Hey, Azizi: For a white Danish guy I probably attend as many different black churches as most folks, because I am out singing with two Men's Choruses and my own quartet. We see the whole spectrum, from the church where all of us in the quartet are members, which is one of the more reserved black Baptist Churches to the Pentecostal churches where people get in the Spirit and run around the room and speak in tongues. Of course, I can only speak from my experience in a fairly limited geographic area... The sew-fisticated East Coast.
I've been to black churches in Illinois and Missouri too, but most of my experience is in Connecticut and New York State. At least around here, clapping off-beat is uncommon. When I hear it, it tends to be the older members of the church, like my friend Frankie who will be 80 in a couple of months. I'm not saying that there aren't teenagers that clap off beat, because I expect that there are. But, it's an older tradition that doesn't necessarily blend well with keyboards, drums and electric bass. 'Smatter of fact, in my biased opinion, the omnipresence of drums in black churches takes some of the rhythm-keeping out of the hands of the congregation, and I see fewer and fewer tambourines now.

Not that there is anything inherently "better" about the congregation driving the rhythm and getting more involved. I just like it better.

When my quartet plays, there are always keyboard players, drummers and bass guitarists wanting to play with us, and no matter how hard we try to graciously say that we like to keep it simple, I'm afraid that we at times must come off as a little uppity. A lot of people feel that music is automatically "improved" with a drummer. We don't.

Is there a Christian phrase that means the same as "old farts?"

Jerry