Becoming a Church Pianist

Once you learn how to play piano, you likely feel quite pleased with yourself for learning a new skill, and figure that you want to actively help out your community this way. You can always go to teaching piano lessons, but if you’re not the teaching type you need another option. There’s a way your musical skills can be used to better the community in a pride-worthy way. If you happen to attend church on Sundays, take note of the pianist: someone always comes in those mornings and plays piano for the worship services every Sunday – it’s a good way to both hone your skills and develop community ties with other people.

The church pianist is usually a volunteer basis, you have to understand first – don’t expect to get paid. Really I don’t know of any church pianists that are offered money for their time and efforts, but the benefits of being a church pianist aren’t in the area of financial gain. Local churches usually will advertise for a position as a pianist and you can apply for it. Be sure first that you know the required material and are skilled enough – people look up to you. You need to know how to read music and how to play the piano with vocal accompaniment. People stand up and sing for these hymns so you have to be able to play them well. You often serve as the conductor as a church pianist, because the cue to come into a song singing is given by the piano. Piano

You should probably know a few hymns to be a church pianist; if you don’t know them by heart, then be able to play along with them. You may be playing piano with a band which will accompany you, like guitar, bass or other popular instruments. Usually, if this is the case, it’s a youth ministry.

To be a successful church pianist, you should also know that most churches will choose someone of a similar faith. This isn’t a negative form of discrimination – it’s for your good as much as theirs, because you could be slightly uncomfortable in a Catholic cathedral if you happen to be Baptist, for instance. You should know a little about the church you’re going to be working with. You’ll also need to get and verify a background check for every location you’ve lived within about six months prior to your application. All the recent scandals about sexual misconduct have contributed to this – churches are sensitive about this, especially the Catholic Church, and they want to be extremely careful who they hire to effectively represent them. Catholic churches will often perform their own checks, but to save time and effort you can already have this step completed.

Being a church pianist is a nice way to jump-start your musical career if you choose to do so. For example, you can become a music minister. If you’re chosen, be prepared to play an audition and exhibit your skills. Your own skills are more well-known to you than anyone else, so you shouldn’t be shy about using them. Being a church pianist is aided by enthusiasm, because you can enhance your playing by letting the music take you along with it spiritually. You can look on the Internet or in your local area to look for any churches that might need a pianist, even if it’s just a part-time volunteer position so that you can substitute for a regular pianist who may be out sick one week.