If you are interested in becoming a better church pianist and want to work
your way through the lessons in this section of the site, here is a good
overview about how I will teach you. Please don't be overwhelmed. We are
going to take our time and keep things as simple as possible.
Micro lessons
I have taken lessons from many
church pianists over the years.
Almost always, I have been
frustrated. I have ended
up looking over the teacher's shoulder
while he or she flies through chord
progressions faster than I could
possibly follow. Usually,
I get almost no benefit from
that kind of teaching.
On the other hand, I remember
a pianist working with me for a
few minutes on a Sunday night about ten years ago.
He showed me only one chord
substitution. I remember
exactly what the chord
was--it was a major III. I
use that substitution to this
day, but better yet, that bit of
help sent me down a road that
completely revolutionized my
playing. I can trace much
of what I do today back to that
night.
I still take piano
lessons--today, from a great
jazz teacher. He has the
same philosophy about teaching.
Every time I meet with him, he
has a small chunk of information
for me to digest and a plan for
how to practice it. I have
found that his method is
incredibly effective even though
it sometimes feels like I am
moving slow.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time. And
that is the way you learn to
play the piano too. So,
don't be surprised if the
lessons seem short. If you
are really advanced, do a few at
once. But spend the time
to really learn each one.
Where you need to be if
you want to benefit from these
lessons I am making a few
assumptions about the people
that will be working through
these lessons.
I assume that you
already play the piano and
can read music.
I assume that you have a
rudimentary knowledge of
theory. For example, I
assume you know how to build
major and minor triads and know
how to identify intervals.
You do not have to know
about complex chords--I will
teach that. If you need to brush up on your
theory, there are many sites
online that can help you.
I assume that you want
to learn how to play your
own arrangements
(improvise), to embellish a
four part harmony, to
accompany better, and to do other complicated
things like transposing.
Those are the kinds of
topics I will be covering.
A rough plan of what I
plan to cover Here is a roadmap of where I
am going. I will change
things and throw in other things
from time to time. Assume
that each of these topics will
take anywhere from a few to many lessons.
Chord naming. I
will make sure you can look
in a hymnbook and identify
the chords that are being
used.
Ear training. I
want you to learn to start
identifying chords by ear as
well as by sight.
