HOW TO ACCOMPANY A SINGER

By JohnsonKeys(Nigeria) 

Accompaning a singer bsasically denotes playing the right chord/underlaying such chords on the song the singer is singing, with the right beat, tempo.
As much as this is nothing hard but it has to be properly learnt so as not to get it the wrong way…Its about getting to play the right chord progressions/movements for each song(worship/praise).

LAW OF PROGRESSION

There is this general rule that most songs follow, basically as a matter of fact composers who composed the songs you want to accompany followed same rule while composing the same song and that is the rule of CIRCLE OF FOURTHS/FIFTHS.

Majorly we will be considering the circle of fourths in this series.

TIME TO PRACTISE GET ON THE Keys.

FROM C LETS MOVE BY FOURTHS…moving in fourths is a mathematical move [1 2 3 4] C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb B E A D G ….C

NOW THAT’S THE TRICK OF CIRCLE OF FOURTHS BASICALLY THE PROGRESSION MOVES IN FOURTH.

Now lets look inward into the fourths movements and how it affects our accompaniment…

We will derive: B E A D G C F …locally pronounced T,M,L,R,S,D,F …7,3,6,2,5,1,4

Examples of fourth movements in C

C F -D G -E A -F B …1 4 -2 5 -3 6 -4 7 …all in fourths patterns

The circle of fourths (or circle of fifths) is the relationship among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, there corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys.

The circle of fifths is a clockwise movement ascending from C to C [i.e. C G D A E B F#/Gb Db/C# Ab Eb Bb F C] on the circle while the circle of fourths is an anti-clockwise movement descending from C to C [C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb/F# B E A D G C]

Musicians and Composers use the circle of fifths to understand and describe the musical relationships among some selection of those pitches. E.g. with the knowledge of the circle you can easily move/modulate from C major to A minor or say from G major to E minor and you won’t make a bad sound because they are related and we could easily attribute that idea to the Circles.

The circles design is helpful in composing and harmonizing melodies, building chords, and modulating to different keys within a composition.
Typically the “circle of fifths” is used in the analysis of classical music, whereas the “circle of fourths” is used in the analysis of jazz music, but this distinction is not exclusive.

With the knowledge of the circles, there is this Contemporary song in a minor key Lord you are Holy by Helen Baylor in the key of C minor, approaching such songs will physically look like you are playing from the key Eb Major and that’s because of the relationship between them [Eb major~C minor]

CIRCLE OF FIFTHS/FOURTH DIAGRAM

Most songs that you accompany day by day fall on this fourth movements…e.g. As the Deer, panteth for…the water so my heart longeth after thee… CAN BE ACCOMPANIED THIS WAY

IN THE KEY OF C MAJOR

NB: immediately the song started on the first Degree/Tonic that’s the major key C it followed fourths movement basically until the last two bars where the song had to resolve so has to pick the lines , basically the composer contacted the circle of fourth charts before composing esp the melody notes: m,s,s,m,r,d: r,f,m,r,d: l`,l,l,s,f,s,..

Progressions the movements/pattern you follow while accompanying a singer/song is called progression e.g. if you followed a 2 – 5 – 1 movement (REH – SOH – DOH) this will be called a 2 – 5 – 1 progression

Example in the key of C

Most times the 2 – 5 -1 progression helps in ending a song… we will check that out in the progressions below:

There is this common progression in Praise Songs 4-5-3-6-2-5-1 lets make out something from this common praise song…LIFT HIM UP HIGHER!!!

I WANT TO BELIEVE ITS GETTING MORE INTERESTING NOW
Another very common progression is the 6-2-5-1 progression common to both worship and praise songs

EXERCISE:

With this knowledge and previous knowledge pick 10 common praise songs that you know and try this progressions on them in part

HOW TO DETERMINE WHICH CHORD TO PLAY PER TIME

Determining which chord to use to accompany or back up a singer majorly depends on the melody line of the song the singer is singing at present, Each melody note commons from a particular major or minor chord.
Let us consider the first line of As the deer …Melody notes…m,s,s definitely this can onlhy be found in the chord : Doh: m: soh… and that’s how to determine which chord goes per time by considering the melody note per time For instance, if the melody notes were r,f,m,f,m might have considered the following chords r:f:l(2), f:l:d(4), l:d:m(6), l:d:f(4INV)

