In the beginning...
As a young man interested in learning how to play the keyboard in church, Richard had a very long and difficult journey. He started out by taking classical music lessons and soon learned that he would never learn how to play Apostolic-style piano that way. His mother taught him some basic major and minor chords, and he could play several church songs just using those chords, but he always had to have the music in front of him...and he had to play it EXACTLY THE SAME WAY every time. How boring!
Culture Shock
At the age of 16, Richard and his family temporarily moved to a large "African-American" Pentecostal church in Tampa, Florida, where he took two “piano by ear” lessons from their organist (an incredible musician who also played the bass, drums, and piano for their services). During this time, he also learned from a variety of other popular piano books. What he came to realize was that most of the stuff he was learning from these "popular piano books" was not useful for church. In fact, over 60% of it he never used in church.
That Midnight Train to Georgia
Upon moving back to Georgia, he began playing piano regularly for a small home missions church in Cumming, GA. There were usually no other musicians (besides an occasional drummer), so everything depended on him! If he messed up, everybody knew it! However, it was an excellent training ground, without the normal pressures of learning how to play in a bigger church.
OK, SO WHAT’S THE POINT?!
The point we are trying to make is this: Richard's journey from the time he began learning to play piano until the time he was actually able to play in church was long and arduous, with a lot of hard work, pain, practice, getting mad at himself (and the piano), losing his temper because he couldn’t get a run or chord exactly right, and promising he would never touch the piano again. It actually took ten years of lessons and learning before he ever played in church.
OUR MISSION
The Mission of Apostolic Praise School of Music is to shorten this path for other aspiring Apostolic musicians. Richard says " I wish I could have had access to something like Apostolic Praise School of Music in the beginning stages of my music ministry." The point of Apostolic Praise is to teach the student how to play church piano as quickly and skillfully as possible! There are also handy chord guides and cheat sheets to help the student along the process.
EXAMPLES
One young lady that he taught using this material was playing in church within two months!
One student named Zach, who was only 6-years-old, went through the material of the first, second, and third courses. He learned, comprehended, and mastered all of it in about 6 months! On one occasion, when questioned about 9th chords, he was quoted as saying "Those are easy." Of course, we cannot say this without giving glory to God. Prayer was made before each lesson for the Holy Ghost to help him learn, which is something Bro. Smith encourages all of his students to do. And of course, having simple, easy-to-comprehend, yet effective material like the Apostolic Praise Series to learn from, does help also!
As a young man interested in learning how to play the keyboard in church, Richard had a very long and difficult journey. He started out by taking classical music lessons and soon learned that he would never learn how to play Apostolic-style piano that way. His mother taught him some basic major and minor chords, and he could play several church songs just using those chords, but he always had to have the music in front of him...and he had to play it EXACTLY THE SAME WAY every time. How boring!
Culture Shock
At the age of 16, Richard and his family temporarily moved to a large "African-American" Pentecostal church in Tampa, Florida, where he took two “piano by ear” lessons from their organist (an incredible musician who also played the bass, drums, and piano for their services). During this time, he also learned from a variety of other popular piano books. What he came to realize was that most of the stuff he was learning from these "popular piano books" was not useful for church. In fact, over 60% of it he never used in church.
That Midnight Train to Georgia
Upon moving back to Georgia, he began playing piano regularly for a small home missions church in Cumming, GA. There were usually no other musicians (besides an occasional drummer), so everything depended on him! If he messed up, everybody knew it! However, it was an excellent training ground, without the normal pressures of learning how to play in a bigger church.
OK, SO WHAT’S THE POINT?!
The point we are trying to make is this: Richard's journey from the time he began learning to play piano until the time he was actually able to play in church was long and arduous, with a lot of hard work, pain, practice, getting mad at himself (and the piano), losing his temper because he couldn’t get a run or chord exactly right, and promising he would never touch the piano again. It actually took ten years of lessons and learning before he ever played in church.
OUR MISSION
The Mission of Apostolic Praise School of Music is to shorten this path for other aspiring Apostolic musicians. Richard says " I wish I could have had access to something like Apostolic Praise School of Music in the beginning stages of my music ministry." The point of Apostolic Praise is to teach the student how to play church piano as quickly and skillfully as possible! There are also handy chord guides and cheat sheets to help the student along the process.
EXAMPLES
One young lady that he taught using this material was playing in church within two months!
