The constant activity that had been heard in each previous measure stopped . This is an example of something I ’ ve taught about for years , the Internal Clock . You and I , and our listeners , are used to hearing music that has a consistent pulse , an underlying tempo that steadily underlies the music . I ’ m convinced that if we establish that tempo , as I have in measure one through three above and then pause for a measure , the listener will still feel that pulse continuing . They ’ re using their internal clock . You and I , and your worship team , don ’ t need to fill every measure of our arrangement with activity .
By leaving out activity , the next activity we choose to play can be more impactful than activity surrounded with activity surrounded with activity . Try this with your team sometime . Establish a pattern rhythmically and melody within the team . Then at an agreed upon point , everyone stop their activity . This doesn ’ t mean stop the sound of their instrument . Just hold a chord or a pitch or , if you ’ re a drummer , play whatever you ’ d play on a downbeat and pause .
Remember that any song you play can reharmonized . There are not Chord Chart Police roaming the country ready to ticket worship teams that don ’ t stick to the original CCLI chord chart . What a relief , right ? The same is true of these musical interludes you create . For example , when I repeat this phrase
I could play an F # m7 instead of the A / C # chord in measure 3 . ( 5 )
Is there anything else you notice about the original hook , seen in example 1 ? I ’ m on the lookout for things that I could adapt for my interlude that I ’ m going to use for Communion time . I notice that during the hook the figure doesn ’ t go “ home ” harmonically , sounding the A chord , the 1 chord , the tonic . In the original recording this brings a beautiful sense of anticipation to the moment when the A chord is finally heard at the beginning of the chorus . It ’ s a powerful moment and , side note , a great thing to keep in mind as a songwriter and / or arranger , to let the harmonies you choose contribute to a sense of “ arrival ” when a new section begins .
Back to the main idea here . In my next example you see the four bars from the previous example with four bars sitting on the A chord added to them . ( 6 )
This example models something else you can do to make your interlude distinct from the source recording idea . The original hook had its melodic activity begin on the downbeat of each measure . In bar 5 of the example above I had only the left hand play , waiting until beat 2 for the right hand to begin its activity . A small thing but something that creates more musical interest in your interlude .
Since I intend to repeat these 8 measures , I used an A / C # in measure 7 . This inversion definitely wants to resolve to the D chord , so it creates some nice harmonic energy for the section when it repeats .
If I was presenting this material at a keyboard workshop today , I ’ d ask the people in the class if their brains were about to explode from too much information . How are you doing ? I ’ m going to wrap this up but first want to point you to the recordings of these examples that have been uploaded for you . Please give them a listen . All my examples shown here will be much more meaningful that way .
For the last example you ’ ll hear I ’ m going to play the 8 bars you see in example 6 and then go into the hook from the recording . That hook was the source for all the ideas I developed in this article . Imagine you ’ re going to present “ This Is the Kingdom ” after Communion or a prayer time in your church . An interlude involving some of the ideas I ’ ve shown above could hint at but not completely give away the upcoming song . You ’ ll be creating a launchpad for the actual song . A Pre-Intro . When the time comes to actually begin playing the intro the moment will be so much more significant musically than if you ’ d played the actual material of the song throughout this time in the service or just jammed on a random progression .
I believe it . I ’ ve felt those moments many times in my services and hope you ’ ll experiment with concepts like this with your team . It ’ s a joy for me to share ideas and possibilities like this with you . I trust that whatever you and your team play each week you ’ ll sense the delight of your Heavenly Father . He has gifted you and anointed you to create musical moments and moods that can help your congregations drink deep of God ’ s Presence and Peace . Amen !
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