Have Fun Today

Last night as I was playing the keyboard, I stumbled upon a few chords that sounded like “Conjunction Junction” from School House Rock. I kept it up and finally came up with a decent sounding rendition of this song and it was fun! I believe that you need to make sure that you just play without worrying about getting it right. You will be amazed at what you come up with. It is during these times that I find many new chords and different ways to play progressions.

I picked a drum pattern on my keyboard and just started playing. First the tune was just simple then I began adding some other things in. Sometimes the additions worked, and sometimes they didn’t work. The point is I learned a lot during this time that I wrote down for future reference. Keep a notebook handy during practice times so that you can write down what you learned. Writing it down really helps you to retain the information better.

Keep practicing and growing no matter what, and especially when you feel like you are going nowhere fast. Believe it or not you are learning more than you can even imagine. Happy learning!

Oh I bet you want the chords to that old Saturday morning favorite “Conjunction Junction” don’t you? Well here they are:

G7-G7/F-C/E-Eb7-G/D-C#dim-C-D7-G Happy Playing!

Getting the Most From Your Practice

Wow, I have had quite an adventure lately to say the least. I am so happy to be back to my blog now I can’t decide where to begin. I will be adding another lesson on music theory this week, so come back and have fun learning the basics of playing music.

Practicing for Results

Many musicians make the mistake of thinking that practice has to be a boring and tedious task. That is not so, and if you feel that way you won’t accomplish much but frustration. Today I a going to give you a practice routine that will keep you interested and progressing. You only need at least one hour per day to do this particular routine. I recommend practicing at the very least one hour per day.

Do not make the mistake of only practicing what is familiar! If you normally play in C, make sure you play in Db or B. Learn a new chord and play it in all keys. When you learn a new progression, play it in your most unfamiliar keys. If you only play by ear then spend some time learning to read music. Likewise if you only read music make sure you spend some time learning to play by ear. Doing these things everyday will yield awe inspiring results in the months to come. So on to the routine. Remember that this is just a sample, you may need to adapt it to fit where you are in your learning. If you are unsure how to apply this to you, then just drop me a line, and I will help you with a routine that will work for you.

What to practice:
Technique: 25 min. total

• scales: Play all 12 (or the ones you know) everyday for 5min.
• Hanon exercises: These are exercises that you do to strengthen your hands and fingers. You can find them here for free. 20 min.

The goal here is to develop finger dexterity and strengthen your hands. Don’t over do it practicing technique exercises. Keep to around 25-30 min.

Chords: 10 min total

• practice basic diatonic chords in at least 3-4 keys in both hands: Maj,min,dim,aug for 5 min. You may either practice triads or sevenths. (more on these later)
• Pick one new chord type from a good chord book or here and play it in all of its inversions in 2 keys 5 min. Link to diatonic chords and more

Style: 15 min.

• If you own any books or teaching dvd’s on gospel, jazz, blues etc. Practice one concept from your book or go here and find one concept to print and practice. 5 min.
• Pick a different style and practice one concept from that source 5 min.
• Try to transpose those concepts to at least one other key
• play one progression through your 2 most unfamiliar keys 5min.

Reading:10 min.

• Pick one hymn to learn to read and play it as written. If you already read then pick a hymn you do not know and sight read it. If you know nothing at all about reading music then go here for help with that. Reading is not essential, but it makes your learning much more productive when you can take a song written out and analyze it for the chords to play.

Then just play! I mean just play what ever you want to play and pretend you are playing for others when you do this. You need this step in order to really benefit from your practice. Experiment or just worship during this time.

Remember this is just an example, and you may not be able to do any of those things yet. That is ok make sure that you at least play your scales everyday and any song you are working on. You will begin to see real progress as you approach your practice this way. Happy learning!

Scales, Chords, Progressions, Songs

That will be your rally until Jesus comes! In all seriousness this should be the way you approach learning to play by ear. It even helps your understanding when learning to read music or if you already read music. Today we will focus on scales.

Scales:
Everything in music is based on a scale, and there are many types of scales. The scale that we will concentrate on for now will be the major scale. These will be the foundation from which a melody is built. Then we harmonize the melody with other notes from the scale and make chords.

Why are these scales so important?

Because songs are based upon a scale plain and simple. A scale is a specific range of notes plugged into the formula for the major scale. We build chords based upon a scale. Those chords make progressions; from progressions come songs! So that is why it is so important to know all 12 of the scales and their scale degrees. The relationships between scales is also very tight and knowing this gives you insight and a heads up on where a song is going and could go if you wanted to do something different.

The formula for the Major scale is:

WWHWWWH

W=whole step

H=half step

Whole Steps always skip a key with one key in between

Half steps have no notes in between them.

* all notes must be named in a scale. You may not have a B and a Bb in the same scale!

Let’s start on C

C D E F G A B C all of the notes are named. Now let’s look at whether or not this fits the formula for a major scale. Look at a keyboard and then play these notes.

