KEYS
DO YOU HAVE THAT ON VHS ? | Ed Kerr
Over the years as I ’ ve taught keyboard sessions in worship conferences around the world I ’ ve released two training resources . The first one was released as a VHS . Can you imagine ? That huge video cassette that ’ s played in one of those huge machines that your grandmother used to have ? My friends Paul Baloche and Bill Scott joined me on the video , and the product proved helpful to lots of keyboard players around the world .
Then I released my second resource as a DVD . Who buys DVDs anymore ? Now most every training resource is available online . Well , the other day someone bought a copy of my 2 nd DVD from my online store , and that lead to me putting my first training resource online with chapter markers so viewers could easily skip to whatever section they wanted to watch . Reviewing that DVD and its content was an interesting reminder of how much has changed in modern worship and of how much has stayed the same .
As I look over the list of topics from that first training video , it ’ s interesting to note what I wouldn ’ t talk about in a keyboard session I ’ d teach today . I wouldn ’ t teach about modulations , because who does that anymore within a song ? I wouldn ’ t talk about giving hymns a modern feel , because these days most churches are either presenting contemporary songs or traditional hymns . I wouldn ’ t teach about taking a harmonic excursion within a song ’ s arrangement , because most of us stick quite closely to the chords and roadmap we ’ ve learned from the song ’ s original recording .
But there ’ s a lot in the list of chapters from my video that I still focus on today , whether I ’ m teaching a keyboard class at a conference or coaching a player online . First , I ’ ll challenge players to know the chords in the key , the essential chords in modern worship . The 1 , 4 , 5 and 6 . Know with confidence what notes are in each of these chords so that , for one thing , you ’ ll know where common tones exist . For example , in the key of D , the 1 chord is spelled
D F # A . The 4 chord is spelled G B D . The D is a common tone between these chords . So , when you ’ re creating a piano part or a pad part you ’ ll know that you can keep the same D you ’ d played in the D chord when you get to the G chord . You ’ ll also know that this 4 chord , G , is often played as a G2 chord , spelled G A D . That results in another common tone . Keep that A common tone in your keyboard part as you go from chord to chord .
Because it ’ s true now more than ever that most of the worship songs you and I are playing will use the 1,4,5,6 chords , this understanding of common tones between the chords of a song is essential to your confidence playing these songs . Take the time to practice these chords in any of the possible sequences that you ’ ll find in songs today . 4,1,6,5 . 5,4,1,6 . 6,1,5,4 . You get the idea . Work on these progressions so much that your fingers begin to stay on common tones without conscious thought .
Second , develop a great sense of time . In that