MAKSSOSA GROOVE

The Nigeria Makkosa is a wonderful groove that follows the progression 1 4 5 4 1… and continues that way … A good song that can be used to expatiate that is this common song ‘eh eh eh eh my God is good o’ as the song is moving on the 1 2 3 4 count 4/4 timing you just keep holding your One Four Five Four One Four chord continuously on every 1 2 count

THE CULTURE OF VAMPING

After learning how to accompany a singer the next question that might arise is about the Vamping; the repeated use of a phrase through an entire song or the improvisation on top of a repeated phrase through a song. looping, samples and grooves are all examples of vamping, as is almost all popular music with repeated chord progression, it simply implies building on top of a groove to create a song …*A short repeated chord progression, often serving as the introduction of a performance.
e.g. you can vamp a 6 2 5 1 progression

CONCLUSION

One of the most important skill a keyboardist must possess in this Course is the ability to play by Ear, being able to pick musical note just by hearing there sound
Basic exercise for achieving this is by running (HUMMING) your Major scale Ascending and Descending everyday.

Exercise:

D:R:M:F:S
S:F:M:R:D
D:S:F:S:M:S:R:S
D:S:F:S:M:R:D

PLAYING PRAISE AND WORSHIP IN THE MINOR

By JohnsonKeys(Nigeria)

NATURAL MINOR SCALE

Digging into the minor scale also known as Aeolian Scale,
like I do tell my students its just a simple process of playing in relation to a Major scale. A natural minor scale has the same notes as its relative major scale, but is built starting from the sixth note of the relative major scale. NB: when a major scale and a natural minor scale have the same key signature, they are RELATIVE KEYS.

Every major key has a relative minor key, which starts on the sixth scale degree or step. E.g. A minor is the relative minor of C.

So for instance a singer might be in the KEY of C and overtime He/She might take some songs whose scale would be easily detectable in A minor scale.

There is this African call and response song Awesome God Mighty God…this song is in a minor key (I still hear some local church players approach the song as if it were in a major key which is wrong) you have to approach the accompaniment like you will do for other songs on major keys.

AWESOME GOD

MIGHTY GOD

WE GIVE YOU PRAISE

AWESOME GOD

WE GIVE YOU PRAISE
MIGHTY GOD

YOU ARE HIGLY LIFTED UP

AWESOME GOD

YOU ARE HIGLY LIFTED UP MIGHTY GOD

The Natural minor scale follows this pattern: T::S::T::T::S::T::T

T: a Tone

S: a semitone Number format :2 1 2 2 1 2 2

1 2 3b 4 5 6b 7b 8

HOW TO APPROACH A SONG

One of the basic facts you need to confirm in a song before approaching the song is the scale on which the song is formed

Mostly the Major scale has the upper hand here but recently there has been more to the minor scales as some composers who want to make difference have been dealing with the minor side of the music which will automatically affect the chords that you will be using for such songs in the sense that those chords will be generated from the minor scale in the key of the songs

LET US QUICKLY SEE HOW THIS GOES IN THE FIRST TWO LINES OF THIS CALL AND REPSONSE SONG

AWESOME GOD GROOVE: WORROR TEMPO: 100BPM ACCOMPANIMENT

How to accompany a song or singer

This is a simple approach to accompanying a singer on your instrument Piano, Guitar and so on…We are basically going to look into a few theories and bring out some tricks inside that will basically help you to accompany your singer according to the general standard.
One of the advantages is that the right progression (Accompaniment) gets the audience into the right mood/atmosphere to be blessed while the wrong progression also in its own capacity brings the audience’s spirit down/ causes disconnection so this has to be averted by all means.

