willing to admit that there are areas of your musicianship that could use some focus in 2022 ? As you reflect on your 2021 or how things went the last time you played on your worship team , are there things that come to mind that exposed some limits in your skills or some lack or understanding of how to create the kinds of keyboard parts you ’ re aiming toward ?
I ’ ve been enjoying the use of Sunday Keys for a good while now . The other day I saw a comment on their website where a user was asking if the patches they saw in the main window of the software were all the patches that were available . The answer was that there were hundreds more patches available to them as well as the option to create custom sounds in the software on their own .
That question about wanting more sounds pointed to something that you and I could easily settle for these days , that restlessness that says we need more than what we currently have . More keyboard sounds , a computer with more memory with a faster processor , a keyboard with a more realistic action or a wider range of internal sounds . More .
How about you and I instead make a decision to develop our understanding of the features of the equipment we already have ? Even if the particular pad sound that ’ s heard on your favorite new recording can ’ t be matched exactly by the pad sounds you currently have available in your setup . What sound do you have that ’ s reasonably close ? Beyond what sound is played on that recording , analyze when the pad is heard and when it ’ s absent . Analyze what pitches are being played . Analyze what common tones are sustained through measures . Apply those concepts to your playing .
Before you grab your credit card or pull funds from your church budget to buy a newer , faster , shinier laptop … what if you cleaned off your current machine ’ s hard drive and made more space availale there ? Archive unneeded files on Dropbox or thumb drives or whatever option you prefer . Update your computer ’ s OS . Add more memory at way less expense than replacing a machine .
Like I mentioned earlier in this article , I ’ ve begun making practice of scales and other technical exercises part of my weekly routine . Practice doesn ’ t have to just mean you work on getting your fingers to fly faster across a keyboard . Practice in your case could mean practicing how to smoothly navigate from one sound to another between songs . You could practice smoothly transitioning from one key to another . You could call up a sound that ’ s not what you usually go to , maybe an electric piano or an organ or a pad sound with lots of delays or arpeggiation built into it . Experiment with that sound . What melodic activity works well ? How does it sound to sustain chords using that sound ? What rhythmic activity works well with the delays that are programmed into the sound ? Can you imagine using that sound in a song your team regularly plays ?
Instead of searching for something new to add to your equipment or software list , consider what you currently have that you might not be maximizing . Consider road blocks you keep running into with your current setup or frustrations that seem to return consistently . You and I can grow musically in 2022 , and that growth doesn ’ t have to involve adding anything to our setup .
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