KEYS
REPLACE YOURSELF | David Pfaltzgraff
I used to play basketball , as a kid . I was homeschooled so rather than pop into one of the local school teams my parents found a traveling team I could join up with . As a spry young lad of nine or ten a summary of my skills might have read like : can dribble ball , put head down , drive the lane and chuck up a layup .
Remember , this was a team made up of homeschool kids , so I might as well have been Larry Bird . My first two years on this team I felt like the king of the court . Thanks to countless hours banked dribbling the ball in my parent ’ s backyard , I did pretty well and played starting point guard averaging four to six points per game . Don ’ t judge , when your entire team was lucky to put up twenty , it was a good average .
But then , it all changed . A new kid showed up at the first practice as we prepared for my third year . He was taller , leaner , and faster . I knew I was in trouble . He worked hard and earned the starting point guard spot , relegating me to small forward . Sadly , it was downhill from there , as I got older and not nearly as tall as some of the other kids . By freshman year of high school , I was suiting junior varsity .
I do owe this rapid demise , though , for inspiring me to abandon my athletic endeavors in favor of musical ones , so it wasn ’ t all bad .
In fact , sometimes being replaced can be a good thing , even something to be actively pursued .
Let ’ s talk about three areas where you should allow your worship keys role on the team to be replaced and how you can be prepared for when that taller , faster kid inevitably shows up at practice .
RHYTHM AND GROOVE
If you ’ ve ever taken classical piano lessons or played worship piano in a solo context , you ’ re probably used to the ways that piano is not just a melodic and chordal instrument , but very much a rhythmic one as well .
In modern worship the ability to inject rhythmic interest into your piano playing is a great skill to have and as more syncopated and even gospel-derived parts find their way into popular worship they become even more useful .
But there are times where choosing to sit back