APPROACHING THE SIMPLE CHORDS
Now lets start by deciphering the basics of Chords in music, Chords generally come up from a defined scale e.g. Major scale where we have the three primary Major chords I,IV,V and then the minor scale where we have the various minor chords, the Diminished scales where the diminished chords(formed in minor thirds) are being generated and so on.
IN THE TABLE BELOW WE HAVE THE THREE BASIC PRIMARY CHORDS IN THE KEY OF C

OBJECTIVES: REPLACE YOUR BASIC TRIADS WITH THE SEVENTH CHORDS

Now let us briefly look into there seventh form, to create more matured sounds musicians prefer to use the above chords(Triads) above in there seventh forms or extended as we have extensions like 9th,11th ,13th e.g.C major, C Major7,Cmajor9,Cmajor11,Cmajor13 and so on for the minor chords also e.g. C minor 9… Basically the formula for a seventh chord is 1+3+5+7 ok…lets peep into the C major scale to shed more light on this:

SO HAVING GOTTEN THE FORMULA OF A SEVENTH CHORD LETS CONVERT OUR BASIC PRIMARY CHORDS INTO THERE MAJOR SEVENTH FORM

*TRY ON YOUR KEYBOARD* TIPS:
Basically a 1 4 5 progression will almost fit into any song you are accompanying but there will be a lot of empty space that a pro would have filled.
LETS CONFIRM THAT WITH THIS SIMPLE SONG ‘PRAYER IS THE KEY’
TONIC SOLFA:- D,D,D,R,M-D,R,D,L,S-D,D,D,R,M-S-R…S,F,M,M,R,M,D-D,R,D,L,D,S-S,S,D,F,M,R-D

Three Mistakes you are making as a young Pianist

 
Article by: Elmond Isaiah(Jazz pianist)

 
You probably don’t have a million hours a day to practice. So, when you do sit down at the piano to practice, it’s critical that you invest your time on the smartest stuffs.

And it’s also critical that you’re not leaving out certain things from your practice that will cause big problems later…. (wise saying)

These mistakes are so huge that if you don’t address them now they can cause you irreparable damage to your growth as a musician.
So, let’s uncover them now.

Big Piano Mistake #1

Do you know what the biggest difference is between an amateur piano player and a pro?

It’s their ability to play with great rhythm!
One clear example at it’s core is jazz music. Although all music has a rhythmic pattern, jazz is entirely a rhythmic art form. Everything is based off swing, articulation, groove, and playing notes exactly at the perfect time.

Rhythm is the #1 of the most under practiced skill I see in almost all the music students I met and worked with.People spend all day learning chords and scales but yet they can’t groove with them or play them with good rhythmic feel inside real pieces of music!

You may practice and know many great chords, until you spend quality time working on rhythm and groove you will never accurately be able to apply those chords and scales you know.

_If you want to be a great pianist then you need to spend good time practicing your rhythm in all your practice sessions_

Big Piano Mistake #2

Are you able to instantly look at a chord chart and know what key it’s in and the chord progression in terms of music theory?

If not you need to be able to do that. I’m not saying this because I’m a drill sergeant or anything like that. Nope!
In fact, I’m saying this because I’m actually sharing a huge shortcut with you.
When, you can reduce the music down and understand that 99% of the time songs are made up of common chord progression patterns, then it’s a heck of a lot easier to memorize fast and have more fun at the piano.

Big Piano Mistake #3

Have you ever played through a piece of music and then come to a stumbling halt because you didn’t know how to play a chord? Or maybe you could eventually play it but you had to think about it for a long time and your rhythm suffered because you were a bit too slow recognizing it?
It’s super frustrating isn’t it?
Well, here’s the thing. This doesn’t need to happen. And it’s an easy fix if you _practice the right way.

Most musicians just practice chords randomly. They waste so much time trying to learn chords. This is not smart. If you know how to practice the right way you can learn how to play all your basic chords in a short period of time.

So, when you sit down don’t just hit random chords.
Don’t change it up everyday. Use a game plan and be smart about it.

If you’re not sure how to do this yourself get someone deeper than you in the area or get a step by step piano course that shows you how to play all your basic chords in all 12 keys in 30-60 days

This is a popular quesion that beginner musicians usually ask.

image credit: youtube.com

What is the difference between transpose and Modulation?

Most of the time beginner players of the piano ask this question.

Transpose is a feature on your musical instrument that enables you to be able to play on all keys even if you have learnt to only play one key.

How to transpose on the piano

Unfortunately this feature is limited to two musical instruments which are the piano and rhythm guitar.

For example, let us say you have just started learning to play the piano, you would be first taught to play on the key of C. Assuming that as you are still learning and somebody calls you to play for him or her on another key, let’s say the key of F#, and you don’t know how to play on that key yet; that is when the transpose function would come to your rescue.

Note that it is not good if you are totally reliant on the transpose button, because it shows that you are a lazy musician. You need to learn to play on all keys, it takes time; but you would be happy you did. A transposing pianist has lesser chances of being hired.

