4 things that I learned from Merton, the Piano Improvisation guy
After some consideration, I decided to let you find the video on your own edit all the bad stuff out of the video. I probably should have done that to begin with.
Don’t go looking for it either. 
Okay!
There is a relatively new site out there called “Chat Roulette”.
It’s a site where you turn your web cam on and chat with who ever comes up on your screen… they see you, you see them.
The brutal thing that happens is.. If they don’t find you interesting, you are a mouse click away from never seeing them again. [I'll admit that I don't have what it takes to do this, but some do.]
So, there’s this guy called “PianoChatImprov” guy on YouTube.
Click to see the video in another page. Don't worry. It's 100% safe. No Bad words here!
He plays piano and makes up songs about the people that he sees popping up on his screen during his Chat Roulette sessions. Sometimes he writes a song about what they are wearing. Sometimes he writes songs about what they are doing. Sometimes he writes a song about what they are writing in the “chat box”.
When he sings a line like “hey, what’s up?”, he loses them.
I also noticed that when he said something like “she raises her eyebrows in surprise” and “Reclining guy with a white tank top”, they know he’s talking about them and they stick around to hear what he has to say.
When he says a line like “You’re next”, they’re GONE.
It’s an experiment in process. He’s learning as he goes.
So, with all of that said (hopefully, not seen though), what can we learn from this guy? How could I possibly apply this to ministry? I have five things. I hope you can point out some things to me after you see it.
- Do something unexpected. There are literally millions of people who are doing what you are doing. How can YOU do it differently than the others?
- Engage people early. The easiest way to do this is to talk about them. The piano guy let them know that he was talking to them by either telling them what they were wearing, what they were doing, or repeating something that they typed. People love to either talk about themselves or hear someone else speak well of them. I’m finding that in conversation, no one really wants to hear about you… especially in the beginning… they want you to hear about them . The first person to realize this and leverage it gains more knowledge.
- If you fail at something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should give up. It simply means that you should learn from what just happened, adapt, and then try it again.
- If someone is copying you, it’s a good thing. As of the last time I looked at his stats, several other people have copied his video and posted it under their own YouTube account. Are you doing anything yet that anyone wants to copy?
- [I know I said 4, but this is a bonus] Don’t use bad words, it’s a lot of work to edit it out!
I didn’t really know how to categorize the following stuff so, I’ll do another list… (you like lists don’t you?)
An interesting trend is happening now. People are going to “chat roulette” hoping that they will get to chat with Piano Guy. Wow. He went from anonymous to a virtual rock-star in less than a week.- He’s been a member since March 8th 2010 and he (as of last Friday) had 1,598,618 views… I looked 3 days later and it was over 5 million. He’s since been copied and other people are taking advantage of his traffic.
- 12 days since he signed up for a YouTube account, he has over 170,000 subscribers. (These are people who want to hear what he does next)
- Imagine if he had posted his website on the YouTube video. Guess where over 5 million people would have gone next… and if he had a recording to sell or give away…
You can do something like piano dude did. Maybe not quite as many viewers. Sometimes you have to push the envelope and be willing to look foolish for a minute.
Many times, you have to EARN the privilege to minister to a person. You earn it by listening, engaging, entertaining, or flat-out impressing people sometimes. Ministry is not necessarily a “right”.
Comment below and let me know what YOU saw.
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Loved this video clip. What a creative & talented guy. (Thinking he must be lonely & have way too much time on his hands!) However, I definitely got the point. We live in a world of backhanded comments, unkind remarks, putdowns, competition, etc. so when someone says something nice about you, it really resonates.
Jessica Harrison came and spent the weekend with us last year and critiqued our concerts. One of the things she suggested to us was making sure you mention something specific about the town/church/venue….make them feel special and do this early in the program. This may take effort particularly if you know nothing about them or their area.
That’s good advise too!
Interesting!
I know. any thoughts? Susan?
girl
girl?… that’s what you got out of it?…lol
I think the two biggest things he is doing is engaging people and making it personal. He is doing his thing but he is not oblivious on what is going on with the other end or the things around him. Some musicians are bad about this in their performance. They stand up with their music stands and their face buried in their music or the lyrics to a track for Sunday morning church. They have no interaction with each other or the audience. This can be said for day to day life as well. They go along doing their own thing and they have no idea what is going on in the industry and some could probably care less. Another thing this guy looks like he is having fun. This is something that is not a chore or he does grudgingly, he has fun with it and wants to do it. A good point that you had Kevin, you want to be the leader. If you are the one that other people are copying or want to be like, then you have in a sense arrived. And I am sure this guy had many failures at this because this is a “best of” clips. Not everything we do has to be perfect.
And this is just a hobby horse so you can take it for what it is worth. When I mentioned using music and keeping your face buried in a book, this is another turn off for me. I had someone tell me that if I didn’t take the time to memorize and be familiar with what I was singing then that shouldn’t warrant the attention of anyone else because I haven’t taken the time to prepare. I am in a sense saying it wasn’t an important part of my life and you weren’t important enough for me to take the time to prepare. It can say that or I don’t believe what I am singing. Plus if you are not making facial contact how are they going to be able to tell that you believe what you are singing. If you can make eye contact with someone that goes really far whether you are on the performing end or fan end. That is another way you can make someone a “true fan” and make them a part of what you are doing.
Thanks for that Jeremy. I read a book called “Blink” by Malcomb Gladwell (interesting read). In the book, studies show that there are over 10,000 different expressions that can be detected when watching another persons face! So, I definitely agree with the eye contact point.
A lot of thoughts Kevin, just not sure where to start. I wish I was as creative. :)
Do you think being creative is a skill or a gift? .. just wondering your take.
hmmm……….first thought he should probably be writing songs. who knows? maybe he does.
biggest thing I can take from it……….being personable.
Kevin your creativity makes me sick.
I think being personable is probably one of his strong points… his songwriting, if you think about it, is weak. BUT, being personable buys him a lot of grace. You think?
Thank you Staclynn.
Kevin, good stuff! Are you sure you’re not piano guy? You’re the genius, here, so go for it. Your creative ability is amazing and it is one of your many talents. We’re proud of you.
Hey Melda! Thanks for the comment. And thanks for the encouragement.
That is amazing that there are 10,000. I would have never guessed that many. There was a show on, I assume that it is still on becuase I dont watch a lot of TV, called Lie To Me. Interesting show. These people were body language experts and they used that to solve crimes and tell if people were lying about testimonies. Seemed like it had a lot to do with facial expressions.