The Pitfalls of Teaching to Piano Players to Play By Chord
For a long time I’ve subscribed to the school of thought that playing by chord off of lead sheets or chord sheets is a much better way to go for piano players than playing straight from the actual piano music. You only have to have a couple of pages to turn through, you learn how to play chords just in case the piano music is unavailable, and you develop your ear. However, there is a problem: it’s much harder to lead if you don’t have experience.
Without Rhythm and Melody - Chords Don’t Go Anywhere
As I’ve begun to teach several piano players how to play by chords instead of by the piano music I’ve run into a problem that I completely didn’t expect. Chords, without being driven by rhythm and melody, don’t really go anywhere. I can tell the piano player to “just play by the chords on this one” and it leads to a great fit when I’m leading from the guitar. I can carry the rhythm from the guitar and let the piano color and accent the song. But if I say, “I’d like to you lead this one on the piano,” many of the piano players are not quite sure what to do. They can play the chords, but haven’t really been taught the rhythms to apply the chords to - so the song lacks movement. They can play the chords, but haven’t really been taught how to break them up and use passing tones to create interest - so the song lacks character.
What to Do?
I guess that is my dilemma. I can show the piano players what to do by saying, “Let me sit for a second and show you what I’d like.” But then they’re just watching me do something instead of actually learning how to do it. I would love to know what you’ve done to teach piano players how to play chords but play them rhythmically and melodically - able to lead a song well. Some things I can think of might perhaps be:
- Writing out piano parts for them for a while - then saying, “Okay - your turn to apply it - make up your own now.”
- Having a workshop with piano players on how to do these things - which is something I’d like to do - I just lack the time at the moment.
- Have the piano players listen and watch professionals to try and develop their ear and mimic what the professionals are doing
- Create an online youtube / vimeo video to help train - another thing I’d love to do - again with a lack of time
Are there any other suggestions that could help?
Good post. I’m sitting next to our worship director teaching one of our youth guitar players music theory. He’s been told for so long “put your fingers there” or even was just handed a chord sheet. He had no idea any of the why’s and how’s. He has a good ear and can pick stuff out but can’t invent. Praise God he is getting taught. I’m so freakin happy sitting in my office listening to this. Wow.
Comment by Chris Moncus — July 15, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
I saw your tweet. That’s definitely cool. So glad to hear about that sort of stuff happening!
Comment by Ryan — July 15, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
This problem is a few levels deep. I approach it this way, emulation is cheap. This is usually a problem for players who have never played in an original band where they are in some creative environment. All they’ve done is read music or played by ear and tried to emulate what someone else has done. For my team that doesn’t really work, I can’t think creatively for every musician in the band. So for me that’s a pre-requisite, I don’t want emulation. You have to be able to hear your own parts, experiment and self critique. I don’t think a band leader can successfully do that for every instrument, or at least this bad leader can’t.
Comment by Kyle — July 15, 2008 @ 1:00 pm
Kyle - good thoughts.
But what if you can’t allow that sort of prerequisite or don’t want to?
I don’t want emulation like you said - I want creativity, but…
I want to work with who I have available and most of the people I have available don’t necessarily have a lot of creative experience but have a heart to learn anything new to make things sound as good as they can.
Comment by Ryan — July 15, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
There in lies the rub
Really it just depends on the vision for your band. My band we do a lot of original songs and when we do other people’s songs we usually remix them into our style. So it requires my band being able to express creatively well. But if you’re not doing a lot of that then yeah it probably shouldn’t be a pre-requisite for you.
Teaching creativity is difficult. But there are some exercises we do in our band practice to foster this and also I do as a test in auditions. I’ll start playing some riff or progression on guitar nobody has heard and then one by one I’ll point to an instrument and it’s their job to introduce themselves into the song. One by one we start layering instruments. We’ll play it out for a while and then we’ll discuss what stunk and what parts were cool. Then play it over and try to improve each time. This forces people to creatively find parts but not be afraid to make mistakes.
The biggest barrier to creativity is people’s fear of making mistakes. Have to break that. I hope something here is of use or helpful in some way.
Enjoy your blog and enjoy even more getting connected with other worship leaders to exchange these kind of ideas.
Comment by Kyle — July 15, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
Strong vocal support goes a long way, but a rhythym instrument would be a big help. As one formulates worship teams he could place chord playing piano players with strong lead guitarists, or conversely, select piano driven music with a piano player who reads and leads well.
Good post.
