WORSHIP MUSICIANS

Consider taking a week next summer to gain the satisfying and useful skill of playing the music you hear. Imagine being able to sit down at the piano and, without written music, accompany yourself or your worship team and congregation.

TRANSLATING SKILLS TO A NEW SETTING

Playing piano in a contemporary worship and/or performance environment is a very realizable goal that will bring years of pleasure. Most of our students come with good classical training and the ability to play contemporary music, but often lack the technique for fitting into a band setting, or knowing what to do with a chart.
Since 1995 Wes Froese has been offering week-long workshops for keyboardists. These popular training sessions provide an opportunity to learn the skills for playing in a contemporary worship setting - as a soloist, accompanist and member of a band. Next summer, 2010, Wes will be bringing his workshop to a number of cities in Saskatchewan.

Previous workshops have included students aged 15 to 65 years, with a variety of musical backgrounds. The typical teenage student has been taking lessons for a number of years, working at a gr. 5 RCM level or higher and is interested in playing in a worship band. Adult students often have had earlier piano training and want to renew or expand their skills.

The workshops from a 5-session program designed to guide students easily through a step-by-step process.

STEP ONE: LEARN THE CHORDS

An essential skill needed to play for contemporary worship is the ability to play from a chart; a chart is music that contains the lyrics, melody line, and chords of a song. To play adequately from a chart, a musician needs a good knowledge of chords and a good sense of rhythm. Thoroughly learning this knowledge is the first step in the workshop.

STEP TWO: WHAT TO DO WITH CHORDS

Merely moving from chord to chord in time becomes pretty dull, pretty fast; it is generally not musically satisfying to the player or listener. It is important to create some interest and beauty in the music. This is the next step in the workshop; learning what to do with the chords. In step two of the workshop, students are given specific ideas to learn and apply in a song; ideas like broken chord patterns, inverted chords, altered chords and much more.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Students are encouraged to bring along their favourite worship recordings. While listening to these songs, the principles of learning a song by ear are introduced. And the difference approaches to the keyboard when playing solo vs. playing in a band are explained and demonstrated.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The workshop runs Monday – Friday for 3 hours in the morning or afternoon (2 hrs. on Fridays). Each session alternates between group instruction and individual practice time. Only 5 students are accepted for each session and each student has access to a private practice room and individual tutoring. This structure gives ample time for each student to spend at the keyboard and turn the information from head knowledge into practical skill.
All instruction is designed to utilize and support the training a typical music student receives. Knowledge of scales and chords are incorporated. Music theory is invaluable when playing from a chart. And exam technical requirements like scales, triads and arpeggios form the basis for creating an enjoyable arrangement from a chart.

FOLLOW UP

Piano instructors are welcome to attend the workshop as participants or as auditors. All instructors will receive the manual, “Teaching Piano for Contemporary Christian Worship” which outlines Wes’s methods, and provides ideas for teachers to continue to build on the workshop principles. The manual contains information for introducing chart playing, for creating basic harmonic and melodic structures and for simple arranging and accompanying techniques. It also contains some advice on preparing your student to play in a worship band.

FEES

The fee is $300/wk for participants or $50/wk for an Instructor auditor.

TESTIMONIALS

“This seminar was exactly what I needed – I thoroughly enjoyed it, and have found immediate benefits to my playing.”

“I really appreciated this class. I did not think that I would see such immediate results and was fairly stunned by it.”

“This was a fabulous week where I gained ideas, knowledge and confidence in regards to my playing.”

“Wes is a truly gifted and inspired teacher”

THE INSTRUCTOR

Wes Froese was raised in Swift Current and started piano with Barbara Adam, Lois Noble and Wayne Regier. At university he studied with Bill Moore in Regina and Robin Harrison in Saskatoon.
Since 1995 Wes has offered the Contemporary Keyboard Workshops in Saskatoon. He is the author of the CD/Book projects Starting With Blues: Volumes 1 & 2, a method to introduce chart playing and improvisation to piano students.
A writer in many genres, Wes’s keyboard compositions can be found in the 2005 From Prairie to Pine, as well as the soon to be published Northern Lights Level 5B - Musical Discoveries CNCM collection, and his own Piano Music for Hockey Players.
Wes is available for music team coaching and specialized workshops, as well as for speaking and teaching engagements. He was a breakout speaker at this spring’s University of Saskatchewan Leadership Conference. His workshop Giving Voice to the Leader in You; presents principles of leadership through the experience of singing in a choir.
A member of both national and local associations of music educators, Wes also has years of experience as a church musician and is current Music Director of Zion Lutheran Church in Saskatoon. He was the founding director/arranger of Eclipse Chorus.
Wes is married to Shelley; they live with their two children in Saskatoon.

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