The Church Pianist: How to Learn Improvising

How Did You Learn to Improvise?

This question has been asked to me a lot over the years.

I'll share what helped me.

At age eleven, I became church pianist because our pianist moved.

At this point, I had just learned to play 5-part congregational style.

Prior to becoming church pianist; it had taken me several months to

learn At Calvary in this style.

(Five-part congregational style means: Double the bass note in the

left hand and add the tenor note to the right hand).

Playing for choir was a tremendous help! I was exposed to a lot of

well-written choral arrangements.

One must expose his or herself to an abundance of ideas in order

to stimulate creativity!

As I progressed, I began purchasing sacred piano arrangement books

for offertories. Over the years, I've collected from various arrangers.

I found myself gleaning improvisational ideas from music I had been

exposed to and implementing them in my own arrangements.

Saturate yourself with well-structured music to properly influence

your own creativity.

Try pulling an idea from an arrangement and apply it to a hymn

from the hymnal. It's amazing what can be accomplished if

you just try. Keep it simple!

Improvising begins by using someone else's idea(s) and eventually

developing your own unique style. New website:

http://thechurchpianist.com