They asked if I would play along on the piano with them for support. They wouldn’t be able to practice until Sunday evening before church during the time I had to practice with the vocal special for that night. So…I quickly wrote a simple piano accompaniment that Sunday afternoon and had my daughter-in-law practice with them that evening.  They did great for a last minute ensemble!

Here’s the video of them playing “In the Sweet By and By”.

Click here for free copy of the piano arrangement for this simple offertory  (including melody score for an instrument)

Tip: The accompaniment may also be used to accompany a vocal solo

 I recently composed a congregational piano arrangement of Away in a Manger for one of my upcoming church pianists to play for church while I’m away.

So..I’ll share it with other church pianists that may be able to put it to use this Christmas.

Click here to download Away in a Manger (free congregational piano arrangement)

An upcoming young musician, Joshua Harrison, contacted me a while back  about previewing his piano arrangement book entitled: “Christmas Inspirations”. Joshua’s desire is that the Lord be glorified through his playing which is refreshing to hear…especially from a young gentleman

The book consists of nine  Christmas carols as follows:

Joy To The World!
Silent Night
Hark! the Herald Angels Sing!
The First Noel
Away In A Manger
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Angels We Have Heard On High
O Come All Ye Faithful
I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day

Most of the arrangements are a page and a half and a couple are longer  in length…making for a nice collection of short offertories or recital pieces for students.

After clicking on following link…you must click on individual song titles  to hear sample of each song…not the book cover picture.

Click here to listen to audios of Joshua’s book entitled: Christmas Inspirations

Joshua has generously offered to give away one copy of his Christmas book (pdf format).  Simply leave a comment below to enter the drawing.  Leave a separate comment if you share the link to this article on facebook or your personal blog…allowing your name to be entered twice!

The drawing will be held on December 19th at 10pm EST

The winner will receive his or her free downloadable pdf copy of “Christmas Inspirations” by email from the author of the book: Joshua Harrsion

Last year, I did an article on this very song but it was for ‘piano solo’ style. Today’s free piano arrangement of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” will be congregational style.

As I was arranging this carol, I had to force myself to stay within the chords “as written”.  I could have added a lot of minor chords to “warm up” the piece but I stayed true to the voice parts

Due to frequent chord changes, the church pianist will have to play in a more ‘chorale’ (solid chord) style in order to support the ever-changing voice parts.  There is still time to throw in ocasional dress-ups to create a more interesting sound as you will see in today’s free piano arrangement of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”.

Click here to download “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” before viewing editor notes below.

Editor notes for “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”

General information:

I tried to create smooth harmonic (chord) changes throughout… in spite of the frequent chord changes in this beautiful Christmas carol.

Here and there you’ll see where I deviated from the melody line to create a smoother move for the hands.

Notice how the right hand at the beginning…started with three notes and gradually worked into an octave format.  One of my former piano teachers always taught me to write in a more “user friendly” style for pianists in general…to avoid awkward moves/leaps.  Hopefully, this arrangement will be comfortable and beneficial for other church pianists.  I did keep the early advanced to advanced pianist in mind when creating this arrangement.

Measure #4:

Beat 2 and 3 of right hand is an echo fill-in during the held word “me”

Measure #5:

A sixteenth note improvised pattern on beat 2 is added… to dress-up the melody line and continues through measure 6.

Tip!

Church pianist tip: Learn to analyze other people’s arrangements; applying ‘learned ideas’ to your own playing. Over time, you will develop your own style but you must learn to apply learned ideas as a  springboard to developing your own style.

]]> http://thechurchpianist.com/congregational-singing/free-piano-arrangement-thou-didst-leave-thy-throne/feed/ 0 http://thechurchpianist.com/resources-for-pianist/free-music/free-arrangement-of-silent-night/ http://thechurchpianist.com/resources-for-pianist/free-music/free-arrangement-of-silent-night/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:59:55 +0000 Jenifer Cook http://thechurchpianist.com/?p=5490 I shared this free arrangement of “Silent Night” last year on my site on the “Free Christmas Piano Arrangements” page.  Since I’m rather busy this week getting ready for my annual Christmas recital to be held on Thursday…I will share a video recording of this free arrangement of “Silent Night”.

