To begin with you should work on creating to forms to help you put together Sunday morning worship.

A worship planning sheet. This sheet or form should be a layout of your worship service with slots for you to plug in your selections. If you play for other services, such as Wednesday group etc. make a separate for each type of service.
A list of musical selections from which to choose your musical selection. There is so much worship music available these days that any one compilation of music can limit you severely. Many church services have a blended type service and play both old hymns, and contemporary worship music.

Once you have created your list and form it’s time to start working on selection.
First and foremost pray. God doesn’t make mistakes. Maybe this Sunday He will lead you to play a piece that will speak to someone particularly needing encouragement.

Next What type of service is this? Are you choosing songs for Mother’s Day service? You may a list of songs already for Mother’s Day and it is a matter for picking from that list.

Then what Sunday morning’s sermon theme? The pastor should have shared this with you. This is a good time to have a song concordance. I use this one which is a companion to Sing to the Lord Hymnal. The song titles are indexed by theme and scripture. While I play songs that are not listed in this resource it still helps because the vast amount of song titles it does have.

Now you need to look at the area of the service in which you are choosing songs for. Such as prelude, offertory, the actual worship portion, call to prayer etc. Here you will may have a set of songs you always use for such times as offertory and call tow worship. Be sure to pick appropriate tempo’s.

Finally, and I think this is important for a solo musician whether a small or large church. Can you play the song? Maybe the song seems perfect but if you haven’t perfected your playing of it mark it as one to learn and move on to one where you will not struggle so much with the technicalities you miss out on the worship.

God lead you and guide you on your worship planning.

This works quite nicely when you are first starting to play accompaniment piano but as your skill at the piano increases you may find yourself wanting to do a bit more for an introduction.

Some Tips:

• If you are moving from an upbeat tempo to a slow worshipful song take the time to convey the theme, mood and new tempo. This can take longer than the usual 4 measures but it will help you and the congregation to slow things down and be in a more reverent mood.

• Listen to how other pianists begin songs and see if you can figure out the chord progressions they are using and how maybe you can borrow from that.

• Don’t get too fancy or too busy with your introductions. You are attempting to accompany not drown out.

• When practicing a song practice the introduction too and make notes in your music if you play with sheet music or a lead sheet.

• Make sure your introduction is evident and don’t ‘suprise’ your singers with a new one if it is different from what you normally do. Play it for a few Sundays during times such as offertory, prelude, etc.

2. Warm hands make for better playing. If you play in a cold building run your hands under warm water, and rub them briskly before heading up to the piano. If I try to play with cold hands on Sunday they are stiff and I mess up a lot.

2. Even though it’s not going to happen overnight each step you take at improving your piano playing will help you along the way and you should notice immediate results.

3. 15 minutes every day at the  piano in much better than 5 hours for one day a week. if you haven’t been playing every day try it and see if it doesn’t make a difference in your piano playing.

4. Try focusing on one key a month. Learn the scale, chords, and their progressions. Play songs in that key at your practice time. Focus on perfecting one or two songs in that key. I got the base of this idea from Duane Shinn.

5. Even if you are learning chord piano take the time to practice playing from sheet music. Work at improvising hymns from your hymnal or try your hand at some harder sheet music.

6. You are always learning when you play an instrument. Never think that you are done learning. Keep seeking new ways to improve.

Back when I was growing up the song to be played during communion was “Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees”. The pianist would play and everyone would sing while communion was being given.

In our church service today we have silence during communion and then after it is taken we sing a rousing rendition of “There is Power in the Blood”. I play guitar for this.

During the entire service at various intervals and during the Praise and Worship we sing of the price paid for our sins with many other songs.

Since there are many songs fitting for communion I had to get organized. To prepare for this special service I have put together a series of some (operative word some) songs that are fitting to play at this time.

It helps tremendously to have this list of songs prepared in advance and set up in their own notebook for quick access.

Below is my song list for communion along with notes on where the songs my sound best, the tempo and what songbooks in my collection they are in.

As I like to always say… This list is in no way exhaustive. These are just the ones I currently play. Our church sings a mix of traditional, gospel, and earlier contemporary (1990′s).

