Check out this new communion song

The world needs some new communion songs — especially in the world of Lutherans. Here's one written by Pastor Jeff Shanks and recorded by miscellaneous musicians from Royal Redeemer, including one fabulously mediocre keyboardist.

In This Communion

Too much U2 in church is like eating back-to-back Hershey bars

Using specialty keyboard voices too much is like eating back-to-back Hershey bars. The least you could do is eat a pretzel before unwrapping the second one. The gluttony is bad, but the monotony makes it worse.

And that's my most recent learning about being a church keyboardist.

Last weekend, my band introduced a new, very cool praise tune, "All Because of Jesus," by Steve Fee. On Fee's recording, the band has a U2-type pulsating guitar rhythm. I copied that on my Yamaha Motif 8, using the "Particle" voice with its auto arpeggios.

I'm not sure the congregation was comfortable with it...yet...but our band loved the driving feel.

After "All Because," we went into a reflection/prayer/transition into a slower song. I used a sparse riff in a simple piano voice — a perfect counter to the jumpy pop song before it.

This weekend, we're planning to do "All Because" again. Can't wait! The only problem is we're following it with "Come, Now Is the Time to Worship" (Brian Doerksen), which my band also starts in a pulsating, driving, U2-type style.

That won't work — a little too much of a good thing. Just like eating two Hershey bars in a row, we'll all be sick and tired by the middle of the second one.

I'll have to come up with a new way to drive "Come, Now Is the Time" at tonight's rehearsal. Any suggestions out there?

Have yourself a simple little Christmas

In my quest to prove that simple is better — or at least just as good — I found a great tune for Christmas services: Wexford Carol.

It's one of those songs that I think sound best when it's played in "lonely piano" style. You know, when the pianist plays only one or two notes in either hand, with a lot of pauses and sustains, allowing the tones to bleed together. (I've noticed the technique in a lot of Ken Burns movies...don't ask me why.)

Anyway, Wexford Carol in lonely piano style is a new favorite of mine and others at church. It may be second only to Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming, which I've been playing for a couple of years now, using the "Nylon" voice on my Motif.

Combining the lonely piano style with Nylon (or another nylon-string-plucking-type voice) makes a great classical guitar duet, without the classical guitarists.

Try "lonely piano" with or without Nylon on Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel, too. Great under lengthy prayers or transitions!

Songs are like boxes full of sound

I attended the "Deeper" praise & worship concert on Tuesday night.

It was the grande finale of the 2-day worship team training conference sponsored by Integrity Music. Three of the label's top artists, Paul Baloche, Brian Doerksen and Kathryn Scott, headlined the concert with their own songs — some of the most familiar tunes in contemporary worship today.

What a blast to watch and hear the songwriters play their stuff "the way it's supposed to be played"! It was also great to be in a small audience of mostly Cleveland worship team people, who sang along in three-part harmony and who probably were making as many mental notes as I was.

As with every concert, I tried to watch and listen to what the keyboardist was doing. And as with every concert, almost, I couldn't see him and could only hear him when the guitars weren't playing.

Still, I realized something new. Actually, it's something old, but with a new metaphor.

The keyboardist didn't play a whole lot. Maybe some sustained chords. Maybe a single-note melodic line when he played a solo or fill. There wasn't a whole lot to hear from him. The guitars drove most of the songs. (There were three of them to one of him!) The keyboardist was probably working as "carpet" most of the time...if he was playing at all.

And that made me realize that songs are like boxes full of sound.

Each song has a box that's only so big. You shouldn't pack too much into it, because it can overflow and make a mess. You only have room for so much sound.

The more people you have putting sound in the box, the less you should put in yourself.

In other words, if you're a keyboardist playing with a couple vocalists, you'll have to fill a lot more of the box yourself than if you're playing with some vocalists, three guitarists, a bass player, a couple percussionists, a harmonica player.... The bigger the band, the less you play.

And that may be tough for church keyboardists who are used to being church pianists or organists (the sole instrumentalists in a church service).

It's especially tough when practicing your part for weekend worship at home. When it's just you practicing, the song box might sound quite empty. You might want to elaborate on your part to fill a little more of the box while you're playing alone. Don't.

What you practice at home naturally becomes what you play during worship. Practice only your part of the box, even if it's something simple or "too easy." Get your fingers used to it and conditioned to play it stylistically perfectly — just like the guy on Tuesday night. (He didn't play anything tricky, but there was a good reason why he was the one on stage.)

* * *

Speaking of conditioned fingers...

I've always thought mine were pretty strong. But when vocalist Kathryn Scott accompanied herself on her Yamaha, she played hard. Harder than I play. I wonder if she breaks more keys per year than I do.

On the record: A mediocre keyboardist

I was in the studio yesterday. Did some recording.

Doesn't that make me sound good? Like it's something only professional-caliber people can do?

I've always liked the idea of being a studio musician. It's the job I'll always dream about and wonder if I could have done, if only....

The handful of times I've recorded something, I've been pretty pleased to talk about it. But each time I leave the studio, I have a renewed sense of mediocrity.

Need a healthy dose of reality about your musical skill? Record something. Then sit still and listen to it. I guarantee it won't sound the way it sounded in your head while you were in musical motion.

I think our minds have a protective way of blanking out wrong notes — the ones our fingers barely brushed on the way to the right chord. Erratic tempos get smoothed out. Inconsistent rhythms get steadier. Volume changes aren't THAT noticeable. All in all, that performance was pretty much okay...until you hear it played back.

Recording is like looking at your face in a magnifying mirror. Every wrinkle and zit and eyebrow hair that you didn't think were that bad, suddenly are. And they're bigger than you realized. And everyone around you realizes it, too.

It's humbling. But, at least you know where you need a touch-up.

For me, I need to pluck out those second chords I fall back on when I don't know what else to play. They're my musical crutch. I need to smooth out my rhythmic chording. It's sometimes choppy. I need some new color in my flourishes. I tend to play variants of the same countermelody, and it's redundant.

Maybe recording is the best teacher. Maybe I'll become a good keyboardist yet. And maybe my dream of being a studio musician isn't that far-fetched, if only....

Better do some more recording first.

Rock it like a children's choir

"We Want to See Jesus Lifted High" is another one of those songs we've played for so long that we thought we had it mastered...until Mark and I heard it on one of our daughter's children's worship CDs.

(Hear this snippet from Cedarmont Worship for Kids, Vol. 3.)

Who'd have thought?!

If you get past the angelic children's chorus singing "We want to see Jesus lifted high, a banner that flies across this land...," there are some screamin' good lead guitar solos.

Mark said, "What's wrong with US? Why can't WE do it that way?"

Well, I suppose we could. The problem is we never have, and now we're mentally stuck with a version of the song that used to feature some great trumpet licks — even though our trumpeters are long gone.

I just might sit down with that children's CD this week and see if I can't copy some of those rockin' guitar solos. It won't be as "screamin' good" in a piano voice, but maybe it'll freshen up that stale version of an old favorite.

Yet another great thing about my Yamaha Motif

"Romantic."

That's the piano/strings voice I use to build drama on songs like "Lord Have Mercy." I don't use the whole voice the whole time, though.

The song starts with the string volume (zone) at 0%. Just the piano voice plays the intro, first & second verses and choruses. I don't fade up the strings until the last verse — and even then I only raise the zone volume to 50%. I don't increase it to 100% until the last, big choruses.

Then, the violins lead a countermelody in the upper octaves and the cello and basses boom in the lower octaves. It gives me chills!

But as soon as the final chorus is over, I fade the strings down to 0% again and end with just "lonely" piano playing the haunting melody line, similar to the intro.