Now…looking ahead to my next article…I need my reader’s help! What Christmas carol do you find to be  the most awkward to play from the hymnal?   Leave a comment below…giving me the name of a Christmas carol fitting this description. I will create an article on the “most mentioned” Christmas carol.  I will give everyone until Friday to leave a comment.  Thanks for your help!

“Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” was the most mentioned Christmas carol in the comments below. So…I’m working on it right now and will post an article soon! Thanks for your feedback.

 I’m hosting a giveaway of my Christmas CD entitled: Simply Christmas

Everybody enjoys listening to instrumental music at Christmas…especially if the music is familiar. I published this CD several years ago and have a limited amount remaining in stock.

The traditional sounds of Christmas ring out in this creative CD featuring well-known Christmas carols.  You’ll hear bells or  harp in several of the carols.   Several of the two piano numbers on this CD are available as printable sheet music in  the music store. The main instrument on this CD is piano.

* This CD was created with  a Kawai digital piano.

Rules for Giveaway of Simply Christmas CD

1. Leave a comment at bottom of this article to enter your name one time.

2. Share the link to this  giveaway on your personal blog, facebook or twitter and leave a second comment saying you did so. This allows you to enter your name a second time in same drawing.

3. Drawing will be held on December 5th by 8pm EST

4. The winner will be notified by email the day of the drawing.

Important Information:

US Residents:  The Church Pianist will pay all shipping (media rate)

Residents outside the US:  The Church Pianist will cover up to $5 in shipping (media rate). Any shipping above $5 must be paid by winner.

Click here to hear samples from Simply Christmas CD

The following improvising tip has made a difference in my hymnplaying; creating a more open, balanced sound.  I apply this tip to my congregational and solo playing.

The following hymn example contains “Come Thou Fount” in D major and the improvising tip.

Click here to download “Come Thou Fount” with improvising tip.

Just for fun: After playing  the above improvised example…add the 3rd of the chord in the right hand too…just to hear the difference.

Here is the rest of the free piano arrangement of “Blessed Assurance”. The complete arrangement contains two verses and choruses.  The second verse is actually arranged for the last verse of “Blessed Assurance”.

Explanation of my note on page three:  “Watch the director closely here”  is meant for the final verse.  Of course the church pianist should watch the director through the entire song but especially where a slow down occurs. Many directors begin to broaden the tempo at this part of the hymn…making it easier for the church pianist to throw in some busy note passages such as you see in the right hand on the words: “Sa-viour” and “long”.   Adding extra notes helps to maintain a  steady tempo during slower sections.

Click here for free sacred piano arrangement of “Blessed Assurance” page two and three

Click here for “Blessed Assurance” page one

Keep in mind…every church sings a different tempo…making the accompaniment feel SO different.

Blessed Assurance audio:  Complete audio of Blessed Assurance

Shortly after being saved I arranged an offertory that included: “Blessed Assurance, Saved by the Blood and Since Jesus Came Into My Heart”.  I will have to write it out in my (ha ha) spare time.

This free sacred piano arrangement of “Blessed Assurance”  is a result of preparing several of our own soon-to-be church pianists to play for congregational singing.  We now have a rotational schedule for our intermediate to advanced pianists to allow them to play for our congregational singing.  It’s exciting to see them gain experience to better equip them for serving the Lord.

Click here for the free sacred piano arrangment of “Blessed Assurance” page one.

I’ll share the rest of this free arrangement in the next article.

Have a pencil handy!

The following short video tutorial on improvising hymns is geared to the beginning church pianist.  Playing straight from the church hymnal can sound rather plain. Learning how to dress up the hymns adds a new dimension of sound! This lesson gives some simple left hand fill in ideas for the first line of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”.

Special clarification about the theory rule mentioned in this lesson concerning omitting the 3rd of the chord…The 3rd can be omitted from either hand.   Wait until you see the video below to understand this explanation

The next video tutorial will reveal more improvising ideas for “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”.

Click here to see My First Improvising Lesson