• There is Power in the Blood – Good for congregation or solo. Can be played uptempo (fast) or slow well. (Gospel’s Greatest Fake Book)
• Nothing but the Blood – Good for congregation or solo. Can be played uptempo or slow well. (The Hymn Fake Book)
• Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees – Good for congregational singing. Slower tempo. (The African American Heritage Hymnal)
• Oh, The Blood of Jesus – Good for congregational singing. Slower tempo. (The African American Heritage Hymnal)
• The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power – Good for solo. Slow tempo (Gospel’s Greatest Fake Book)
• It’s Your Blood – Good for solo. Slow Tempo (The Best of the Best in Contemporary Song and Worship)
• By Your Blood (Funk)- Good for congregation. Slow Tempo (The Best of the Best in Contemporary Song and Worship and Hosannah! Music Songbook 6)
• By Your Blood (Grondin/Hamlin)- Good for congregation. Slow Tempo (Hosannah! Music Songbook 6)
• Come to the Table – Good for solo. Slow Tempo. (Hosannah! Music Songbook 6)
• Remember Me – Good for solo. Slow Tempo. (Hosannah! Music Songbook 6)

Then…

Practice every day. A few minutes every day is better than one hour on day a week. At the very least try and practice every weekday. If you’re a church musician you’ll get enough hands on practice on Sunday.

Also…

Think about what you are about to practice. Don’t just slam through your studies. Don’t just play a song super fast to get it over with. Listen to yourself and how you sound. Is that pleasing to the ear? Ask yourself this. Whatever you are practicing will be what you are playing when it is time to perform. If you’re bumbling through your practice session, not caring and just going through the motions, your body will remember this and this is what you will perform. I’ve seen and heard it. Not pretty.

For organizing…

Try breaking your practice session up into 3 groups.

1. The first part of your music practice time can be considered a warmup because you need to warm up. Whatever instrument you play this is the time to prepare yourself for the beautiful music you will be playing. Most people find this the most boring part but it’s like cooking. Do you just dump a cake in the oven and then turn it on? No! You warm the oven first, because everyone loves cake and you don’t want to be guilty of destroying it. Everyone loves beautiful music, you don’t want to be guilty of destroying your craft now do you?

In the first part of your practice time practice your scales.

• Major Scales, both hands
• Minor Scales, both hands
• Chromatic Scales

And the different ways they can be played such as staccato, legato, in chorded blocks and more. Also practice your

• Primary chords, both hands,in all inversions
• Chord progressions
• Any extended chords that you would like to learn that can enhance your playing.
  1. 9th chords
  2. 11th chords
  3. 13th chords
  4. sus chords
  5. tri tones

These include…

In the second part of your practice time work on two or three songs you are learning or working to perfect. Remember to never stop and repeat a section you mess up on. Just do the whole song over again OR rework the particular section you keep messing up on until you get it right.

Now I’m not saying do this all in one practice session. Don’t overwork yourself. Pace yourself. Give yourself a time limit on each session and section of each session. A few minutes(2-3) reworking the offending section and then try the song all the way from the top. Then put it away until th next day.

But keep working on this section and song just like this until you have conquered the offending section.

3. The third part of your practice session could be devoted to playing that which you will be performing. These are songs that you already know very well. If you are playing the coming Sunday then play the ones you will be playing. If not then play a few pieces from your repertoire to keep it fresh in your head and fingers.

These are just some ideas to help you get the most from your practice time. Hopefully they will help you in your musicianship.

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Learn Gospel Music
This site has been around a while. This is a message board for struggling church musicians,. Pianists, guitarists, keyboard players and organist. Actually I think there is a drum section. There are free downloadstoo. A lot of people ask for chords to songs because most of these players play by ear using the number system. So know your 76251 but if you don’t this is a good place to learn. Take a deep breath and dive in.

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Evangelistic Gospel Piano – I’m a member of this nice email group. These are all adults seeking to play or who are playing in their churches or for other churches. Nice group of people. A lot of resources on the website. And the owner has started introducing his own free lessons as he is able. Reviews of books and piano method series.

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Duane Shinn – You can sign up for free emails from this website. You get tips for playing colorful chords.

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Uriah’s Music
Free guitar lessons. You have to download the videos but they are free. He also has pay for stuff.

Guitar

Worship Guitar Class
Free Worship Guitar Class Newsletter and free tips on Playing the Guitar Effortlessly along with an ebook of Common Chord Charts with Pictures which I enjoy.

*****

Learn Gospel Music
These guys have been around a while. This is a message board for struggling church musicians,. Pianists, guitarists, keyboard players and organist. Actually I think there is a drum section. There are free downloadstoo. A lot of people ask for chords to songs because most of these players play by ear using the number system. So know your 76251 but if you don’t this is a good place to learn. Take a deep breath and dive in.

******

Gospel Music Org Lots of guitar resources at this site. Chords for Christian music and some theory lessons too.

