I wanna share Piano secret #1 with you today.
Secret #1: How to make play piano music without being distracting – It’s all about the “before” you play.
“Now let me tell you a quick story…
I got pretty good at piano. So good that I was able to play nice arpeggio runs and was able to pick up melodies while I was playing. I was confident enough to play during worship, during prayer, and while someone is speaking. But one day – I remember hearing my pastor’s wife saying “Thank you, thank you Nina” during her speech and… I was like…
Hmm Interesting that she would thank me in the middle of her speech.
…
But then I realized… she wanted me to STOP playing!
So after a few seconds of realized how humiliating it was to just stop playing during a speech right in the middle of it – I stopped playing and went to sit down in my spot. I was so confused! Why did she want me to stop playing? What was I doing wrong?
A few weeks later this happened again, but with a guest speaker! He didn’t’ tell us to stop playing, but he turned around and said “can you play quieter?” and that left me even more confused! What was I doing wrong?
After researching and trying out many different styles of playing at different times of the service – I read that music can be distracting. Like. What?
I thought I was HELPING people stay focused with my music – I though music helps with focus! How was I distracting?
I became obsessed with finding piano music that helps people focus, instead of getting them distracted and I was SO surprised by the community response at my church! I figured out which style and playing patterns work best for each different situation.
But most importantly – I learned that the secret to not distracting is spending time with the Holy Spirit and tuning in to what HE wants to do BEFORE you play.
You see, being distracting isn’t something you can measure or tell right away – it has to be a person who can actually catch it and point a finger to it – otherwise people just get distracted and they’re not sure why.
The cool thing is it didn’t just work for me, it works for all kinds of people. One of my students, Stacie, didn’t know why people felt really rushed and tired at the end of the service. It seemed like people wanted to just leave really quick and the leadership team had no idea why.
After Stacie learned about what huge of an impact music has on people during the different times of the service, she was so enlightened!
She realized that her group got so confident in playing that they didn’t even realize that they were being distracting to the people.
She implemented the ideas that I teach in the course and not surprisingly, the church members on average stayed longer after service to chat, they didn’t have the overwhelming feeling that they used to have.
You might be thinking that you need to be super good at piano before learning playing patterns for different situations, right? Well actually, you only need to know the piano chords.
So now I’ve shown you how piano music can actually be distracting people – instead of helping them stay attentive, connecting with the Father.
This is rarely talked about – but sadly I see it all the time.
What do you think? Have you ever noticed anything about this?
Tomorrow I’m gonna share with you Secret #2: Secret: It takes someone special: How to learn more different styles of playing than ever before
Thanks for reading till this point – you’re so dedicated!