Now what is modulation?

Modulation is the intentional act or process of changing from one key to another.

This is common in most gospel songs that we listen to, they might change the key by going a semitone or tone higher.

Now, If you can only play one key on the piano, it is going to be difficult for you to modulate during the course of playing to a song. Why? Because you can only play one key..

When you modulate, you move from one key to another e.g C to C# or C to D. Don’t think that you might be able to use the transpose button here, because you might not be fast enough to press the transpose button to set it properly, which might not go well with the timing of the song.

In conclusion, it is not advisable to use the transpose button of your piano because it makes you a lazy pianst.

image credit: Jumia

Guitarist also transpose using something we call a “Capo”; but its not convienient for them to use it to transpose to all keys.

image credit: Helen Austin’s Blog

Some singers who do not understand what it means to score a song thinks it mean listen to the song and learn the lyrics. No no no.

Firstly Scoring a song greatly depends on your level in music, listening fast and technicality of the song.

You don’t score a song anyhow; it needs ATTENTION and CONCENTRATION.

For the fact that you are enjoying the song and singing along does not mean you have scored it. Now the Big Question is:

(1) WHAT IS SCORING OF A SONG?
(2) HOW CAN I SCORE A SONG?

If you can answer the first question, then you have 70% idea on how to answer the second.

SCORING A SONG

It is the tenacity and ability of literally knowing how a song was written, structured, and recorded. You inversely become the owner and producer of that song. This means that, you have to know the lyrics, the harmony, melody, rhythm etc. (I will break it down, relax)

How To Score a song

The HOW-TO of Scoring a song entails the above and what am about to write now.

1. JUST LISTEN:

Get your phone or mp3 player listen to the song, enjoy the melody. Don’t start learning it. Feel the weight and sweetness of the song. You can do this once or twice.

2. KNOW THE STRUCTURE OF THE SONG:

Know how it started either from the intro to the chorus, from chorus to verse or vice versa. This will help you achieve alot at the long run. This is the first stage of scoring a song.

3. WRITE THE LYRICS:

Getting the lyrics down on a notebook will help you when learning the lyrics. I want to warn you. Write down the song by yourself, I don’t advice you to go to internet and copy and paste. It is good to check it online, but listen to it if it tallies to what you are hearing, abeg o. You maybe hearing VISION and seeing MISSION online. Be careful about that.

4. LEARN ALL VOCAL PARTS, BREAKS E.T.C.:

This is where I sometime begin to have problem with my choir. Some will be saying I’m an alto singer so l scored only d alto part  Ahhh. My dear you are a SINGER NOT ALTO SINGER. Learn all the parts. Beside Singers should know how to swap parts. Know when each part comes in, when the sing MELODIOUSLY OR HARMONIOUSLY.

5. BE THE LEAD SINGER AND THE BACK UP SINGERS: 

Try as much as possible to handle the lead vocal part and the back up. This helps you to correct others even the lead singer when he or she flops. Learn everything both d ad-libs. Everything, Everything.

6. LEARN THE INSTRUMENTATION SOUND: 

Don’t say you don’t know how to play, my dear learn the sound oo. The keyboardist may not get d melody or solo part. You will tell him, see! It’s not like that play pi ni ra ra ni. (Lol). Knowing the sound arrangement will help you when singing.

7. SING ALONG: 

You sing alongside with the music even if you have not or have perfected the song. Try to sing the same thing you hear in the song. I know voice texture differs but try do it with your own voice texture. You might be scoring Tamela Mann Song while your voice texture is like Don Jazzy or Eben. Do it. But don’t go off.

8. TRY TO SING WITHOUT LISTENING OR PLAYING THE SONG:

This where you know whether you have been joking since you started scoring. Most of us tend to sing well with musical instrument but remove the beat, They sound Wack. My dear, sing the song without playing it. Where you make mistake play the song and correct yourself.

9. OWN THE SONG: 

I stated earlier that scoring a song means you are now the owner, music producer singer etc. If you can make the song yours. Then you can take it to any level.

With these Few tips, you can score a song without any difficulty.

Are You A Chorister?

These are ten (10) funny but true facts about the church choir:

You see the church choir?

It’s one of the most interesting units to be in church. There, you would see all manner of people and behaviours.