Comment by Wade Mobley — July 15, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
Well, I may be coming at this the total wrong way, however…. I lead worship at my church from a keyboard and occasionally the piano. The last time I checked, piano is a percussion instrument. I understand that this doesn’t mean someone can just sit down and play a song percussively, so as to lead it in a worship service setting. I find for myself, after lots of time with other musicians and also watching Paul Baloche’s worship band workshop video clips… that I very rarely find myself in a position where I am solely responsible for carrying an entire song by myself. I typically play some variation of a bass note or notes with my left hand then the chords with my right hand. In a band setting, the drummer can help carry the tempo, guitarist can help carry tempo as well as some “mids” and the bass guitar player can pick up the bass end of things. For me, I find it helpful sometimes to sit back and listen as the other instruments play and actually try to play out notes that would be part of the vocal harmony line to find places where I can color in the song with the keys. Thinking about it too… something as simple as “chopsticks” on the keys is a basic way of teaching rhythym on the keys. Also, an oldie but a goody worship tune “You Are Crowned With Many Crowns” is a good way to take chords on the right hand and play them and due to the beat of that song, you are in affect playing rhythym chords. With regards to leading a song, if you are singing the song vocally, then you may not need to play the melody on the keys and therefore you could just have them do inversions of the chords. Try having them experiment with arpeggio’s on an inversion while they sing the melody. As far as teaching someone to be creative… I’m not sure if this is possible. I think you can provide some structure for how to be creative, but that person would have to have an ear for music. I would say maybe invite them to rehearsals if they have a true desire to learn this style and maybe just have them quietly play throughout your rehearsal to just see what they come up with. I agree with previous posts that people need to be made to feel as though it’s okay to make a mistake. I make plenty with my team!!!
Comment by pian0dude — July 18, 2008 @ 11:35 am
Thanks for stopping by pian0dude - I appreciate your thoughts. You made some very good suggestions and a good reminder that it’s okay to make mistakes.
I do think that someone can be taught to be creative, however. I think it’s a skill that comes with time, practice and listening. I used to not have a clue how to come up with original fills/licks/runs whatever - but after many years of practice, listening to others and experimenting - I can now do it.
I’m glad many people stopped by to give some suggestions. Thanks for that!
Comment by Ryan — July 18, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
A little late to the party here, but as a keyboard driven worship leader (for most of my career) I have some thoughts as well.
I teach worship keys to students fairly often. I’ve never had a major problem with this because early on I really try and develop the students’ sense of independence. I teach them to basically accompany voice (not just play a song). Their goal as a keys player is to create a foundation that the vocal lead can sit on. I start there and then move to ensemble playing LATER. I do this by a lot of imitation and emulation. They listen to and watch what other musicians are doing.
And regardless of what some of the previous posts have said, you can’t teach anything at all without some form of emulation in the early stages. Anything taught correctly utilizes imitation and emulation, while developing independent thought and creativity.
Eventually students will develop their own style. But I’ve found a Biblical principle to come into play here. If our students are faithful in the “beginners” things, then they will be given the “advanced” things.
Teach them simple worship progressions… I IV I IV (etc) and have them just play those over and over learning how to use the best inversions as you teach them chords. They get it pretty quick.
Show a young, developing keyboardist exactly what to play on a song. SHOW them. Then have them do it back. Show them again and again and again. Once they master that, then challenge them to add their own little flare.
Personally, I think it depends upon the potential of the student themselves. Often times, I’ll have adult students who want to write simple worship songs and be able to worship at the house or in small groups. They would benefit from learning to read music, but I usually don’t go much deeper than teaching them the notes on the keyboard so they’ll be able to build chords with a chord sheet.
Children on the other hand I typically take through 6 weeks of reading exercises to determine their potential and to decided whether to carry on or not.
I think the big thing is to teach in a way that “hooks” our students. If we overload them with too much reading and theory they get bogged down and overwhelmed. But if we can show them a few songs that they can go home and worship with or even wow their friends with they’ll come back for more. I say it’s all about developing what little or great potential within and really buckling down with the individual to find which avenue is the best bet for them.
Comment by Russ — August 6, 2008 @ 7:04 am
Russ - that is so good. I never thought about doing things that way but I think it makes perfect sense. I’m going to have to shift my brain and the way I approach things now, but I think that was one of the most helpful things I’ve heard regarding teaching music to volunteers in a long time!
Comment by Ryan Egan — August 6, 2008 @ 7:20 am
Hey Ryan,
When you mentioned:
“Create an online youtube / video to help train - another thing I’d love to do - again with a lack of time”
check out godtube.com/crashchords, hope it helps your bloggers.
Comment by crashchords — August 11, 2008 @ 8:32 pm