Piano Volume One - Klaus Kuehn (DVD)

 Review

There are lots of informative, helpful piano worship instructional DVDs out there. So when I heard that Klaus was releasing a piano DVD, I wondered what he possibly had to say about worship piano that hasn't been said already. But watching his DVD showed me just what has been missing from many other piano DVDs. Conventional worship team wisdom seems to dictate that pianists in a worship band should yield to whatever the guitar player is doing and work around it. And with so much of worship music being guitar driven this does makes sense. However, this limited view of what the piano is capable of does not leave much room or encouragement for creativity for the worship pianist.

I could walk you through the content of thsi DVD chapter by chapter, but instead I feel it's more important to let you know what is so unique about this DVD. Yes, he starts off with the rudimentary instruction about scales, chord construction etc, but he rather quickly moves into some meaty topics. Klaus begins to explain some very, very important tricks and techniques regarding chord voicing and motifs. This information will transform your playing from the typical closed, blocky piano sound to more smooth, open sounding voicing that function more like a guitar. Equipped with this information, pianist can now take a more central role in the worship band arrangements. This is great news for the piano player itching to appropriately contribute to a more diverse sound for the worship band.

Klaus is a true artist when it comes to the piano. He plays with passion and creativity and it comes through in his instruction. He not only gives raw information, he shows how it can be applied by demonstrating the information in some of his most popular songs. For the beginning pianist, there is some very basic information at the beginning of the DVD but then it leaps ahead to more intermediate level stuff. This DVD would be beneficial to the beginner, but the intermediate player who can understand the conceptual information on the DVD will benefit greatly. Even if you already own a worship piano DVD, get this one - you will be glad you did.

Review by Jeremy Dunn