Category Archives: Motivational

Instructional, Motivational, Music for Kids

Help Your Child Be Successful in Learning Piano!

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by Ashley Blankenship

How can I help my child be successful in piano lessons?

Tip One: Provide a good, in-tune instrument at home.

Having a decent instrument at home is vital to the success of any student’s lesson. Without a way to properly practice at home, your student will feel inadequate at lesson time and will quickly lose motivation and interest.

What has 32 keys, plugs into a wall and makes piano teacher’s crazy? Sorry parents but your cheap, run of the mill Casio just won’t do. I always allow beginner students to start out on a small keyboard. Give it six months and if they are hooked, it’s time to invest in a better quality piano.

Truly, nothing can substitute for the feel and feedback of a quality acoustic piano but if you should be looking at electronic options, always look for these important features: weighted keys, touch response and a fully functioning damper pedal!

Often, I come across quality pianos for sale or to give away. Stay tuned on this page for those offers. There’s no way around it, your child can’t learn to play baseball without a nice bat and can’t learn to play hockey without a good pair of skates. Your child needs regular access to a quality instrument to become a successful piano player.

Guest Articles, Instructional, Motivational, Preparation and Organization

BUILDING A COHESIVE WORSHIP BAND

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by Diane Horsley
TBC Music Department
Whether you fall into the category of recent music grad accepting your first church music job, part-time music department volunteer or “there’s no one else to do the music” scenario, there will be a time that you have to put together a worship band. There are definitely challenges when forming and working with a band, but the payoff is more than worth the investment. In this article we will share some ideas that we have found to be successful when trying to build a cohesive band. Most of us working with worship bands realize that the musicians are made up of volunteers. (Thank God for people who are willing to give freely of their time in such a busy and fast paced society.) So one of our first challenges is trying get everyone on the “same page” musically.
  • It’s always a good idea to find out as much as you can about the musical background of each of your musicians. How many years have they been playing?
  • What style are they used to and comfortable with? Are they younger musicians with only a few months experience on their instrument? Knowing everyone’s skill level will give you a sense of where to start and what type of songs you will be able to do.
A successful rehearsal is vital to a successful band. This statement cannot be stressed enough.
  • First, make sure the rehearsal night fits everyone’s schedule. People will have to miss practice from time to time due to real life situations, but make sure that overall they can be available for the time you set. Keep the practice within a reasonable time frame. An hour is the norm and most people can set aside 60 minutes during the week. Running rehearsals too long makes people not want to be involved and so does a leader who is unpleasant and critical. Be Christ-like in rehearsal. Remember God is the reason you are all working toward excellence. Never forget the key word here-volunteers!
  • Second, get the set list, audio and charts to all of them before they get there.  It’s very hard to learn 3 or 4 new songs in an hour if they have never heard them. It will make your job much easier if they are familiar with the material and have had time to practice individually or at least listened enough to be comfortable trying it.
  • Third, make sure you as the band leader know what’s happening in each song as far as the key, tempo, intro’s, breaks, special instrumental parts, and endings. They can’t follow you if you don’t know where you’re going. It’s important that males and females in this role not be timid in leading. Band members will feel unsure if you lack confidence or are unclear in your directions.
  • I have found that doing the easiest song first works well. Tackle the more difficult material in the middle, then end with one that’s more familiar. It’s good for your band to leave with a sense of accomplishment and feeling like they sounded good instead of the “we sounded horrible” vibe.
  • Fourth, know what parts of the songs are going to need “extra” attention and work those parts more. Before you start to practice a song it’s good to give a little overview of its form or layout. Sometimes it’s just a matter of a simple reminder that makes a song go smoother. Always make sure the intro, breaks, specials vamps and endings are solid since that’s when the band is most exposed. If the musicians are having a hard time playing a certain riff or progression up to tempo-slow it down. Repeat it 10 times in a row if necessary then gradually start speeding it up until everyone can handle it. Don’t keep starting over from the top. Work the areas that aren’t “happening” then try it again.
  • Fifth, make sure they can all hear you during practice either with a mic run thru the sound system or a talk back mic. Communication is so important in the rehearsal as well as in the actual service. You will avoid many “train wrecks” musically when you can communicate with all the band members. Lastly, at the end of rehearsal sincerely thank everyone for donating their time and compliment them on things done well. Even if the practice wasn’t stellar, make them feel like they are valued for what they are trying to accomplish. In the end, as long as God’s anointing is on all of you during the service and the congregation was lead into God’ presence for a time of sincere worship-count it as a success!
Instructional, Motivational

No CHUNKING!!!

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NoChunking

To me there is nothing more annoying than hearing a musician CHUNK!!!!  What do I mean by CHUNK?  It’s a not a musical term—just a “Pam” term!

