PIANOKEYS
THAT ’ S EASY FOR YOU TO PLAY
Ever heard the expression , “ That ’ s easy for you to say ”? I ’ m going to adapt it here for us keyboard players and let it read , “ That ’ s easy for you to play ”. I want to relate the expression to something you and I each face from time to time in our musical development : the challenge of playing something that ’ s beyond our current ability .
Today in my work at The King ’ s University / Gateway Church I was observing a student ensemble rehearsal , and the piano player was doing something interesting . Each time the chords in the song changed she ’ d lift her hand up and move several keys away to whatever the next chord was . For each new position , the root of the chord was in the thumb of her right hand . She was playing in the key of D , and the chords were D G Bm A . Here are examples of the right hand voicings she ’ d play :
Chord
Voicing D D F # A G G B D Bm B D F # A A C # E
Strictly speaking , there was nothing wrong with what she was playing . The notes of the chords were all correct . She was just neglecting to do what more experienced keyboard players will do , use efficient voice leading .
Efficient voice leading is seen when you choose to move the shortest distance possible to the notes of the next chord you play . Applying the concepts of efficient voice leading , here ’ s an alternative way the chords above could be voiced :
Chord
Voicing D D F # A G B D G Bm B D F # A A C # E
Play these 2 different sets of voicings for these 4 chords and you ’ ll hear the difference efficient voice leading makes when connecting your chords . Pay attention to what the highest note in each voice is doing . Where the first set of voicings featured many leaps in this note from chord to chord , the second set of voicings moves only to neighboring pitches .
This type of voice leading may be second nature to some of you , but because it ’ s so foundational to modern keyboard playing , I ’ m going to take this concept a bit further for those not yet voicing their chords this way .
The concept of efficient voice leading is maximized if you do something modeled in just about every worship recording being released today , the use of common tones . A common tone is a note shared between two chords . In the example below I ’ ll use several common tones :
Chord
Voicing D F # A D G G B D Bm F # B D A E A C #
Notice that now only one pitch changes in the highest note of the chord , moving from D to C # when the A chord is played . If you choose to play the A chord as an Aadd4 instead , watch what happens :
Chord
Voicing D F # A D G G B D Bm F # B D A A C # D
A further evolution of these voicings changes our simple D G Bm A progression using what I call “ color chords ” common to modern worship song arrangements .
Chord
Voicing D D F # A G2 D G A Bm7 D F # A Add4 C # D A
Note that in the above example when voicing the Bm7 I didn ’ t include the B in the voicing . That ’ s because you would be playing that note with your left hand , or the bass player would be covering that note . The important thing is preserving the common tone on top of all your voicings .
To quote my title , would it be easy for you to play voicings like the ones I ’ ve described above in any song you play ? If so , good for you . If not , spend some time practicing this and other common chord progressions in the keys you most often use within your worship sets . Try playing these voicings using a variety of keyboard sounds like grand piano , electric piano , and pads . If you ’ re new to pad playing , you will discover that voicing your chords with a common tone as the highest note in your pad part will give your pad parts a sound like what you hear on current recordings . Apply yourself to this approach to voicing your chords and soon you ’ ll find that you ’ ve moved beyond what had been challenging and you can then move ahead to your next musical challenge .
ED KERR Director of Worship Studies at King ’ s University / Gateway Church in Dallas , TX . Masters in Piano performance , songwriter , clinician with Yamaha and Paul Baloche . www . KerrTunes . com
14 Jan � Feb 2017 WorshipMusician . com