I first became acquainted with Roger Bennett on the many Gaither Homecoming Gospel videos I own and enjoy. Later on hearing his testimony on Sharing Notes about how he prayed to become a gospel pianist, later forgot his prayer but God didn’t and he became the pianist for the legendary Cathedrals I was inspired.
Roger Bennett went home to be with the Lord in March of 2007 but the wonderful learning videos he made are still a blessing to the many grateful budding pianists out there looking for someone in the know to show them the ropes.

I purchased Roger’s video after stumbling upon it on the internet. I had seen it mentioned a few places but it was always in VHS format and a little hard to obtain. Eventually I started seeing more copies for sale but by that time I was purchasing more DVDs as they were easier to lug to the piano than the vcr and tv.

You can buy the DVD set from the Roger Bennett Direct online store and from
Christianbook.com
.
The two VHS videos lesson set has been reworked and both Volume 1 and 2 are available as a set.
Although the full title for the course is Roger Bennett’s Southern Gospel Piano Course I think that church pianists from all styles that play with chords can benefit. Roger uses this course to teach you how to back up and support a singing group of one or many.
These videos are listed for intermediate to advanced piano players.
Volume 1 or DVD 1 lists titles Chords, Rhythm, Left Hand Technique, Fill-Ins and Intro.
If you’re wondering how much you should know before using these videos I’ll give you my viewpoint.
You should have a firm grasp on playing simple hymns or simply sheet music that uses both clefs. You should know your most basic chords and how to create them so you can create them in all keys. I’m talking about he I, IV, V, and V7 or the 1,4, 5, and V7 chords. It is helpful to have a firm grasp on playing beginning intermediate sheet music and know more chords and a few extended chords such as the 9ths, 11ths, sus, augmented and such.
Yes you can rewind and go over and over but what he is showing you are some of special touches he uses in performances to give songs a fuller, unique, special sound. He is showing you how to add life to gospel songs and that means going beyond the basics.
It has been said, and rightly so, you should have a firm foundation in the basics of playing piano before attempting to master a style of piano playing. The style you will want to learn will be composed of the different ways of putting chords, notes, intervals, and rhythms together.
In Volume 2 Roger is showing you how he plays the songs he plays for the Cathedrals. I like Volume 2 because it’s showing you the stuff you can do that’s not on paper that makes songs sound special, different or what have you.
You get to hear and see how Roger plays 4 songs just as he plays them on stage and he shows you his fills and extra stuff. It’s so nice because you can see what he does when people are singing. When they’re not. How he introduces songs. And then you go off and are inspired to start flourishing up your own songs.
It’s like you’re sitting down with a seasoned pianist showing you all they’re stuff and they expect that you are able to follow along so if you turn this on and feel overwhelmed because he’s showing you just as he plays, fast and all, just enjoy the playing and then break each song down little by little, watching, absorbing, trying, etc.
I’m enjoying this set and yes I did go and purchase the Nashville Numbers VHS (also available in the store) that Roger also made but I haven’t had time to go over that yet so I will review that when I have time.
If you love the old Southern Gospel style and are looking for a how to for piano then this is a good buy. It is very reasonably priced with no gimmicks or what have you.

Southern Gospel Piano Course, volumes 1 & 2 DVD By Roger Bennett / Midnight Meditations House Join legendary pianist Roger Bennett for this how-to instructional book and DVD for intermediate to advanced players. Volume 1 focuses on chords, rhythm, left hand techinque, fill-ins, and intros while Volume 2 covers how to accompany a group or soloist, how to play licks and fill-ins, solo techniques, and much more.