One student named Zach, who was only 6-years-old, went through the material of the first, second, and third courses. He learned, comprehended, and mastered all of it in about 6 months! On one occasion, when questioned about 9th chords, he was quoted as saying "Those are easy." Of course, we cannot say this without giving glory to God. Prayer was made before each lesson for the Holy Ghost to help him learn, which is something Bro. Smith encourages all of his students to do. And of course, having simple, easy-to-comprehend, yet effective material like the Apostolic Praise Series to learn from, does help also!
Meet the Instructor
Richard W. Smith has been playing the piano for so long that he has literally forgotten how young he was when he started! He believes that he was around six years old. He possesses a love for and is able to play a wide variety of musical styles including salsa, merengue, black gospel, jazz, blues, contemporary gospel, and southern gospel—in that order. He has been teaching piano lessons for about six years to people of all ages, from six to sixty. However, he has taught many, many children, and this is why his APOSTOLIC PRAISE© is so easy and simple to understand, learn, and follow.
Richard W. Smith has been playing the piano for so long that he has literally forgotten how young he was when he started! He believes that he was around six years old. He possesses a love for and is able to play a wide variety of musical styles including salsa, merengue, black gospel, jazz, blues, contemporary gospel, and southern gospel—in that order. He has been teaching piano lessons for about six years to people of all ages, from six to sixty. However, he has taught many, many children, and this is why his APOSTOLIC PRAISE© is so easy and simple to understand, learn, and follow.
About Us
Richard W. Smith
Instructor
Instructor
The fastest and easiest way to learn Pentecostal Music.
ABOUT US INFORMATION
What We're All About
Apostolic Praise School of Music is an online music school that provides distance learning courses and comprehensive curriculum for aspiring Apostolic Pentecostal church musicians of all ages who desire to play the piano or bass skillfully and do not want to have to take years and years of lessons to do it.
In fact, Apostolic Praise will have you playing with chords by the
first lesson and playing well-known Pentecostal church songs by the second lesson!
Apostolic Praise School of Music is an online music school that provides distance learning courses and comprehensive curriculum for aspiring Apostolic Pentecostal church musicians of all ages who desire to play the piano or bass skillfully and do not want to have to take years and years of lessons to do it.
In fact, Apostolic Praise will have you playing with chords by the
first lesson and playing well-known Pentecostal church songs by the second lesson!
We currently have had students registered in four countries including the United States, Mexico, Phillippines, & Russia.
We currently have had students registered in 22 different states including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas & Wyoming.
We have taught everyone from saints wanting to be used in their local church to church musicians wanting to learn more fills and runs to missionary children desiring to play in foreign lands to evangelists spreading God's word abroad to pastors' wives who feel a burden to help their husband ministry, and we are growing rapidly.
What is Distance Learning?
See How It Works
Because we are certain that you will not only enjoy our online school, but that you will also benefit tremendously from this method of learning, we gladly offer a "Free Lesson" period for all registered students. Simply register for your desired course by clicking [REGISTER FOR FREE] and begin with us during our next semester of Apostolic Praise. You have 2 weeks to give it a try and experience the benefits of our online courses. You'll be glad that you did!
We currently offer online lessons in piano and bass. The emphasis is on Pentecostal music and playing by ear with chords. By Pentecostal music, we mean black gospel style, southern gospel style, jazz style, blues style, and more! The concepts learned in these courses can be applied to almost any style, anwhere!
What is Distance Learning?
See How It Works
Because we are certain that you will not only enjoy our online school, but that you will also benefit tremendously from this method of learning, we gladly offer a "Free Lesson" period for all registered students. Simply register for your desired course by clicking [REGISTER FOR FREE] and begin with us during our next semester of Apostolic Praise. You have 2 weeks to give it a try and experience the benefits of our online courses. You'll be glad that you did!
We currently offer online lessons in piano and bass. The emphasis is on Pentecostal music and playing by ear with chords. By Pentecostal music, we mean black gospel style, southern gospel style, jazz style, blues style, and more! The concepts learned in these courses can be applied to almost any style, anwhere!
Our Mission Statement
Our mission is to further the gospel of Jesus Christ through music by reaching out to Apostolic Pentecostal musicians and helping them to excel in their ability and learn how to play skillfully in a shorter period of time.
Psalm 33:3
"Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise."
Our mission is to further the gospel of Jesus Christ through music by reaching out to Apostolic Pentecostal musicians and helping them to excel in their ability and learn how to play skillfully in a shorter period of time.
Psalm 33:3
"Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise."
