KEYS
KEYS ON THE RUN – PREPARATION AND PERFORMANCE | David Pfaltzgraff
BACK PAIN AND WASTED TIME
Once upon a time I ’ d lug a 49 key MIDI keyboard home from church every week . It was awful .
After my kid was asleep late at night , I ’ d set it up on my coffee table and balance my laptop on a book or two , because I didn ’ t have a keyboard stand at home . Then I ’ d plug in some headphones , slouch forward and get to work .
What was I up to ? Back then this was my routine for prepping the worship keys sounds , parts , and arrangements that my worship team and I would use for weekend services . Staring down my laptop into the wee hours of the morning , trying to dial in expressive piano sounds using a plastic MIDI controller and lowquality headphones .
It felt like work . My preparation felt like a chore , a challenge , and something that I just had to do . It wasn ’ t a very musically inspiring environment and the results proved that .
Was it efficient ? No . Was it effective ? Not really . Did it cause back pain ? You bet .
But this article isn ’ t focused on the importance of lumbar support for extended programming sessions ( in fact , I ’ m writing this while I help my boys get to sleep from a less than comfortable chair in the corner of their bedroom ). No , this article is all about how you can sort out your own logistics of preparation and that transition from home to the stage .
It ’ s a common problem most modern worship keys players face . If you use a hardware keyboard with built-in sounds at church , it ’ s a big hassle to bring that monster home with you for practice and preparation . If you use a laptop or iPad for your worship keys sounds , you have to make sure everything you do at home will easily translate to the stage , so you don ’ t spend time you don ’ t have on Sunday morning trying to figure out why the audio interface or MIDI controller won ’ t connect .
Either way , hardware or software , these are genuine challenges to overcome for a modern worship keys player that get in the way of musical creativity and expression .
DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS
So how can you keep these challenges from being a barrier to your success that causes the inspiration to fizzle out and the stress to go up ?
First , you have to slow down long enough to think about and recognize the pain points you ’ ve become good at ignoring . Those annoying little things you ‘ just have to do ’ every time you try to practice at home or perform at