Directing from the Piano

Yeah - I am a pianist. I love leading from the guitar, but it's not always practical. Or in my case - ever practical.

Here's some tips that will help anyone trying to lead from the piano:

• Try not to make yourself critical to performing a song. This is especially true of your left hand. Let the bass player do his job. He / she will thank you for it.
• Position yourself so that you can clearly see the drummer, and the drumer can clearly see your hands.
• Use simple hand signals with your left hand to cue the drummer.
• Get a drum stool or keyboard stool that will let you sit higher than the expensive artist bench the church invested in. Sitting higher just even a few inches will make you more visible to the band and the congregation.
• Be in constant visual communication with the drummer, the same way he / she is with the bassist. As long as the to of you agree, you will have a much easier time moving the song musically.
• Position the piano in such a way that you are looking at your singers.

Alternatively, you can do what so many others have done: Give up, get a guitar and someone else to play keys. :-)

It's taken me a long time to get the balance between playing the piano and directing - and I'm still learning. It's much more difficult to do both from the piano as it is so easy to hide behind a behemoth instrument (we're gifted with a grand piano at St. Vincent).

Go fight your pianist intraversion with a few sparser inversions.

God bless you in your ministry.