KEYS
HOW TO PLAY AUX KEYS | David Pfaltzgraff
Photo by Brooke Balentine on Unsplash
I’ ve been playing a lot of aux keys at my church lately( that’ s aux with an‘ a’, nothing to do with oxen). About a decade ago I was on staff at a church that had the honor of hosting a concert featuring Fred Hammond and Donnie McClurkin. As I helped the band load in, I noticed the keyboard rig growing from one keyboard to two, then four arranged at a right angle. Eventually, a second stool appeared, and before long, another cluster of five keyboards surrounded it
That night I was blown away by the dexterity and fluidity on display as two incredible keys players covered a massive range of territory, their hands flying from instrument to instrument dozens of times in a single song. But what impressed me the most was the way the two musicians complemented each other, with what I recognized were clearly defined roles.
One was clearly the‘ primary’ player and the other the‘ aux’ player, but those determinations had nothing to do with importance and everything to do with clarity. Lately I’ ve been realizing how much I still must learn as I’ ve been finding myself in the aux position more than I ever have before.
While I’ m by no means an expert, I thought it might be helpful for me to share three things that have helped me succeed in this role at my church. Whether your church has the volunteers to staff two keys players or not on a given Sunday I’ ve found that even when I’ m the only person on keys thinking about the role of‘ aux’ keys has helped me better fill the right amount of space from the piano.
MANY HATS
First things first,‘ aux’ keys is short for auxiliary keys. The term originates from a functional description implying there’ s someone playing
‘ primary’ keys. The aux keys player, sometimes called the‘ second keys’ player, is there to play parts that the primary keys player can’ t play without compromising parts that would fit into a‘ primary’ bucket.
Right away this gets sticky, because it’ s easy to slip into a mindset where‘ keys 1’ plays the important parts and‘ aux keys’ plays the leftovers, but that simply isn’ t true. When these roles are operating well, the aux keys player is liberated from the confines of‘ having’ to play primary parts and instead free to explore elsewhere.
For example, if your band only has one keys player and they desire to bring both a piano and organ sound to the mix, they’ re going to have to compromise their approach one way or the other. They’ ll either have to play an organ like it’ s a piano or play a piano like it’ s an organ. Now in the mix both of these sounds may be of
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