Want help with your arrangements?

Filed in Free Lessons on August 09, 2010



A few weeks ago, I floated the idea of having church pianists submit their music for critiques and suggestions from other musicians.  Many of you have responded that you would love to be involved in that, so we are going to get it rolling and see what happens.

Here are some ground rules.

Types of music you can send in for critiques
You can send anything you want as long as it is related to church music.  Here are some broad categories:

• Arrangements that you did not write yourself
  
• Original arrangements you wrote yourself
• Congregational accompaniment
  
• Other accompaniment

How the music should be sent to me
My preference is that you send me mp3s of decent quality.  But if you need to send me a CD or even a cassette, I can work with it.

You do not have to go to great lengths to get the best recording quality.  But it will be much easier to provide accurate feedback if the quality is decent.  Experiment a little if you record your own piano.  Better yet, ask someone who works with the sound in your church to take a few minutes after a service and record you.

If you can legally send the printed music, that would be great, but it is not required.  Send it in PDF format or fax it to me (contact me for my fax number). 


Who will be critiquing the music
If you are reading this, you are qualified at some level to critique the music that is submitted, and I strongly encourage you to do so.  That is true even if you don't even play the piano.  Even musical novices can provide good feedback (after all, we play mostly for musical novices). 

I am working on building a team of credible experts who will provide feedback as well.  They will be published writers/arrangers, college teachers, and such. 


Who should send in music
If you are a pianist at any level, I encourage you to send something in when you can.  I will be posting some of my own work for critique.  It is extremely important that none of us get so arrogant that we think we are above getting help.  If that happens, we condemn ourselves to stagnation. 

When you send something in, give us an idea of what kind of help you are looking for.  For example, you might want help with your arranging ideas or you might need help with your technique.  Or, you might have a few ideas that you want people to help you choose between.

My plan is to post one contribution each week initially, but we will see how it goes. 

So, don't wait.  Starting right now, you can begin sending in contributions.  By the way, my email is greg (at) greghowlett.com.


Will you do me a personal favor?
If you use Facebook, please take a moment and comment on this post. I appreciate the feedback and doing this helps other people learn about my resources. Non-Facebook users can leave comments using the alternate form below.


Daniel Blomdahl
8/13/2010 5:36:21 PM

Arg!!! This is so unfair. I want to participate but because I'm at college right now, and the internet doesn't allow me to send mp3 files; I can't.... :( I'll just have to wait until I go home for Christmas.

---

Leave a Comment
All comments are reviewed for offensive content or spam. Your email is required but never used.

Name:
Website:
Email:
	Please email me follow up comments to this post.
Comment:	Note that HTML is not allowed, but your name will be linked to your site.
Verify Code: