Playing piano at church rarely means playing just piano.
In fact, sometimes you might be asked to play everything but a piano.
Take a song like Living Hope by Phil Wickham.
On the surface you might think a simple Piano and Pad is all you need for this song. And sure, if you take a look at the individual tracks, you'll find:
- Not one, but two Piano parts
- A pad gluing the band together (we guessed that already)
but that's not nearly all:
- Two separate synth tracks playing lead lines
- An Organ sound that comes in during the chorus
- And another Keys track that adds ambience, texture and fills space
That's a lot to cover, especially if you're the only keys player in the band.
The good news? You can get excited about these parts, instead of overwhelmed.
You just need to know the difference between common keys sounds, and how to layer them together in a way that actually works live
(and doesn't have you stressed out on stage playing robot-DJ).
In the isolate the parts segment, you mention your good friends at ????. What is the website you speak of where they break out the parts by instrument? BTW, have you considered speaking at a slightly higher pitch? It requires a little more energy but it will be much clearer. When you speak at the lowest part of your range it not only muddies up the clarity of your words, but it encourages you to use minimum energy to kind of grunt out the words and swallow the last word in each sentence, decreasing clarity more. Just a hint from an old choir director.