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"7 Deadly Sins
Church Musicians Make -
and How to Avoid Them"
by Chuck Marohnic
Deadly Sin #1: Depending too much on written music
This is a frequent problem. Church musicians have been trained to
read music and often forget to listen to and analyze what they play.
Advice First,
memorize more of what you play. Second, try to understand the
chord functions in the piece, namely the dominants and tonics.
You will begin to see repeating patterns. Harmonic and melodic
phrases from one song often look like those in other songs. Try
composing a piece similar to the one you are reading. Note the
piece's architecture: the form, the phrase lengths and the melodic
motifs. Try to follow this pattern in your composition. Learning
these skills will help you hear more of what you play and free
you from the music on the written page.
Deadly Sin #2: Duplicating ensemble roles
Many church musicians find themselves in ensembles that are thrown
together with volunteer musicians from the congregation. Often,
these groups are made up of several guitars plus a keyboard player.
These situations result in harmonic overload, meaning too many people
are playing the harmony.
AdviceThink
through each musician's role in an ensemble. Not everyone needs
to play at the same time. For example, if you have six musicians
in your group, you can form many different quintets, quartets,
trios and even duos simply by asking certain people to "lay
out" and not play for a passage or two. Try this proven orchestration
technique. You may be surprised at how much your group's sound
improves.
Deadly Sin #3: Failing to stay up to date on technology
Ah, the wonder of technology, or should I say nightmare . Church
organists often find themselves facing the issue of how to play
and use the synthesizer. This is due to the demand on church musicians
to play more "pop" oriented music.
AdviceDon't
view the synthesizer as a replacement for your instrument. Instead,
look at it as a helpful addition. Invest a little time with your
new synthesizer and you'll discover how to embellish your performance
on the organ or piano by adding sounds. For example, using a synthesizer
patch, you can gently add strings to a melody or melodic passage.
In this way, the synthesizer becomes a wonderful orchestration
tool.
Deadly Sin #4: Not learning jazz harmonies and voicings
This is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, music degree curriculums
are jam?packed with required courses. What's more, most theory programs
ignore the importance of jazz. As a result, music students and church
musicians often don't have (or take) the opportunity to enroll in
a jazz class, such as jazz keyboard harmony or jazz theory. Fortunately,
things are changing with the advent of the Eastman initiatives that
now include at least some jazz in most courses.
AdviceInvest
a little time studying jazz harmonies and voicings. Start by taking
a summer workshop with an experienced jazz pianist. Or study on
your own with a good jazz method book. You can find method books
by Dan Haerle, Mark Levine and Bill Dobbins. Also, I invite you
to consider the book I wrote, Jazz Keyboard Study, published by
Advance Music. When you learn jazz harmonies and voicings, you'll
dramatically improve your sound -- and find yourself in the top
5% of church musicians.
Deadly Sin #5: Not learning how to improvise
Church musicians are often asked to just "play something" while
an event within the worship service is taking place, such as a meditative
moment. Or the musician may be asked to play background music during
a reading. This is where improvising skills really come in handy.
AdviceYou
don't need to be an aspiring Chick Corea or Oscar Peterson to
improvise. When you improvise in church, you add a new, fresh
dimension to your worship service. The jazz masters use many devices.
For example, here's a simple one to get you started: Use the melody
as your source. Within the melody you will hear a shape or motif
that you can play sequentially by adapting it to the changing
harmony. Find a three or four note idea from the melody and "shape"
it to fit the chords. As you study the piece, you will discover
many new ideas. Use them as well. Finally, invest in a few good
jazz recordings. I recommend Bill Evans for pianists. Listen to
the way he plays the melody and then uses fragments for his improvisational
ideas.
Deadly Sin #6: Playing in keys that aren't good for singing
Many songs in church hymnals are not written in keys that are comfortable
for singers. Over the past 40 years, as a professional pianist,
I've played for hundreds of vocalists. Early on, I learned I had
to be flexible and willing to change keys to accommodate a singer.
AdviceLearn
to transpose. You never know when your male or female vocalists
will tell you that a song is in a difficult key. I recommend that
you ask one of your group's singers to test out a key. Learning
to transpose takes some effort, but it pays big dividends later.
Vocalists love to work with experienced and sensitive accompanists.
Deadly Sin #7: Playing songs at the wrong tempo
Many church musicians play songs too slowly. Often, tempos need
to be quicker and livelier.
AdviceFor
each piece, find the optimum tempo that corresponds to the lyrics.
You do this by reciting the words before you play them. Try to
get a feeling for what the words say. Then adapt that speed to
your music. Also, learn to listen to the singers. At times, you'll
need to speed up or slow down to accommodate them. Most singers
like to be led, but not at the expense of tuning them out.
With a little effort, you can avoid most -- if not all -- of these
"sins". I encourage you to continue to grow as a musician
and make the most of the talents God has given you.
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