archived article: july 18, 2001
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Be A Genesis Musician [by Ed Kerr]

Keep some secrets. Be a worshipper of God in the secret place, not just when you're participating in a worship service as a member of a Praise Team. Examine your heart when you're hearing the team from the congregation rather than playing with them. Are you more focused on what the musicians are doing than what the Lord wants to speak to your heart and what you could sing or speak to His? I pray that you (and I) are more hungry to know the heart of the Lord than to be conspicuous in our roles as music ministers. "Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults…May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:12-14 (NIV)

Give some attention to your horizontal relationships, not just your vertical relationship with the Lord. You've probably all seen comic strips where a little bubble is drawn over someone's head containing their thoughts at a given moment. Imagine this happening while you're playing in a worship service. Your team is singing, "What a friend we have in Jesus" while you're thinking, "Yeah, but that guitar player makes me CRAZY sometimes!" Your church's musical presentation may be of a very high caliber, but if your relationships within the team are filled with unresolved conflicts, the effectiveness of your worship times is definitely being limited. Psalm 133 makes this clear. "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity…for there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore" Psalm 133:1-3 (NIV)

Develop "big ears". Listen! Listen! Listen! When I'm playing keyboards in a worship service I am constantly focusing on what's taking place within the Praise Team. By this I mean that I am listening for the interaction of my keyboard parts with the vocalists and the other players in the band as well as listening to the worship leader in case he or she is giving a verbal cue that demands a response from me. My response to what I hear determines the part I create at a given moment. Were I seated in the congregation at this moment I would have complete freedom to think only on the Lord, but I believe that it is essential for every member of the Praise Team to stay alert to both musical and spiritual considerations during corporate worship times. As the team does so, by the grace of God an environment can be created which enhances the worship experience of our congregation.

The fact that you can doesn't mean that you should. Just because you've really been working hard on your scales and arpeggios this week doesn't mean you need to try and demonstrate your technical prowess to the congregation on every song in the set. Listen to most of your favorite praise and worship recordings and you'll find that many of the keyboard parts featured are quite simple, with few virtuosic moments. With time you'll begin to appreciate how true the phrase "Less is more" can be in reference to contemporary keyboard style. Check out the "Guideline For Analytical Listening [PDF]" to see what I mean.

Don't limit the potential of your musical contribution. If you're playing an acoustic piano, naturally you have no choice of the sound you'll be using. In this case, though, beware of only playing within a limited range of the instrument. For example, I love the sound of a grand piano in the rich register going from approximately one octave below middle C to one octave above. This generally is the register in which the vocalists on the Praise Team will sing. In order to provide some contrast with the pitches they're singing, I often try and use some of the higher notes on the piano. Since they are not pitches being sung by the vocalists, these piano parts "speak" more clearly than pitches in the vocalists' register might.

You've got 500 sounds: use more than one of them. Especially if you have electronic keyboards, such as the Roland XV-88 which I currently use, you have many sounds from which you can choose. Your options might include keyboard-based sounds, orchestral sounds, percussion sounds, novelty sounds and many others. So, rather than playing within your "comfort zone" and using only that grand piano sound you really like, stretch yourself musically and choose something very different. For instance, if the song is something like "Open The Eyes Of My Heart" and features a constant strumming pattern from an acoustic guitar, consider using a pad sound. The sustained quality of the pad sound and the long note values a pad part commonly contains compliment the guitar part well.

Be a Genesis musician. Do I regularly find delight in making music? Has the playing of familiar choruses become something I do on "auto pilot"? Do I just call up the usual sound and play the usual part with less and less creative energy? . I believe God has given us an amazing call to be creators just as He was "in the beginning". Ask God to give you the heart He had in Genesis chapter 1. Devote yourself to keeping your heart tender before the Lord, embrace the weight of the call He's given you to minister to His body, and by His grace you will be able to leave your keyboard after a ministry time, reflect on what transpired both musical and spiritually and say with delight, "It is good." Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 25, 31.