How To Practice Gospel

Objective: This lesson is designed to teach the gospel music student how to implement an "organized” practice strategy. Learning how to practice gospel will accelerate the growth and development of the gospel musician,  while receiving the maximum benefits from your practice session.

When practicing gospel music, several factors have to be considered. Instead of following a practice routine, most musicians sit down at the piano and play songs and other material they already know.

This is an extreme disadvantage to a gospel music student. You can never grow and expand your musical awareness and creativity by playing songs you already know. Therefore you get trapped in a time-warp trying to play current gospel hits using the same chords you learned in 1980. Folks, it just doesn’t work that way. “You have to update an out-dated sound.”

Major Point To Remember

If you are called to the ministry of  gospel music,  you are obligated to give your very best and nothing less. “To whom much is given much is required.” Gospel music education and training is a continuous process which never ends. As music evolved and the sound of worship changes,  there will always be a new sound to master that the serious gospel music student will need to learn.  Therefore, a daily practice routine for gospel music will always be required.  

Set realistic practice goals for learning gospel. Avoid the temptation of  trying to accomplish too many goals at once. There is an enormous amount of information that a gospel music student will have to learn and practice. The mind cannot retain large quantities of information at once. Practicing gospel music has to be a gradual process. Everything will have to be memorized so that you can recall all those wonderful chord changes you’ve learn when you want to impress your audience; with humility of course.

Daily Practice Routine

This is just a sample of a daily gospel music practice routine. You will need to construct your own in order to meet you personal needs and goals. The amount of time you allocate for practicing will play a major factor in determining how quickly you will accelerate.

A daily routine will definitely speed up the learning process by giving you the ability to learn and retain more information in a fraction of the time... Commit to a daily exercise and watch your playing soar to the next level.

To learn more about the "elements of gospel music" be sure to check out my Gospel Lesson DVD series available at www.giftedplayer.com/products.php.