Why Jerry, you shouldn't have ;O))

Okay, as you can see I tried to explain clapping on the off-beat even before I read your post.

But I would still welcome some musicians comments.

BTW, it's not something I recall being taught, though i don't want to say it comes naturally. Maybe I do it because I was around alot of people who clapped that way [adding to the on bat clapping to make that contrasting sound..] But it's not as common in some Black middle class churches as it used to be..though I'm sure that's its still a going strong in santified, COGIC [Church of God In Christ churches..

As an aside, about 9 years or so ago-when I was reading about the "Shout" tradition in African American Southern slave cultures-I attended a COGIC?? {or holiness, or non-demoninational santified Black church service. The music was SO improvisation, call & response, percussive, dynamic, moving, down-home REAL that I thought myself "this is what it must have been like to attend services in the slave spirit houses". True there were no counterclockwise circle of people moving in a true Shout formation, but it certainly had the FEEL and the SPIRIT of what I imagine a shout or a worship service back then to be {and this is a compliment-and by no means a put-down]..

In that service individual members of the congregation would begin a song, seated or standing; teh drummer [a very talented elementary schoola ge boy, and the adult male electric guitarist would very quickly add accompaniment, and the congregation would join in the singing.. eventually most people would stand, and they would do the off beat and on beat handclaps, and would raise on or both arms to ask for God's blessing, or to express their submission to God..
The song might seem like it was over, but the pianist could continue it or the singers...and sometimes the song flowed into a prayer or some people 'speaking in tongues' or people getting up to 'testify' [give personal testimonies about what good things God had done for them or their family members]..

And while all this was going on, I know that I was approaching this worship service as a visitor from another culture-for that's who I was.. Though they were African American and I am too, I had had little experience with that kind of public emoting..

While I loved [love]the singing and music, I knew that-maybe because of my upbringing- my much more restrained, private personality would probably never be fully comfortable worshipping this way..

I want the still small voice meditation, the intellectual kind of sermon, and the sanctified music and singing..And that's hard to find in one church...


Azizi