You can save yourself a lot of time, money and busy work by getting a good piano teacher that will teach you theory and chords as well as reading music. They are around. Then with lots of prayer and practice and listening to the Holy Spirit, you can come out better equipped than if you had gone to 4 years of college and listened to hours of teaching.......a lot of which is useless in the realm of practicality.
If a piano teacher doesn't fit in to your present life, hang out with other musicians and grill them with questions and just jam. You can get so much practical info from the web and DVD courses- Piano for life is only $10. And very good.
I've gone the long route and found I could have done without a lot of the info given out in a classroom. Of course, there have been some great classes as well that have proved to be of great value. You don't have to be a full-time student or a music major to take some classes. You can even audit it ( take it for no grade.......thus no tests required and less pressure to perform to a certain level). Its worth checking out.
A degree can be nice, but in the long run, its what you do with the knowledge you have that matters. A lot of CEO's of major corporations don't have a college degree. Sucsses is in the eyes of the Lord, not the world.
God Bless you as you go on your journey in service to the King.
Dawn
I am not trying to start trouble
but can I ask do you have a degree in music ?
I ask because I dont have a degree in music but I have taken college level courses
in music
and I have also had some great teachers
my teachers included melvin crispel the md for james hall I studied with him for two years
charles minor who wrote songs for hezekiah walker
jaki byard famous jazz performer and writer who has several published cd's
victor simonson musical director for three mo tenors and richard smallwood.
enos payne now deceased but former director of nyc jazz mobile
with all these great teachers none of them could compare with what I learned from school
first school college in particular makes you more disciplined in all areas of your life
it tells people you are a professional
and the environment is very conducive to growth
there is a standard set
that you just wont get from a piano teacher
the advice about getting around others is good advice
I myself attended choir rehearsals in some of the bigger churches in my community
and that experience was awesome but guess what the md's at those churches all had degrees in music
Please if someone wants to go to school never disuade them
first of all
most schools require you to study privately for the four years because you have to pass these auditions called juries every year so you will have to get a teacher anyway
and most of the time they can set you up with a teacher for much less money than you would have to spend on your own
and they expect you to get better
and go higher in the nissma standards
second most schools require you to attend some performance class every year
in one school I played in a small band doing some material I would never have chosen
but it made me a better player
in another school I had to sing on a choir
and I learned so much about my voice and conducting choirs
the theory can be a little lame depending on where you go
if you study jazz theory this will help you play in church
especially the contemporary
stuff
and it will force you to play in every key
the classical theory will assist you with voice leading and
many other things too numerous to name
i think this is terrible advice to give anyone to just get a teacher
now if you said get a teacher and go to college then that would have been excellent advice
it is obvious this person is very serious about their growth and ministry why not encourage him to get all he can
first of all
a good teacher is very hard to find
the things that need to be taught are many times outside the expertise of the average teacher
I have had some excellent teachers but they still couldnt give me what I got from going to school being surrounded by people who could bury you with their talent
the diversity and the exposure to new and different musical talents and techniques is invaluable
a college level curriculum includes ear training at least 5 semesters of it
by the time you are done you can hear a song and write it out on paper
chord for chord and melody note for melody note
it you do well in ear training you could pick up a sheet of music and hear it in your head
now that is powerful
imagine listening to a cd on a train and writing out a chord chart by the time you get to your destination
complete with all the vocal harmonies and instrument parts
the theory classes allow you to transcend generations of musical knowledge and learn how music was when it first began and take it up to the present
you are taught to write your own compositions and do your own writings some schools require you to write on sibellius
others you are forced to use manuscript paper
either way you become a literate musician who can play in every key
all curriculums have history and listening classes
which have you studying the composers who contributed to your discipline
not only that when you are done
you can teach in a high school or even a college
to supplement your income if you are a church musician
some of the really big churches only want someone who has a degree
finding the right school is very important
but if someone wants to go to school
Encourage that
I dont think there are many circumstances that could stand in the way of having an education
by the way I have a masters degree in education
and although I am not teaching in the field
It has enabled me to get jobs at churches that pay what I would make as a teacher
because of my ability to train choirs just from a teachers stand point,
there is power of life and death in the tongue we all need to be careful how we use it
