KEYS
WHAT NOT TO DO | Ed Kerr
I thought I’d google “keyboards in modern won’t use the same color palette throughout a to pursue online as you seek to expand your
worship” and see how many results I’d get. painting, introduce some sonic variety into the understanding of what you’re doing as a
7,410,000 hits. Wow. That’s a lot of articles. palette of sounds you use. keyboard player. If you find that your keyboard
A lot of videos. A lot of rabbit trails you and I
voicings seem to sound rather hymn-like
3. DON’T PLAY IN THE SAME REGISTER of your rather than having the character of what you
keyboard all the time. One of the greatest hear on modern recordings, experiment with
Sometimes less is more, and I thought I’d contributions you or any other musician on preserving common tones between chords.
take that approach to this article. So, in no your team can make to a song’s arrangement Experiment with adding dissonance and
particular order, here are some things not to is playing something that helps define the resolution to your voicings. Learn to play open
do as a keyboard player in modern worship. sections of the song. If, for example, you’d voicings. Experiment with layering of sounds.
could follow.
been centering your pad voicing just above Learn how to add arpeggiation to your synth
1. YOU HAVE TWO HANDS. You don’t always have middle C, consider inverting your chords so sound, creating rhythmic interest where there
to use both of them. When playing pad sounds that the note you’d been playing at the bottom were only sustained pitches before.
in particular, playing notes below middle C can of your voicing becomes the top note. If you’ve start to muddy the sound of your worship been playing a piano sound with quarter notes 6. DON’T OVER PLAY. The more players involved
team. If there’s a bass player, let him or her as the main pulse for your verse, consider in your worship team, the more likely it is that
cover that lower frequency range. If you do creating a bit more activity when the chorus you or someone on your team is overplaying.
use your left hand when playing a pad sound, begins. With the same logic, when you return Is a guitarist on the team playing 8 th note or
let it be in intro sections of a song where you to a verse after a chorus, return to the slower 16 th note activity? Are you playing the same
may be playing by yourself or with instruments activity you’d used in the previous verse. rhythm? Experiment with contrasting rhythms.
Don’t use redundant rhythms. Listen well to
other than bass.
4. DON’T PLAY ALL THE TIME. Yep. Sometimes the rest of your team and be willing to change
Also, don’t play full triads when playing a the most significant contribution you can what you’re playing if you’re duplicating
pad sound. The voicings most often heard make to an arrangement is not playing. Wait someone else’s rhythms. In the same way,
on recordings using pad sounds will involve until a new section comes. Waiting to add listen closely to the pitches that your guitarist
fourths and fifth, not thirds. So, if your chord your pad or piano sound until the first chorus is playing. If you’re playing most of those same
chart calls for a D major chord, omit the 3 rd can bring a significant musical lift to that pitches, adjust something. Move up or down
(F#), and only use the D and A in your voicing. chorus. Or, you could play for an intro and your instrument to a different pitch range.
then drop out when the verse begins. If you Listen well and respond to what you hear.
Besides avoiding full triads, avoid lifting don’t often think this way, try it in rehearsals, your hand to move to a new set of notes and encourage everyone else on your team Give yourself a break and focus only on one
by preserving any common tones you have to think that way, too. It’s always exciting to area of your playing at once. Growing in one
between chords. For example, if the D chord is hear a new “payoff” when a chorus begins area will encourage you much more than
followed by an A chord, continue holding the A because a band is intentional about building skimming the surface of lots of areas.
that you’d been playing. Again, leave out C#, energy toward that chorus. You may discover the third of the chord so that only the A and E that your congregation joins in on that chorus from the A chord are heard. with new enthusiasm too. 2. DON’T USE THE SAME SOUNDS from song 5. to song and from week to week if you have INSTRUMENT or your software or modern multiple sounds to choose from in your keyboard playing technique. As I mentioned keyboard or computer. Just as a skilled painter earlier, you’re going to find millions of paths 162 August 2019
LEARN
SOMETHING
NEW
ABOUT
YOUR
Ed Kerr
Ed Kerr lives in Seattle with his family. He serves as
worship arts director at First Free Methodist Church,
teaches keyboards in Paul Baloche’s leadworship
workshops and is a clinician with Yamaha’s House
of Worship. He also manages the Yamaha Worship
Facebook group and invites you to join the group.
www.KerrTunes.com
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