1. There is this set of guys they call “instrumentalists” lol. Those ones? If they ever come for rehearsals on time, then something is wrong. They are always late, and in most cases the choir director can’t sanction them.

2. Choir Director.
The choir director always have a set of favorite singers in the choir and someone whom he/she always give the lead role in a song. And some people in the choir will always ‘beef’ that person, especially those that can’t sing well.

3. In some cases, the most committed set of people in the choir are those who can’t sing, and you just can’t drive them away. They are very punctual and committed, both in attendance and in the massive destruction of songs.

4. In some cases, the singers with very high level of pride are in soprano, while the most stubborn ones are in alto.

5. In every choir, there must be a certain brother and sister who usually do some exclusive rehearsals in the closet. When you look at those ones very well, they are the one that has chosen music as a career.

6. Some female singers actually joined the choir either because they love the uniform or they believe that’s where their husband will find them, or they just want to stand on the microphone let the church see them.

7. The choir at some point during rehearsals will behave as if they are so tired and they want the director to close, but immediately the director stops teaching songs everybody starts ‘gisting’.

8. There is always a “minor factor” in the choir: a certain Chorister who specialises in spoiling songs. The only way to spot this person is to ask them to sing one after the other. If the person is a tenor singer and he’s a smart guy, he’ll want to go out and ease himself that very time.

9. If the choir is hosting a concert, the rehearsals will be really interesting but on the concert day sound is always bad (sounds engineers please forgive me).

10. Even if the whole church falls under anointing, the “instrumentalists” standeth firm on the solid rock. They can never fall under anointing. E no fit happen. I tire for them.

In all of these, God is gracious, and Jesus won’t stop loving choristers.
I’m proud to be one.

There’s Wisdom beneath this for all to take corrections…

IF YOU ARE A CHORISTER, forward this to your fellow chorister(s).

Image credit: Hill song united

Oh Lord, bless this music that it might glorify your Name. May the talent that You have bestowed upon me be used only to serve You.

Let this music be a witness to your majesty and love, and remind us that You are always watching, and listening, from your Throne above.

May your Presence and beauty be found in every note, and may the words that are sung reach the hearts of your people so they will draw closer to You.

May your Spirit guide us through every measure so that we might be the instruments of your peace, and proclaim your glory with glad voices.

Amen.

Noise: 

Always have it in mind that the moment you start with the policy that you must hear yourself very loudly during a ministration/performance/presentation with your group or band,
noise starts from there. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be audible with your instrument, its not in all cases that the musical gadgets will produce what you want, moreover they have their limits and get spoilt even at work.

Submission: 

No matter what the case may be, even if the lead vocalist isn’t as bold or good as expected, submit to him/her, respect the little talent, encourage that person, and never say you are too good to play for an artist.

Respect: 

To everybody you come across in life, they have their different ways of perfectly displaying their musical talents, that they are not good on a particular pattern/style doesn’t mean they are worst in other aspects, and if it’s about just learning, life is a university of learning where even the bosses learn from the upcoming ones, and where the learners overtake the bosses, I’ve overtaken my bosses and my students are overtaking me, that is life for you.

Notice me:

When you start to play to impress people or this eyes service of a thing, then you will surely become proud and from there, you are gradually coming down, there is no talent you’ve got that God hasn’t given to someone, even more of it, so play maturedly and stay humble.

Engineers:

Always see your engineer(s) as your friends and never make them your friend for the sake of volume, if you ask for volume, as friends, he will surely increase it for you, but looking at it technically, is it necessary? So be professional.

Rehearsal:

Never depend on inspiration alone, do personal rehearsals, do it with your mates, bosses, and upcoming ones, update yourself, being the best instrumentalist in your church/band/organisation doesn’t make you the best in the environment.

Creativity:

Life itself is an environment where your different concept brings you out, not by copying from people alone, but by adding yours, playing it differently.

Church reharsals:

Go for church rehearsals, don’t underestimate your choir members, you are one in Christ, you may be more advanced, but don’t say their level is too low compared to yours, if it is, then your level becomes too low for God. If you are given money, collect it, but try not to go to churches with the intention of playing to get paid, it doesn’t bring prosperity in life, God gave you the talent, let him work it out for you.

Conclusively:

Share this message and help someone if you agree with these points