Church Practice

[fadyonline]

Hi My name is Fady, and I am playing piano at my church and the songs I am playing is like youth songs and my left hand is so routinely played on one rhythm only so I wonder how can I improve my left hand so as to play like different rhythms?!!!

[allchopin]

Maybe i dont fully understand the question, but i believe youre wondering how you can get your left hand to become stronger and more coordinated.  this can be accomplished by practicing etudes and/or excercises (i prefer etudes b/c not only can they be performed in front of people, but they are just more fun!) a good left hand study is Chopins etude #12 Op. 10, but it is tough. another good left hand song is the fantasie impromptu. the left hand isnt too hard, and it improves your counting and timing. i would like to get a job as a piano player in a church (as a temporary summer job). i was curious- do you get nervous at all when playing in front of everyone? how long do you typically play?

[fadyonline]

Answering your question , well I was sweating too much in the first times playing piano infront of everyone, It was really a nervous situation but after that you just play easily as if you are practicing at your home.

Secondly I mean by my question that when you play a lively song without any note , you just play it by ear and when you try to develop the left hand rhythm by your self because there is no notes to play, that's the part I find difficult because I just repeat the left hand rhythm on two or three keys only, so any ideas

[dj]

Fady, i play in church quite often and i think i understand your question. the problem is that "youth" songs tend to b written more for guitar, and you as a pianist are actually quite limited artistically. there may in reality only be a small amount you can do with the bass. when i play with the youth band, i tend to focus more on the right hand while the left hand just sustains the bass note for the chord. in the "adult" band, there are a lot more complex choruses and modernized hymns. for the more complex, piano driven songs, practice getting the left hand to match the syncopation in the right hand. also, the use of passing tones in the left hand helps to add variety to the sound.
hope this helped, good luck

[Kel]

i run the youth band at my church at the mometn
and i find the piano is used as a pad underneath everything to fill it in
i use a lot of modern organ sounds, synths strings etc and do a lot of cool fill ins as well
if yoiu listen to a lot of christian music u can get a lot of ideas etc and try to incorporate them into your playing

However the slow worship songs i use piano sound as its just improvising over chrods. During this time we decide weather the keys will lead or gutair. it can saound over the top of both are leading at once,
hope this helps

[xenon]

As dj said, Youth music is geared to instruments like a rock band, ie drums, guitar, etc.  Piano is used a lot (though not exclusively) for chords.  They can utilize a guitar chord sheet and the chord figures found on the single line youth music.

That's probably why I never liked youth music.  I tend to be more of a traditionalist and play the hymns with the main congregation.

[fadyonline]

Yes we all love to play the traditional Hymns but when you are the only one in charge then you have to play everything and with only the piano

[dj]

yikes u do have it bad, fady, i didn't realize u were playing all by yourself! in that case i would recommend finding some more band members that or convince the youth to like traditional music