Following the Director

Music directors are as diverse as pianists. They all have differing abilities and talents (or lack thereof) 😉 and working with a director can be one of the most difficult parts of being a pianist. 

Almost every pianist is trained classically first. There simply aren’t programs that are designed strictly for “church music.” And honestly, there shouldn’t be. The classical foundation that you get from taking lessons is critical to your success as a pianist. However, the piano is typically a solo instrument and when you begin to play for church, you are most definitely NOT a soloist anymore. 

Whether your director is trained and knows how to direct expressively in every time signature, or he’s literally just waving his hands back and forth chaotically, it’s your job to stay with him. For a less experienced director, the responsibility of keeping the tempo and moving the song along may fall to you. But if your director has experience, he knows what he’s doing and you’ve got to stay with him-especially if there are multiple instruments involved! You all have to play together and following the director is how you do that. 

Introduction

It’s important to begin each song with a clear introduction, both for the song leader and the congregation’s benefit. Typically, the last line or phrase of the song is a good introduction. If the chorus is very different from the verse, or it’s in a different time signature, play something else as an intro. The first line of the song usually works. For example, “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story” switches from 3/4 to 4/4. You don’t want to play the last line of chorus as the introduction, or you’ll be setting up the tempo and meter incorrectly. Be sure to glance through your music before you begin and scope out the best introductions ahead of time!

Congregational Singing

Next post we’ll go into more detail regarding actual improvising techniques for accompanying the congregational singing. For the purposes of following the director, the only thing you need to worry about during the actual singing time is keeping your eyes up. If you’re not completely comfortable with your music, your eyes are going to stay glued to the page. Do what you can to put in the time to get confident enough in the music so you are free to lift your eyes from the page and watch the director. 

If you’re still new to playing, I suggest using The Simple Hymnal for congregational singing. The simplified melody line and left hand “power chords” (just open 5th) will make it easier to learn the songs and keep your eyes up and on the director as much as possible.

You don’t need to keep your eyes on him constantly. In fact, your peripheral vision is enough to keep you on track. If he’s directing in a pattern, you should be able to see at least the first beat of each measure as his hands come down. If you’re on beat 1 and he’s on beat 1, great job! If your piano is not arranged in a way that you can see the director clearly, move it. You never know when he might stop in the middle of the song to say something, or wave you off so the congregation can sing the last chorus a cappella. Simply watching and being in tune with your director will eliminate a lot of those embarrassing and awkward moments when one of you is racing off without the other. 🙂 

Speaking of awkward moments…recently, our regular music director was out of town, so another man who has directed congregational singing in the past was filling in. When he got up to lead the first song after the choir opener, I did what I always do-started the introduction right after he announced the song number. However, as I was coming to the last couple chords of the intro, I glanced up to watch him and be sure we came in together. That’s when I noticed he was still turning pages! I have no idea why, but he didn’t have the book already opened to the page before he announced the number! He had one hand up in the air, but it was just hanging there as he rapidly turned pages with the other one. It was like a bad dream where everything is moving in slow motion. There wasn’t enough time for my brain to process anything other than “DON’T PLAY YET!” So when I reached the end of my intro, I just held down the notes and prayed that he was going to start in time. 

He didn’t.

Kudos to the choir, orchestra and other pianist- none of us started playing or singing, because everyone was watching the director. However, at least a dozen voices in the congregation sang half of the first word before realizing they were left hanging! 

“I….”

Oops. I felt bad, but everyone just chuckled and the song leader said, “You have to watch the director!” and laughed it off. Now, you’d think he would have learned and the next song he would have it opened and ready to go. NOPE. However, I learned my lesson the first time around and this time I waited a bit longer than I usually would before beginning my introduction. 

Timing. It’s all about timing when you are running any kind of program or service. The people on the platform need to be in sync with one another and at least on the same page! 😉 So follow the director.