Category Archives: Free Lessons

How to play string reductions

I am in the middle of the series of how pianists can adapt to new more contemporary music in church and I want to take a small and very relevant detour today and discuss string reductions. The reason string reductions are relevant is because very very often, today’s church pianists are asked to play them […]

How church pianists can adjust to new church music (Part 2)

Read Part 1 here Last week, I gave a foundational principle about playing modern church music (sometimes called praise and worship or CCM). The principle was this: The first thing you need to learn is how to play the right chords at the right time. Let’s say that you have to make a choice. You […]

How church pianists can adjust to new church music (Part 1)

A few months ago, I published a post where I promised to discuss how pianists can adjust when their church moves from traditional to more contemporary music. Sadly, I promptly forgot about my promise until someone pointed it out last week. Time to remedy that… Let me introduce an idea this week to get you […]

The biggest mistake you can make as a performing pianist

When I look back over the time I have been a piano player, I can easily see how my thinking has changed over time. I started playing when I was eight and within a few years, was playing in church. Somewhere along the way, I started playing offertory arrangements. Back in those days, options were […]