Those trained in the classical way, or playing note by note what is on the page in front of them are probably most comfortable with hymnals and piano vocal/songbooks. If they were trained to play in a church setting they have learned the evangelistic method of playing from a hymnal on a piano or organ.

Hymnals: Hymnals are written for singers and therefore the notes are in four-part harmony. Meaning the part for each singer is written out. If you play from a hymnal a good skill to have is to be able to pick out the chords that are fully notated in the music.

Piano/Vocal: Piano/VocalSongbooks: In this style of printed music there are three music staves (staffs) andt he bottom two are for you to play while the top one is for the singer. The notation in these bookscan be a bit confusing for the beginning pianist as you are torn between 3 staves.

Those that maybe learned later in life or have learned to play chord piano may be more comfortable with Fake Books and even chord leadsheets. They like to improvise on the basic sound of a song and can add chord progressions and contemporary chords to get the sound they are looking for. Interestingly enough if you notated out into full sheet music what a person who plays by chords is playing it looks like an advanced difficult piece of sheet music. At least mine does.

Fake Books: Fakebooks are by far the easiest and Praise the Lord!, there is one for Gospel music and a HymnFake book too! These books just contain the chord symbols above one finger melody. They provide a wonderful starting point if you like to improvise. I mostly play from Fake books. Once you end up with your own style of playing the piano you might like them too.

Weddings
1. Be Thou My Vision
2. Amazing Grace
3. Bind Us Together
4. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
5. Sweet Spirit
6. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
7. Shine, Jesus Shine
8. All Things Bright and Beautiful
9. Oh Lord, Our Lord, How Majestic

Funerals
1. Amazing Grace
2. Be Still My Soul
3. I’ll Fly Away
4. How Great Thou Art
5. I Wanna Be Ready
6. Just A Closer Walk With Thee
7. Rock of Ages
8. Soon and Very Soon
9. We’ll Understand it Better By and By
10. When We All Get to Heaven
11. If We Never Meet Again
12. Roses Will Bloom Again
13. Farther Along
14. God Leads Us Along

Baptisms
1. Wade in the Water
2. Jesus Loves Me
3. Blest Be the Tie that Binds
4. I Shall Not Be Moved
5. He Touched Me
6. Pass Me Not
7. Spirit Song
8. Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
9. Sanctuary
10. Yes, God Is Real
11. Sweet, Sweet Spirit
12. Holy Ground

Communion Sunday
1. Nothing But the Blood
2. Power in the Blood
3. O The Blood
4. I Know it Was the Blood
5. At the Cross
6. The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power
7. Down at the Cross
8. Let Us Break Bread Together
9. Were You There
10. Stand Up for Jesus
11. The Blood Bought Church

Offering
1. Count Your Blessings
2. We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise
3. Give Thanks
4. Great Is the Lord
5. Sanctuary
6. Thank You, Lord
7. The Storm Is Passing Over
8. My Tribute

Opening Hymns
1. As We Gather
2. Come Let Us Worship and Bow Down
3. Change My Heart , Oh God
4. This Is The Day
5. We Have Come Into This House
6. I Just Came to Praise the Lord
7. I Just Feel Like Something Good Is About to Happen

Passover
1. Emmanuel
2. He Is Lord
3. Lord, I Lift Your Name on High
4. At the Cross
5. I Come to the Cross
6. How Great Thou Art
7. He Reigns
8. Because He Lives

A church musician should be well prepared. With all of the duties required of you careful planning and organization can do a lot in preventing chaos on Sunday morning.

In addition to your musical practice you should spend a few minutes, hours, whatever, weekly to prepare for the next Sunday.

Regarding worship leading:

• Meet with the pastor or worship leader.
  • The pastor or worship leader and the church musician should be on the same page about the style of music.
  • The pastor or worship leader and the church musician should meet at least monthly to make sure expectations are being met on the part of the church musician and the communcation happening between both parties.
  • The worship leader needs tobe able to give the church musician, in advance the songs, hymn, anthems, that are to be played in the coming Sundays. Several weeks in advance is very nice.

• Have a choir practice.
  • If the church musician is in charge of or accompanying the church choir then regular practice sessions need to be scheduled and adhered to.
  • If this is one of the duties of your position put together or purchase a church choir manual that gives the requirements and guidelines for people to be members.
  • If you need to put one together there are several on line that allow you to modify them for your own use.

