Worship instruments

Some music in a worship service is meant for meditation, and some for congregational participation.

Never mind the former for now.

I once caught the fringes of an argument about which was the most important instrument. I won't judge whether that was a noble argument to have, but the answer seems pretty obvious, and none of the disputants touched on it.

The most important instrument in congregational worship songs is the hearts of the faithful. You try to encourage the faithful to lift their hearts to the Lord with songs they sing; so the voices of the faithful are the second most important instrument.

Since typically the congregants aren't as well trained as the stage singers, giving them voices to follow is critical to confident singing. Which puts the stage voices in third place.

Fourth – I'm not sure. Something that gives the beat, but doesn't make it hard for the congregation to hear themselves (which excludes almost all the drum kits I've heard) – a piano-like instrument, for example. Or organ – the keyboard types have the advantage of giving the pitch at the same time.

After that come the things that give flavor (guitar, brass) and control (the mixer).

Down at the bottom comes what I started out on – the monitors giving the musicians what they wanted to hear to play in sync.