Meet Maddie the church pianist who loves learning to play!

Maddie started out in Level 1A (Faber books) and reached level 5 in two years!

Watch this video to hear Maddie share her journey thus far… Please feel free to share by copying this link to your social platform  Maddie the Church Pianist

For those who purchased my advanced piano arrangement for “One Day”.

Here are several tips that may help as you practice this piece for Easter.

Just thought I would show you a peek of Allissa, one of my piano students, who I’m training to be a church pianist.

She is doing very well!  I write the songs for her to play at her level so she can already be getting “hands on” experience before she’s even playing out the hymnal. She has been doing some reading from the church hymnal.

In the following raw video…Allissa is practicing with a young girl’s group while the choir loft is being decorated for this Wednesday night’s annual Christmas play by the kids of our church.  Looking forward to the program!  Our youth Pastor’s wife writes a play for each year!  She is very talented!

Meryt Wilson and I REALLY enjoyed getting together a couple weeks ago to discuss Accompanying Vocal Specials.  We came up with a series of short videos talking about various ideas on accompanying the vocalist.

Here are several practice tips for the church pianist who plays for vocal specials.

In our next video…we’ll share a couple thoughts when creating an intro for a vocal solo.  Meryt sings while I try to create intros!

Meryt Wilson, one of my dear piano friends and myself, try to get together at least once a year to boost our music creativity.
We decided this year to discuss the topic of Accompanying vocal specials.

This is just a candid conversation that took place between us.

Choosing the song for a singer may not be needed most of the time… but here are some suggestions on how it could benefit some singers.

Next video excerpt will discuss practicing tips with vocal specials!   Have you ever heard of audacity?  I’ll mention it in the next video.

Are there other church pianists besides myself who work with instrumental or vocal groups for special music at your church?

Over the years I’ve developed some guidelines to help us use our time wisely. I know every church has its own level of abilities.  That being said, you may need more or less practice than what’s suggested below.

We stick with unison or two part arrangements for our ladies’ and two to three parts for our men’s groups. You would be amazed at how nice unison can sound… especially if the pianist can make up for lack of harmony by using  chord substitutions…creating a colorful; rich sound.

I try to allow for a total of six rehearsals when the arrangement is new to them. The group just stands around the piano for all but the last practice.  (Details below) In addition, I email practice audios for those wanting additional practice.  With the group providing surround sound around the piano…I’m able to listen to their blend, balance of parts, etc. and better coach them as they sing.  Once the group becomes familiar with the words…say…maybe after the first three practices…I’ll ask them a question about the approaching sentences in the song (while they’re singing and I’m playing)… forcing them to think about what they are singing. I LOVE doing this, because you can hear the difference in their voice expression…making for very effective communication!

For example, I’ll use the hymn “Amazing Grace” since everyone knows it 🙂   While the group is singing the first sentence..”Amazing grace how sweet the sound…”

I’ll ask the following question for the upcoming sentence…”What did God’s grace do for you?!”  They’ll answer in singing response “That saved a wretch like me!”  🙂   The results: A more meaningful delivery!

If it’s an arrangement they have done before…we may only have four practice sessions.

Our practice sessions are generally no more than 10 minutes.

General checklist for carrying out the group rehearsals:

1. Beginning of 1st practice (may need to cover at second practice too in case someone was missing at first practice), hand out practice schedule which includes the date and service for when they are singing.
2. Kindly tell the group that it will work best to attend all of the scheduled practices in order to be adequately prepared. Otherwise…they can wait until the next scheduled time. (Exception: missing one practice due to sickness or other unavoidable reason).
3.  Make following suggestion:  Arrange someone to watch your young kid(s) during these practices. (Our ladies are SO good about doing this)
4. Please remind them that each person is essential to the group as a whole. (Have them stand in the same order for each practice.)  Each person gets accustomed to singing by the same person for each practice so it can throw a person off when they’re missing a team member.
5. The vocal ensemble will practice on stage around the pulpit during the final rehearsal for  a sound check. (Arrange for sound person to be at this rehearsal so he or she can do the sound check.)
6. Our ultimate goal is to honor Christ by being adequately prepared. I Corinthians 14:40 “Let all things be done decently and in order.”*I usually have groups practice around the piano that I’m playing for a more up-close

Most of the above suggested guidelines will also apply to instrumental ensembles….depending on the age of your members.

Hopefully the information above has been an encouragement to other church pianists who work with vocal and/or instrumental ensembles.

*Next article: What details I work on with ensembles during these brief rehearsals

Even though I’m not a small handed pianist…I sometimes experience the feeling of having small hands due to challenging passages in music.  While in high school I would always roll a 10th in the left hand.  However…after playing a 10th with a gentle “rolled” movement over time….I found that I had stretched my left hand span and soon began playing solid 10ths!

While researching pianists with small hands, I came across the following inspiring article and video!

Click here to read how this small handed pianist overcame his limitation before hearing him in the video below:

Good practicing habits are necesscary for all pianists…if they want to progress and sound prepared.

I stumbled across an excellent article on the best and worst ways to practice located on the website entitled Piano Perspectives.

Click here to read Best and Worst Ways of Practicing.  Decide which list you belong to.  🙂

Being nervous can definitely affect the church pianist!  I can remember my early years of playing for church….knees knocking together….heart beating fast, etc.   I could barely keep my foot on the damper pedal for my leg shaking so bad!  Ever been there?

I enjoy visiting our local nursing homes and playing the piano for the elderly.  Sometimes I will play an upcoming offertory for church at the nursing home; allowing me the  opportunity to share the piece in a more relaxed setting before playing it at church.

Joy Morin, of Color in My Piano shares some practical tips for the nervous pianist.

Dealing with Performance Anxiety by Joy Morin of Color in My Piano Blog.