From C to D is a whole step

From D to E is a whole step

From E to F is a half step

From F to G is a whole step

From G to A is a whole step

From A to B is a whole step

From B back to C is a Half step

So this does fit the formula, and thus the C scale has no flats or sharps.

Now that you have C scale figured out, you can do the same thing for the other scales.

I have included a link to the major scales and their proper fingerings here however, it is wise to do this exercise yourself and compare it to the scales provided. This helps you understand and retain it much better.

Now that we have gone through the scales let’s number each scale degree.

C-1 I

D-2 ii

E-3 iii

F-4 IV

G-5 V

A-6 vi

B-7 vii dim

So you see all we did was to start on C and start counting to 7. It is that simple! So if I ask you to play me the 4 or IV in C what chord would you play? IF you said “F” Congratulations! you have just understood the basics of the number system! Now lets understand how to make this work for us.

The next step we now must take is to learn chords, but before that can happen you must have a grasp on “intervals” to understand how to build a chord.
We will visit intervals on next. For now learn your scales! Be able to say and play them forward and backward, learn one per week or two weeks it doesn’t matter just learn them. You will be so grateful that you did! DO NOT SKIP THIS BASIC STEP!!!!

Remember: Despise not the day of small beginnings. Let God help you as you grow spiritually and skillfully.

The Best Thing I Ever Did!

The absolute best thing I did when God told me to start learning the piano was to get online and hunt for information on music theory. I found many different resources, but one stood out to me more than others. It was Jermaine Griggs course: Hear and Play. No matter what genre of music you play this book will help you learn basic theory that is practical. It is presented in a very easy to understand manner that will encourage you to continue. I had some previous background in music so I found it a very quick study for the first 6 chapters. Check out his website if you are serious about learning to play and really learning your craft. If you already play this will help you understand more about what you are already playing as well as be able to communicate with others like your band members.

Understanding what you are doing and why is so freeing! I remember the first time I applied the progressions I learned from this book. I was listening to the radio to a group singing a song and I sat down at my keyboard to pick out the melody. All I can say is it just clicked and I started to play a 1-6-2-5-1 and it worked!!! I am going to be posting more about scales, chords and progressions in the days to come. Do you want to take your playing to another level? Or just be able to play a hymn like you like to hear it. Then the first thing I will tell you is to learn your scales. Everything is built on them. I did not understand why I needed to learn them until I did. Remember this order: SCALES, CHORDS, PROGRESSIONS, then SONGS. The major scales are the ones you need to know first. Look here for the scales in all 12 keys. Take one scale a week and learn it in both hands. Here is a link to the major scales and their proper fingering. Please take the time to learn them because your thorough understanding depends upon you knowing them. I will be posting more theory soon. I know not everyone has a teacher, but remember that when you apply your self and pray God will give you understanding.

Welcome

Welcome to Becoming a Church Musician. This blog will reflect my journey to becoming God’s musician. The musician He desires for me to be. I am writing this to also help others on their journey to find the place God has for them in music ministry.

First a little background about myself. I am a Stay-at-Home Mom of four wonderful children, and I have a wonderful loving husband who is a minister of the Gospel. My musical background is that I took piano lessons as a child until I entered the 5 th grade when I joined the school band. I played the trumpet all the way through High School winning various awards and honors for solo playing, state contests, and also played in the jazz band. I also sang in choir from the 5th grade to the 12th. I learned many things about music theory and technique during this time, and I was inspired to continue through college. I sang in the choir in college only. I now wish I had pursued a degree in Music. I wish I had not stopped the piano lessons!!!

But regret will get me nowhere! Necessity had been laid at my feet. The church we belonged to had a praise and worship team of beginning singers and musicians. The Minister of Music also knew nothing about music. I was asked to sing and help with the singers. But there was a problem, I needed to know a bit more about chords to help the musicians play what the singers needed to hear in order to sing with confidence. Abut a year and a half ago, the Lord led me to begin learning to play the piano, learn more music theory so I could teach parts more effectively and also help the musicians understand what needed to be done with the music. Little did I know that I would eventually be playing with them in about a year! I had no idea I would actually be required to play! I now am the music director for my church. I teach parts and vocal technique to the singers, I chord all music for the other musicians, I also teach music theory to the Minister of Music. I am beginning workshops on practical music theory for musicians at my church.

This is what God has called me to, and I am willing to do whatever He asks me to do. I am now writing this blog to chronicle my journey in hopes that I will inspire others to press in to what God is speaking to you. I don’t play like I would like to, but I am on my way! I play much better than some musicians that have been playing longer. I am not trying to brag; I just want you to see what happens when self-determination meets the will of God. He has sped up my learning! He will do it for you too. Just trust Him.

My Praise and Worship team is progressing a bit slower because not everyone learns at the same rate and that is ok. We have come a very long way in a short time, and we give God the glory! Don’t give up!!