You could Gospelize it but Should You? (Old Rugged Cross)

[Manofchrist101]

Hi All.

I watched Mr Sam Tolbert's video about gospelization and he raised an interesting point. Sometimes a more traditional church Hymn or a classical song can be made to sound gospelized but that may actually detract from the song itself.

In this video i have my version of Old rugged cross. PLEASE EXCUSE POOR SOUND QUALITY.

I didn't change much from the way it's written other than 3 things.

1) Arpegiated right hand chords
2) Rolled in octaves in left hand in a (1-5-1) manner (Courtesy of Mr T- Block)
3) Added in some passing tones such as @ 3:16

Other than that i left the song alone.

Would you all consider this one a gospelizable song or should it be left alone?

Old Rugged Cross Piano

[Manofchrist101]

sigh.......

[smalls85s]

Your style and your audience.

75 year old hymns mean something in their wording, but the overall monotonous nature of the flow of the song can make them extremely boring. That's why the younger generation is always stretching out with their music, because those old hymns sound dead to them. Now if you've been saved for years and can reflect on the lyrics, then there is no reason to change a thing. But most times if you want to reach a congregation these days, you've got to make that music come alive.

[SoundofJoy]

Here is a midi version shwoing the gospel style I use for this song.

[Manofchrist101]

Mr Tolbert Do you mind explaining to me the passing tones you used.

I could really stand to learn them.

Additionally   do you mind explaining what you did on brightside?

I still have the mp3 of tht

Thanks

[SoundofJoy]

Just like in Jazz there are chord patterns use in traditional gospel. To explain them with words would as difficult to expalin how to I decide what chord to play with each melody. I have the luxury of 39 plus years of hearing, learning and playing all types of music. I still use chords I learned in my begining of playing because I never has a music teacher to show me what I was doing wrong. Your playing as I observe it is mechcanical, that is to say your hands are not "free to play". If you watch me video you can observe my fingers hiting the notes as my hand passes over the keys. This may be the improper way to play but it's the way I learned. This allows me to play every note I hear in my head without rasing my hands to play the next note or chord. That being said, you can't draw on what you haven't learned. The only way to get better at this music thing is to practice, learn, practice, learn, rest, practice, learn....You see my point, I didn't learn this style over a year or even 5 years. I struggled as a young musician with no help from established church musicians. The internet allows me to share the technique I developed by ear and reading chord books later on.

The chords I play are the combination of all the songs, cartoons, commercials, movie themes, hymns, gospel, comtemporary gospel, urban gospel, ragtime, blues, jazz, light jazz, church musicians and any music I've heard and sat down to a keyboard trying to duplicate. I stress on my course my purpose is not to create another me, just to help you get to where you will be musically.

Here's what I'd like to see in your videos:
1. play the melody line with your right hand - this lets me see your scale recognition and whether or not you practice them by playing them over two or more octaves
2. play the song using just chords with your right hand - this let me see if you can recognize three part harmony without a bass note
3. play the bass notes with out right hand chords - another excerise in playing scale notes with your left hand and recognition of corresponding notes to a song
4. play specific patterns known as the 1-4-5 chord progression to start, then add 7th, dimished, minor and  augmented chords within the melody line.
5. play a tempo and rhythm to the song - here is where you choose the style of music outside the traditional tempo of the song

If I were your instructor you would have to show me you can do these basic exercises.

[SoundofJoy]

I was never taught to play correctly so I adapted to playing this way so that I could speed up my playing of notes.

[SoundofJoy]

This video is my warmup before choir rehearsal on a acoustic piano. It shows at a good angle my finger movement. Each chord I'm playing is what I've practiced over the years. My fingers do move that fast I've worked on that bouncing on a single note over 10 years ago. I only use it on inspiration of the song. You see I work off the melody line, I chord around the melody line and apply bass runs. All of this is happening in my head before I play it and only came from years of practicing what I've heard other musicians do from casette tapes.

I Love to Praise His Holy Name

[T-Block]

The time factor is what's messing a lot of us musicians up. We want to learn stuff right now instead of giving ourselves time to grow and develop as a musician.

Hey MOC, I agree wit SOJ in that your playing seems very mechanical. He gave you some great tips in order to help you get where you want to be.

I would suggest that you use some different chord inversions. Every chord you play has at least 2 other ways to play that same chord. There is no reason why a song should be played the exact same way twice in a row unless it's written that way and you're purely sight-reading. Chord inversions will help you to hear other melodies that compliment the melody of the song (may be called runs or licks). It will also expand your range on the piano.

Again, it's gonna take time.

[Manofchrist101]

If you watch my 15 minute question video it will show you the approach i take to any hymn.

What i basically set out to do is read it.

Then based on they key of the song and what chords were used, it memorize what numbers those were and try to build a baseline based on the numbers.

I am very  litteral and visual so i would need a visual example of translating a different inversion of a chord into a run