Click Tracks
As a worship leader, I’ve learned a lot about technology. From the intricacies of a sound system to the technology used to modify the sounds of our instrument, there is so much to know. Of all the different things to learn, one of the technologies that was hardest to adjust to for me was playing with a click track.
What the audience at church sees is a team of people playing together smoothly (hopefully). The congregation sees that by some mystical force, the band is able to start and end together, but behind the scenes it’s a different story.
In our ears, it’s chaos.
We have in-ear monitors that allow us to set our own sound mix. Not only do we have channels for each instrument in the band, we have a channel for a band director and a click track. The band director can TALK to us while the song is happening. They will remind the team what to play, correct something going wrong, or simply to encourage the team if it’s a powerful worship time. The beautiful thing about the band director is that WE can hear their direction, but the congregation can’t.
As much as the band director is a helper during the song, the click track is the real hero. The click track in our ear is just that: A clicking noise keeping time at the exact beats per minute a song is written in. The click track is the beat we all must zero in on and follow, and it’s the glue that holds the band together.
Ideally, if the band is EXACTLY on, the sound of the click track disappears behind the sound of instruments being perfectly played in time. Realistically, that doesn’t happen as often as we would like. Many times, the band gets off for whatever reason and rather than being perfectly in time, the band can end up drastically behind or ahead in a song. Not only do you hear the sound of the click that the band is not in sync with, but we hear the band director trying to get the team back on track.
It’s a scary thing when we get off as a team and try and find our way back. It’s also a scary thing when we get off in life, and can’t seem to find our way back.
Doesn’t it feel sometimes like our life has this rhythm and melody to it? Things just click. It feels as though everything is going right and we can conquer the world. When we hit our stride, when we find our way, when we’re operating at our very best, it’s just smooth. We find our sweet spot.
Other times, we slip out of rhythm. We have a few miscues and off days. Our out of tune days turn into off-key melodies that can sing over weeks and months. We can’t seem to get in a rhythm. We get knocked down.
How do we find our way back?
It’s so important we get our heart back on track with God. If we wait too long to find our way back, we can travel down paths that will take us far from where we want to go.
Our downfall is often our own doing. When we find ourselves making wrong choices, when we find we let sin sneak into our lives, it knocks us out of rhythm with God. His carefully established plan is the beat we are to follow, and when we choose to order our own steps, rather than step in time with God, we run into pain and heartache. Lamentations 3:40 says “Let us examine and probe our ways. And find our way back to the Lord.” The first thing we must do is examine our hearts and make sure we are able to stand pure before our God. If there are blatant things in our life we KNOW we must change, the refusal to do so simply does not allow us to get back in sync with God. When we remove the roadblocks and the things we choose before God, the path to Him is clear.
But sometimes we’re out of sync and it’s not because of sin. Sometimes life just happens. Sometimes, things are just hard. Sometimes, we just aren’t sure what to change. If that is where you find yourself, take heart. Psalm 32:8 tells us “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” God’s word tells us that he will not leave us wandering. He will give us the way we should go.
We can trust His word to be true.
Find your way to his Word. His Word is the music to which we can set our lives. When we allow His beat to guide our lives, our steps will be perfectly ordered. Our rhythm will be the perfect pace, and we will not find ourself out of sync.