drums and guitars, which forces you to be creative about how you leave enough space at the end of the verse or chorus so that the congregation can catch a breath before the repeat.  And I’ve struggled to sing hymns accompanied by organists who leave no space between notes so that you can’t tell how fast you’re moving from one note to the next, making it easy for a whole congregation to rush the next beat or fall behind simply because they can’t tell where the organist is at in the hymn.  And I’ve tried to sing along with worship bands who play too fast for the acoustics of the space and the group their leading, dragging the assembly along behind them.

Whether it’s “traditional” worship or “contemporary” worship, the trouble with tempi must be addressed.  If the song is worth singing, it’s worth considering a tempo that will enable singing with a minimum of frustration.

For example, sing through the first two phrases of “A Mighty Fortress.”  Try singing it at a tempo slow enough that the pulse you might tap your foot to is every single note.  Now sing it faster, so that the pulse is every other note.  Personally, the first one wears me out by the end of the first verse—it makes singing the hymn feel like work!  The second is easier; even though the tempo is faster, it feels more relaxed and at ease.

Another issue is that tempo is a fluid and nuanced concept.  A tempo that works for “Shout to the Lord” for 10 people in a carpeted room with virtually no reverberation will not be the same tempo needed for “Shout to the Lord” for 300 people in a spacious, hard-surface sanctuary with very live acoustics.  The tempo can be faster in the first case because the acoustics aren’t in the way, and a small group can keep up more easily.  In the latter case, however, the acoustics make a fast tempo impractical; the 300 voices would be competing with their own sound coming back to them slightly behind the beat they’re on—the space is larger, and the live acoustics will turn 300 voices into a cacophony of sound at too fast of a tempo.

A third issue is breathing; singers need to breathe.  A hymn sung too slowly may force people to breathe at unnatural places in the musical phrases; too fast, and people won’t have time to catch even a quick breath between phrases.  With contemporary songs accompanied by drums, one doesn’t have the luxury of stretching the time between phrases or verses—the song must keep going and will not wait, which sometimes means adding an extra 2-beat or 4-beat space at the end of a line or verse (this is particularly true if one is “contemporizing” traditional hymns).

Finally, we as musicians need to get our egos out of the way.  We sometimes think we know the best tempos (and sometimes we do), but the tempos that work for us to play do not always work for congregations to sing, and the tempo that worked last Sunday for “Be Thou My Vision” may not work the next time.  The temperature in the sanctuary may be colder or warmer, there may be more or fewer people, they may sit closer together or father apart, they may be extra tired or alert, the hymn or song may fall earlier or later in the service than last time, and so on.  Accompanying for congregational singing is a dance, a give and take between leading and following that happens constantly over the course of a single song, a single verse, or even a single phrase or measure. As musicians, we must be sensitive to the needs of the assembly and the music, and make the occasional sacrifice of personal taste or even stylistic considerations for the sake of the Body.

How have these issues been present in your own context?  Have you encountered stubborn musicians who led singing with troublesome tempi?  How did you address the issue?