• Have a personal practice session where you put together (if this is required of you) and play the worship service.
  • If you are playing with a worship team then this is something that will need to work with everyone’s schedule.
  • If you are playing with a worship team and you are the leader it would be a good idea that members that do not make the weekly practice do not play that coming Sunday.
  • If you are the only musician or you play only as a soloist then practice your songs as you would play them on Sunday. Include the introductions and the endings. Of course this means you get your own personal worship session

• Be reliable.
  • A church musician you attend all services and meetings where music is part of the agenda unless of course you are sick.
  • If you are playing be prepared.
  • If you are often called onto play music on the fly or without sheet music maybe now is the time to look into playing by ear.

• Be organized.
  • As a church musician you should have a master list of the songs regularly played in and sung at your services. Either on a spreadsheet you can write on or a database that you can add to. It should include things like
    1. Song Title
    2. Author
    3. Tempo
    4. Key
    5. Scripture
    6. Theme
  • This will make it easier to work up a worship service.
  • To aid in putting together this master list use the back of your hymnals and songbooks which normally list much of this information. Of course you are probably using several resources and that is why a master list will help.

Regarding music:

For church music today there are many choices. From the hymns to choruses. From Contemporary Praise and Worship to Southern Gospel. Many churches use a variety of styles to please the many tastes. If this is the case in your church don’t be afraid to blend styles. For example playing a hymn and then moving to a Praise Chorus. This can be a very nice blend. Having a full repertoire of hymns and worship songs is important when trying to work up a medley, especially of different styles.

If you are the worship planner, as I’ve said before it’s very handy to have an index that lists songs by scripture, by topic, and the key it is in your hymnal. If you play from several hymnals and songbooks as I do this may be something you have to create for yourself yourself. Visit the links section and the databases for some ideas about programs that can help automate this.

If you find that your congregation is unfamiliar with some songs you would like to use a nice way of introducing them is to have a soloist sing/play or the worship team play the piece during a special time such as during offertory or prayer. That way the congregation can hear how the songs sound and many times they enjoy it so much they want to know when they will be singing that song during Worship service.

Play (two or more) pieces that are along the same theme, i.e.- Blood of Jesus, Praise, God’s Grace etc. Look in the back of your hymnal or songbook for song suggestions here. Many are already set up with a nice topical index. A nice medley for communion time is O The Blood of Jesus/Nothing but the Blood.

If you are really talented and play pieces along the same theme but indifferent keys, insert a modulation. There are books with modulations already written out that you can insert into your songs. Or you can purchase books that have the arrangements with modulations to some other fitting song already done for you. Church musicians should also have a list of wedding songs and funeral songs they can play, just in case. For weddings songs like Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Bind Us Together, Be Thou My Vision are good choices. For funerals songs like Blessed Assurance, Fairest Lord Jesus, and Amazing Grace a good choices. In your master list make a note of where the version you are most comfortable playing is located. At times like these emotions can make you more nervous than usual.

Find your warm-up song. The song that get’s you comfortable at your instrument. At the beginning of each service I play Amazing Grace. I’m constantly adding to how I play it but I consider it my warm up song as it inspires me greatly. With this song I become comfortable at the piano and not pay so much attention to the congregation. Then I move into my other songs used to prepare for Worship.

Hopefully this information will be of service to you.

As a church musician you cannot and should not stand before others in the House of the Lord and not expect that people are not going to look to you for an example. Being your church’s musician is a high calling. Do not take it lightly. Being an example means living an exemplary life. Seek the Lord daily in your personal devotions and “pray before you play”.

As a church musician try to be in tune with the congregation you are serving. Are you a regular member of the church? You should be worshipping with them. How can you be part of the worship service if you don’t share the same beliefs of those you are accompanying? Think about this.

As a church musician you want to be aware of and very familiar with the most commonly sung songs of the church you accompany. Make a master list either on paper or in a database, that you can regularly turn to in planning the worship service or recalling a song in particular that you would like to work on. Specific pieces should be part of your repetoir and you should be able to play them at a moments notice aka without music aka by ear.

As a church musician you may be self taught or you may have trained classically for years but in either case you should not play beyond your ability during the church service. If there is a certain technique you would love to be able to perform then use your practice and study time to perfect that style before bringing into the worship service.

Noting breaks the mood faster than a struggling church musician bumbling through a piece they were not prepared to play.

Also as a church musician you can never know enough. Keep striving to learn something new. Keep practicing and studying.

If a teacher is what you need and can afford then find one and make sure they are able and willing to work with you on the techniques you want to master.

If you would rather self study there are several books, videos and dvds for the church musican. Make an appointment with yourself to study. More is accomplished in a few minutes a day than in one hour one day a week.

A church musician should be dependable. It is important that you practice during the week. Your job doesn’t just begin on Sunday morning. Be dependable by…

• Praying

• Being Prepared
• Practicing
• Being Organized

God Bless