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Buying a keyboard for your church band is a significant investment, and it’s important to make a good choice. Here are some things I’d look for. 

- Buy the best instrument you can afford 

There is no sense in skimping on a musical instrument - quality really matters, so make sure you plan to spread the cost over a number of years. A good quality instrument will sound better, last longer and be less frustrating to play.

- Work out what you want

There are a couple of basic questions you need to answer before you know what to look for. 

Are you looking for a weighted keyboard (full size 88 note piano style keys which feels like a real piano when you play it) or a non-weighted keyboard (usually 61 notes with lighter touch but the same size keys). Weighted keyboards are preferred for playing mainly 'acoustic piano' type sounds, but unweighted keyboards are better for playing organ or synth sounds. 

Are you looking for something which can play mainly acoustic piano sounds (these are usually called 'digital pianos' or 'stage pianos'), or do you want to be able to play organs, synths, electric pianos etc as well (these are usually called 'synthesizers' or just plain 'keyboards')?  

- Don't buy any synthesizer with a built in music stand or speakers

This is a stereotype, and there are some notable exceptions, but on the whole professional keyboards don't come with these things built in. The situation is a bit different if you're looking for a 'digital piano' or 'stage piano' as these usually come with speakers and a music stand built in. 

- Make sure you sit down and play them lots

There is no sure fire way to guarantee you'll like an instrument unless you play it. I'm about to give you some guidance as to brands which I'd look at, but it really comes down to your taste and style. Set aside some time to go into a good music shop which lets you play them all through good speakers for as long as you like. 

-Here are some brands to look out for

If piano sound is your main requirement (and let's face it, nobody wants a bad piano sound) then I highly recommend Yamaha's range. Look at the CP series digital pianos. If you want something with an excellent piano sound but also some great synths and organs a great all rounder is the s90 series. I have an original s90 which has served me well for almost 10 years. 

Roland also make a very attractive bunch of keyboards in the 'RD' series (RD300, RD700) which like the s90 have a good piano sound and weighted keys, plus heaps of other sounds. To my ear it's not quite as good as the Yamaha, but my old church uses one and I grew to appreciate it. 

If synthesizers are your best bet then have a go at the Korg offerings - they have a billion different products at different price points, but the Triton is what I've been using for a long time and it still serves me really well. 

The Nord series (electro2, stage, etc) are very popular but are a little more specialist. They do electric pianos and organs very very well, but are a bit hit and miss with the piano sounds. And they have limited other sounds depending on the model. Can be a bit intimidating for the average keyboard player. 

Other great brands to look out for are Kurzweil and Kawaii.    

Our drummer sassy (Andrew Massey) has put up a short video to show you what he's doing in 'Fairest Lord Jesus'.
Enjoy!

At my church sometimes we only have piano to lead the crowd. Here's how to lead the congregation in singing Fairest Lord without a whole band - including chord voicings, melodic elements, rhythm, cues for when to come in, and pacing yourself over the whole song to create momentum.

I've made a quick piano arrangement for this song as if I were playing without any other instruments:

Solo piano arrangement (pdf)

Solo piano arrangement (transposable)

Very interesting to read recently that the Free Church of Scotland has voted to soften their position on instruments in church. Previously they chose to sing only unaccompanied Psalms in church. But now some congregations may start introducing instruments and extra-scriptural songs.

Eternity magazine reports the main thrust of the decision:

The main motion which came from the Church’s Board of Trustees sought to retain the “status quo”, which is the ”avoidance of uninspired materials of praise and musical instruments”, but give more flexibility in understanding as to what is meant by that. But this motion was opposed by Rev. Alex MacDonald, who proposed that the Free Church give liberty to individual congregations to sing scriptural hymns, as well as psalms, if their elders so chose.Eternity Magazine

The idea that we should only do in church what the Bible tells us to do (sometimes called the 'regulative principle') has a long history. It comes from an earnest desire to be obedient to scripture which I totally respect. Athanasius (who, more than any other man, we have to thank for keeping our worship Trinitarian) insisted that we only sing the very words of scripture. More recently, the French reformer John Calvin thought that we should avoid instruments and only sing songs taken directly from scripture.

And to be honest, hearing their beautiful Scottish unaccompanied singing on the radio the other day, I hope that not many of the churches choose to ditch their own beautiful traditions and pull out 'How Great is Our God' on a six string (like every other church in the world). In this globalised culture it's nice when some of our brothers and sisters do their own thing!

But I'm glad that the Free Church has relaxed its stance. Whether or not they use instruments, the freedom to sing 'scriptural hymns' - songs which contain scriptural themes but are not taken verbatim from a psalm - is a wonderful blessing. The reality is that there aren't that many songs recorded in the New Testament (Phil 2, Rev 5, Matt 1, Col 1:15...um, any others?), which means hard core believers in the regulative principle spend most of their time in the Psalms. Which is not a bad thing in itself. But how, precisely, do the Psalms speak of Jesus?

I believe that all the Scriptures point to Jesus. That includes the Psalms. But that doesn't mean you can zoom into any given point of the massive sweep of Biblical history and see a tidy miniature of Jesus on the cross.

The Bible is like a beautiful cathedral - where every stone is vitally important and masterfully constructed exactly as its designer intended. But what if I were to show you a single brick on its own, without letting you see its place in the whole? If it were a foundational stone you might be able to guess the building's size. If I were kind to you and gave you a segment of the main roof arch you'd probably get a sense of it shape. But other stones would remain a mystery until you saw them in context.

The Psalms are like a part of that impressive cathedral. They all point to Jesus, but as a whole, in context. We should sing Psalms, but we should also sing songs which show how the hopes and expectations and laments of the Psalmist are fulfilled in Jesus.