I call it CHUNKING when someone plays the same chord on every syllable or every beat of the song.  It can also happen whenever a person comes to the end of a musical phrase and doesn’t know what else to do–so they just CHUNK on the same chord until it is time to change to another chord.   Every measure sounds like:

| CHUNK   CHUNK   CHUNK  CHUNK |  CHUNK  CHUNK  CHUNK  CHUNK |

If you’re doing that—it’s time to learn something new!!!!

When I hear someone CHUNKING, it reminds me of a can of chunked pineapple—all uniformly cut!  Music should never sound like chunks of pineapple!  Can you say BORING!!!  Besides that—if you have a good drummer, you are “fighting” your drummer to set the rhythm.

Here is “Bless that Wonderful Name of Jesus” played “chunky.”

Here is “Bless that Wonderful Name of Jesus” played with better rhythm!

Here is “Amazing Grace” played “chunky.”

Here is “Amazing Grace” played smoothly.

So as you play–become more aware of what you sound like and DON’T play CHUNKY!!!!!

Motivational, Preparation and Organization

Don’t Be a Clone – Make It Your Own!!!

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Clone_Small It amuses, yet annoys me when I hear people say “but that’s not the way they did it on the recording!”  Think about it–especially us gals—have you ever had the occasion to buy a dress that you just loved and anxiously anticipated wearing to church, camp meeting, or a special service only to arrive and find out that another gal is wearing an IDENTICAL dress.  How embarrassing this can be!

Not only do we not like to dress identical to others (believe it or not—most identical twins don’t even enjoy dressing exactly alike) most likely we wouldn’t do an EXACT copy of someone else’s home décor or purchase the exact sofa or bedroom ensemble. I enjoy looking at clothing and home décor and getting ideas—but when it comes right down to it—I just use these for a guide and NEVER make an exact replica.  This is called DESIGNING or an ORIGINAL DESIGN!

The same applies to music arrangements—listen to the recording and use it as a guide—but you don’t HAVE to practice or perform it EXACTLY the same way it is on the recording.  This does not give you an excuse to dumb down your arrangement to the point that you just SETTLE FOR LESS instead of challenging yourself to stretch your talent and creativity to see your true capabilities!  

Use the intros, licks and chords if you like but if you need to change the key in order to keep your sopranos from sounding like Minnie Mouse, by all means do it.  If that sends the parts too high or too low for your altos and tenors, switch them up.  If a bridge just doesn’t “fit” your group or church, eliminate or replace it with something else.  Make your own medleys! This is known as ARRANGING! 

Quite frankly, a person who moans “but that’s not the way
” usually simply just lacks the creativity and ability to arrange!  If you need help getting started, just ASK!  Most of the time you’ll find other musicians willing and able to help you get started!  Try arranging—don’t be a clone!

Motivational, Preparation and Organization

What’s in Your Freezer???

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Ok!  So you don’t see what that has to do with music at all!  Well, allow me to explain!!!

The past several years, my husband, Mark has had a box garden—4 boxes in our backyard in which he grows lettuce, peppers, onions, green beans, cucumbers for pickles.  Believe it or not, these small little boxes produce so much that we’ve been able to fill our freezer and pantry!

We were able to chop up and freeze enough peppers to see us through fall and winter and still have plenty left.  We also chopped onions and put them in small freezer bags ready for use at a moment’s notice.  Even though we didn’t grow celery, I thought it might be handy to have frozen celery at my fingertips whenever I make a casserole.  So whenever I need pepper, onions or celery, I just reach into my freezer and these ingredients are available at a moment’s notice.

Was all that chopping and bagging fun?  Not really.  When we were getting the onions ready, the tears just ran down my face as I breathed in the fumes.  When we were chopping the peppers—especially the hotter ones, every time I took a breath it felt like my nostrils were on fire.  No–not fun at all!!!

But now that I have these little freezer bags filled with these essential ingredients, it is certainly a blessings to be able to just reach into the freezer and grab a bag without having to worry about prepping while I’m preparing my meal.

How Is That Related to Music??

Now relating to music—consider the time you spend “prepping” as the time you are learning scales, learning to read notes, new chords, chord progressions and fills.  Yes, it’s not that much fun and the tears may flow and your brain may feel like it’s on fire.  Oh but when you have taken the time to “pre-prep” it is such a blessing to be able to reach into the “freezer” or “pantry” of your brain and pull out those chords and progressions—all ready to use—instead of having to stop and do your “prep” work when you want to play the song!!!

Just a thought!!!!  Come on—get busy and start your “prep” work now!!!!  You’ll be glad you did!