Want to Play by Ear?: A Step-by-Step Approach (Book Masters Inc, 2541 Ashland Road, Mansfield, OH 44905, 1998) by Ron Sprunger. 178 pages. Audio CD and disk of MIDI files included.

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This book develops keyboard skills for Christian worship, group singing, classroom teaching, and one’s personal enjoyment. Dr. Ron Sprunger is Professor or Music and Worship at Ashland Theological Seminary. The book has been tested in the college classroom. It is the fruit of his hands-on experience of teaching college keyboard and non-keyboard music students improvisation at Ashland Seminary.

Contents

1. Getting Started: Completing Melodies by Ear. Five-finger melodies; melodies with a range of six pitches; melodies with a range of one octave.
2. Dare to be Simple. Guidelines for selecting basic chords; tonic and dominant drone accompaniments; tonic and dominant chords linked by common tone; non-harmonic tones; independent accompaniment styles.
3. Harmonizing Scale Fragments. Melodies based on Scale Lines; scale Fragments; scale fragments in sequence; complete scale.
4. Harmonizing the complete scale. Descending scale; ascending scale.
5. Substitute chords: The Changing Function of a Tone. The submediant chord (vi) as a substitute for Tonic (I); the mediant Chord (iii) as a substitute for tonic; the supertonic chord (ii) as a substitute for subdominant (IV); exploring additional changes of function
6. Scale Harmonizations: Using Sequences
7. Harmonizing a Melody: The Process. A six-step approach; selecting chords on the basis of chord outlines; harmonizing on the basis of underlying scale lines
8. Modulation. Definition and purpose; half-step, whole-step, minor third, major third, modulations down a perfect fifth, modulation to the dominant, tri-tone modulation
9. Improvisation. Pentatonic Melodies; creating melodies from basic rhythm patterns; embellishing melodies and harmonies with non-harmonic tones; use of suspensions; exploring modal harmonies; subtonic chord; bi-modal harmonies; combining binary and ternary rhythms; chords that never made the hymnal, etc
10. Reading Figured Bass
11. Improvising Accompaniment to Enhance Praise and Worship. Melody doubled with full chords; movement of inner voice parts; chord substitution; chord inversions; antiphonal effect and imitation, etc.
    - There are also five appendices and three indexes.

This is a book that beginning church improvisers with basic music reading skills can use with profit. Do not be taken back by the theoretical terminology stated in the table of contents. Sprunger explains the theory. He is an advocate of blended worship, and therefore includes both hymns and choruses as well as popular song as examples. When you finish this book you should have a good grasp of traditional theory and know how to integrate and apply it in a worship context. You will be able to create your own modulations, and be comfortable playing hymns and choruses by ear in many keys. Sprunger does not attempt to cover the latest contemporary styles (Salsa, Funk, Country, Rock, etc.). The keyboard style here is more traditional in sound.

The strength of this book is its step-by-step graded approach that builds your skill incrementally and helps you integrate theory with improvisational practice. Sprunger builds into the book the discipline and training you need to become reasonably proficient to function in today’s environment of Praise and Worship and free-flowing praise.

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