created something until they thought “ That ’ s the one !”. Develop your craft , your musical sensibilities , your vocabulary of melodic writing , and you ’ ll experience that same feeling of creating something that works well for the arrangement .
Continuing the tool analogy , develop an extensive tool kit . As a keyboard player , for example , there ’ s no end to the sonic possibilities we have these days . We can play pad sounds , electric piano sounds , upright piano sounds , etc . Develop your ability to use a sound appropriately . If you call up a pad sound example , it wouldn ’ t be effective to play a busy 16 th note pattern . All those fast notes just wouldn ’ t “ speak ” well if using a pad sound with its slow attack . On the other hand , if you ’ ve called up a Wurlitzer sound and hold down an open fifth and hold it for 4 bars like you might when playing a pad sound , the impact will be minimal . Listen to lots of songs that use the type of sound you ’ re choosing . Study what players do with those sounds and make that technique part of your toolbox .
I ’ ve had my impact driver in a garage cupboard for years without appreciating how effective it could be for specific jobs . Many of you have been playing for many years , using some sounds regularly like piano , pad and electric piano for example . But you have lots of other sounds available too , organ , synth lead sounds , arpeggiated patches , for example . Don ’ t let them sit in your cupboard unused . Try those sounds out at a rehearsal some time . Discover when the sounds sound great and when they ’ re just the wrong choice for the song .
If you play an acoustic piano and don ’ t have all the sonic options a synth or computer might bring , you are by no means limited to only contributing standard hymn type voicings . Find recordings that use acoustic piano sounds and analyze what they ’ re doing . Listen to how frequently piano players strike a chord and hold it . In my keyboard workshops I ’ ll mention the term “ Play the Changes ”. Google the term and you ’ ll find a wide variety of definitions . For my purposes , this term helps me remember that sometimes the most effective thing I can play with my piano sound is just the chord changes .
No arpeggiated activity . No melodic ideas
presented . Just the chord changes . If you tend to play fairly busy piano parts , try this approach sometimes . Strike the chord . Hold those notes . Don ’ t play again until the next chord comes around . What you may discover is that playing this bare minimum activity is perfectly appropriate . The resulting sound allows for vocal lines to be given prominence , for more active guitar parts to be clearly heard , and for you to have somewhere to go in terms to build energy into upcoming sections of the song .
Evaluate what you already have in your musical tool kit . As I discovered with my impact driver , in many cases you already have just the right tool for the song you ’ re playing . You just need to spend some time learning how to best use that tool .
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