Noob here, kinda wondering......

[samir_nasri]

I'm really new to the piano and I have high hopes of one day being good and improving and learning more. The kind of style that I want to play is a church setting style. I want to play choir music and hymns(sight reading) and also praises and worship (playing by ear). I'm not really sure how to go about doing this. I kinda started in the summer but my strategy was poor. I couldn't read the notes fast enough and I wasn't quick enough in identifying them on the keyboard. For this reason, it took me really long to play a hymn and follow through with it.

I'm going to focus on sight reading first then playing by ear. I need strategies for learning to sight read my notes and play them on the keyboard better & learning to play by ear for instance ( if someone gets up and starts singing "Aaaaamaaaaaziiinggg Graaaaaceeeee how......" I need to be able to follow them with the piano. My father and my brother are ahead of me (they play in the church) so I have them as teachers. Dad is really busy and so is my bro but I can squeeze questions in. Dad told me to learn the notes and keys then try some hymns. The problem is how can I learn to sight read my notes and play them on the piano quickly? Strategies? Tips?

[Bob]

You mean reading from a hymnal, playing by ear, having the melody line with chords?  Or yes to all of that?

[quantum]

I think we first need to define what music you wish to play.

By hymns are we talking stuff like Lift High the Cross or Our God, Our Help in Ages Past, etc?  Are you reading an SATB hymnal, or Melody + Chords?

Praise and worship.  Do you mean stuff like Shout to the Lord?

Are you playing any sort of anthems with your choir?

Are you taking piano lessons?  Can you estimate your grade level in playing?  Eg: RCM or ABRSM grades.  This would give us a better idea for us to help you.


Accompanying is a different skill than playing solo.  If there is one thing to remember: listing to the person you are accompanying is more important than playing the notes in your part. 

[samir_nasri]

Hymns specifically, I'm using a British hymn book. "O God our help in ages past" is part of the hymns. (The Methodist Hymn-Book with tunes) is the title.  If SATB = Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass then yeah. That's the one I'm using. The problem is that you are playing 4 notes at once and I don't read that well and fast. The bass cleff is even worse. I can play the SA lines decently but the TB is really horrible and it's what slows me down.

I don't really take lessons. I have a book, my dad and my brother for help. Dad even said I should focus on learning to read and play the notes well then I will be able to play pretty much anything. As for my level, I only learned C and G as of now. I know what sharps and flats mean. I understand time signatures. I can run the scale for C well, and for G I run it decently. I've played things like The Cuckoo and I've been using Alfred's Adult Piano Course level 1. (Not done)

[samir_nasri]

An example of the playing by ear that I want to do is this:

**sorry if you don't understand it. But it's like whatever song the singer starts singing you gotta be able to follow them and play along with the drummers and co.

[Bob]

Looks kind of like a jazz combo.  They might all have the harmonies and an intro/exit melody memorized.  Make it up as they go along. 

[quantum]

If you are accompanying singers, someone will usually be taking the melody (usually in the Soprano).  So if you just play the Sop line with them you are doubling the melody.  Bass line would have the greatest importance to an accompanist, it gives the basis for harmony.  If the music is too complex, just play the bass line.  

If SATB reading is too much for you, try reading SB.  Those would be the two most important parts of the harmony.  In order to become better at bass clef reading, you need to isolate that challenge.  Read through a whole bunch of hymns bass cleff only.  Start off by playing the bass and tenor lines independently, and when you become more comfortable, join them together.

In your case, I think it would be good to take the study of piano seriously if you wish to be good at accompanying.  You first need to acquire the basic tools all musicians learn.  This will make life a lot easier for you, especially when communication with other musicians.  Get a good piano teacher, especially if this is something you want to be doing a lot of - no exceptions to this, no method book can replace an actual person teaching you.

You may have noticed common keys which hymns like to be placed in.  Learn the scales for these as a start.  If you need to learn a hymn in a key you do not know, learn the scale first.  Eventually you should be familiar with all major and minor keys.

