Be Original and Creative in music arrangements

Yes lots of worship music we hear on CDs are very beautifully and professionally-arranged.

But God wants us to be creative. We are asked to make new melodies ( including arrangements ) every day.

Be creative. Think of new ways to approach a song that are different from the CD.

Even if you must copy the arrangements , perhaps due to sudden inability to think of new arrangements, try to add new elements in your arrangements so that they won't be 100% rip-off from the CD.

People are not interested in listening to imperfect copies of the song as they can listen to the original on CDs at home. They expect new creative things from church musicians as musicians are supposedly to be a creative bunch.

I don't know why some people think highly of musicians who could totally copy music from CDs but are unable to produce something original themselves.

Perhaps due to our fondness of copying and finding shortcuts instead of working hard to produce original works, music and software piracy are flourishing in this part of the world.

But nowadays lots of songs are not well-arranged i.e. lack of creativity and styles. Therefore do not just be satisfied that you are able to copy 100% of these arrangements. Try to improve on these.

It is best not to listen to the CD before playing so that you might be able to be creative and put in your own style and arrangements.

How to be original?
1. Learn about principles of music arrangement.
2. Listen to lots and lots of varied music to draw ideas from.
3. Try not to listen to original arrangements so that it would not influence your own arrangements.
4. Try out new things and be adventurous.
5. If it doesn't work, try another.
6. If you must copy, make sure it is not 100% piracy!