[samir_nasri]

Thanks for the advice boss.
I want to play in my church to help the music aspect. I'm only 17 so I guess there's still time.
The thing was that if I'm able to master note reading at quick speeds, I'll be able to pretty much learn the other scales / keys easily because the other keys whether it's A or F and so on, the notes are the same they don't change only the rules, for instance (all G's are sharp) and so on. So note reading efficiently is my main focus now.

Your break them into parts is really helpful. I'll consider that. The problem is that I sit there and count (Every Good Boy Does Fine) to be able to know that this note is an F, or a G and that's the problem. It's what's slowing me down.

[quantum]

There are some pedagogues that argue against line naming methods, as it creates an additional abstraction to the learner.  I've seen a number of methods come out recently that focus more on reading based on relativity.

One example: Instead of learning Every Good Boy Does Fine you learn only where all C's are on, below, and above the staff - far less to memorize and confuse.  Based on that you visually calculate other notes based on how far they are from C.  Good thing about this is students don't separate notions of line and space.  It also helps when you do sight transposition (something church musicians are called to do), because you have already become used to relative note reading.  

As I look back on my own learning, I too found the naming schemes confusing.  I would much rather think [this image of note] = D; than [this image of note] is a line, which means you use this rhyme, which word is Does, which means the note is D.

Since you are also interested in praise and worship and accompanying by ear, you may wish to learn how to read lead sheets (melody + chords).  One of the first challenges you may come across when doing this is how to create the accompaniment.  Listen to recordings of accompaniment styles similar to the music you are playing, try to imitate.  There are also books out there which give accompaniment patters that you apply to the chords.  For now you may wish to start simple: start with just triads, repeat them at regular intervals, then try varying the rhythm of the triad to suit the style.  

[samir_nasri]

You've been very helpful. Thank you soo much.
One more thing, concerning the playing by ear in the church, you're suggestion is that I should listen to generic gospel patterns and learn them and then when I'm in church and someone raises a song and tries to sing it, I should use one of the patterns that'll match? And I didn't really understand the melody + chords + accompaniment patterns thing. What I did understand however is that I should listen to patterns and accompaniments and learn them and apply it when necessary. Is this correct?

Something like so:

https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2875855811958073769&ei=xYX1SsfEAZXdlQeGuPyDAw&q=piano+accompaniments#

[quantum]

Yes, that is correct.  Listen to a recording of the style, try to imitate and practice this at home, when a song of that style arises in church try to apply what you learned of that style.  The video you lined to is an example of this.  

I'll clarify some terms:
SATB hymn - when all four vocal parts are written out in full across top and bottom staff.

Lead sheet - melody, chords, words.  Usually single staff.  Chords are not written out as notes (like SATB hymns) but as chord symbols.  Eg: C, G7, Am7(b5).  You may have heard the term "Fake book," these are written out as lead sheets.  

Take the video example of an accompaniment style you gave.  Using a lead sheet, you would follow the chord symbols for the accompaniment.  The folk song example in the video may have the following:
A, E, A, E, F#m, D, Bm/D, F#m, D, A, Bm.  

From there apply the stylistic pattern to the chords.

In order to do this you would need to be familiar with chords.  There are chord books out there which give the notes for each chord symbol.  (Make sure to get one for keyboard, as the guitar ones are different).  You would be using this along with your scale book for reference whenever you do not know the notes for a chord or scale.  

[samir_nasri]

Ok gotcha. My note reading on the bass cleff has gotten better. I stopped the A Cows Eat Grass pnemonic and started learning like this note = C and so forth. So I just go through songs I've played before in the past and just play the bass cleff notes only. I see myself being able to actually know what notes I'm playing rather than counting and repeat rhymes in my head. So about a week more of that exercise and a 4 day review for the treble cleff and I'll be good.

Once again thanks soooooooooooooooooo much. God bless.