I want to create a series of booklets on hymn improvising ideas for the church pianist.

The first booklet is going to deal with left hand patterns for devotional style hymns. (I’m working on it now)

The most challenging part for me is presenting everything in a well ordered approach.

I want to keep these books practical, short and concise.  Each booklet will deal with one topic.

Another booklet  will deal with right hand fill-ins and so on. Hopefully the church pianist can grasp the concept(s)  from each booklet in order to make application on their own.

Each booklet will provide a sufficient amount of examples for ample reinforcement.

The booklets will be geared to the intermediate and beyond church pianist.

The church pianist will need to know their scales, chords and chord inversions.  A prior knowledge of interval reading would also be helpful.

For the first booklet, the concepts and examples will be presented in the keys of C , F, and G Major for ease of application.

I’m considering naming the booklet series “Making Hymns Expressive”.

Are there other church pianists besides myself who work with instrumental or vocal groups for special music at your church?

Over the years I’ve developed some guidelines to help us use our time wisely. I know every church has its own level of abilities.  That being said, you may need more or less practice than what’s suggested below.

We stick with unison or two part arrangements for our ladies’ and two to three parts for our men’s groups. You would be amazed at how nice unison can sound… especially if the pianist can make up for lack of harmony by using  chord substitutions…creating a colorful; rich sound.

I try to allow for a total of six rehearsals when the arrangement is new to them. The group just stands around the piano for all but the last practice.  (Details below) In addition, I email practice audios for those wanting additional practice.  With the group providing surround sound around the piano…I’m able to listen to their blend, balance of parts, etc. and better coach them as they sing.  Once the group becomes familiar with the words…say…maybe after the first three practices…I’ll ask them a question about the approaching sentences in the song (while they’re singing and I’m playing)… forcing them to think about what they are singing. I LOVE doing this, because you can hear the difference in their voice expression…making for very effective communication!

For example, I’ll use the hymn “Amazing Grace” since everyone knows it 🙂   While the group is singing the first sentence..”Amazing grace how sweet the sound…”

I’ll ask the following question for the upcoming sentence…”What did God’s grace do for you?!”  They’ll answer in singing response “That saved a wretch like me!”  🙂   The results: A more meaningful delivery!

If it’s an arrangement they have done before…we may only have four practice sessions.

Our practice sessions are generally no more than 10 minutes.

General checklist for carrying out the group rehearsals:

1. Beginning of 1st practice (may need to cover at second practice too in case someone was missing at first practice), hand out practice schedule which includes the date and service for when they are singing.
2. Kindly tell the group that it will work best to attend all of the scheduled practices in order to be adequately prepared. Otherwise…they can wait until the next scheduled time. (Exception: missing one practice due to sickness or other unavoidable reason).
3.  Make following suggestion:  Arrange someone to watch your young kid(s) during these practices. (Our ladies are SO good about doing this)
4. Please remind them that each person is essential to the group as a whole. (Have them stand in the same order for each practice.)  Each person gets accustomed to singing by the same person for each practice so it can throw a person off when they’re missing a team member.
5. The vocal ensemble will practice on stage around the pulpit during the final rehearsal for  a sound check. (Arrange for sound person to be at this rehearsal so he or she can do the sound check.)
6. Our ultimate goal is to honor Christ by being adequately prepared. I Corinthians 14:40 “Let all things be done decently and in order.”*I usually have groups practice around the piano that I’m playing for a more up-close

Most of the above suggested guidelines will also apply to instrumental ensembles….depending on the age of your members.

Hopefully the information above has been an encouragement to other church pianists who work with vocal and/or instrumental ensembles.

*Next article: What details I work on with ensembles during these brief rehearsals

During choir practice yesterday afternoon…our choir was practicing “Faith is the Victory” in unison.

I noticed it was just SO awkward trying to grab all the melody notes…especially during the verse!

Each sentence of the verse starts on a fast note (eighth note) making it almost impossible to keep up with the melody. I thought, “The choir KNOWS the melody…why not delete the first word of each sentence to alleviate the awkwardness!?!  (Exception: I’ll play the first word of the song to allow for secure entry) 🙂

My mind devised a plan to ease up my old moving hands 😉  Time to have some fun!  Just stay within the vicinity of the melody and you won’t get AS lost 😉

Let the singers do the work!

The result: (Download the free pdf version of “Faith is the Victory” below)

Faith is the Victory

Customers from several years ago may have purchased this collection “Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements Booklet Two”.

I published this collection several years ago but for some odd reason had not been showing up in my store.

I’ve also just published a congregational piano accompaniment for “Great is Thy Faithfulness” thanks to a reader who prompted me to publish it.

Both of these items can be found in my store HERE or you can purchase below.

Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements (Booklet Two)

10 Late intermediate to early advanced piano congregational arrangements. 37 pages Songs include: And Can it Be, At the Cross, Come Thou Fount, Heaven Came Down, Higher Ground, I Shall Know Him (My Saviour First of All), It's Just Like His Great Love, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place, Near the Cross, What a Friend We Have in Jesus) *Special note: The arrangements in this booklet do not support the four-part singing found in most hymnals. *Other suggested uses: vocal solos, violin specials, unison choir specials. **Another special note: These arrangements can not stand alone as piano solos since some of the melody is absent during the piano accompaniment.

Price: $16.00

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Congregational piano accompaniment, late intermediate to early advanced, 4pgs Contains two verses and two choruses. *Supports unison or soprano and tenor voice parts. Not intended for four part singing.

Price: $4.50

If you’re a beginning church pianist and learning to play from the hymnal…this lesson is for you 🙂

There are always exceptions to the rules as we’ll see in this lesson dealing with five part playing style from the church hymnal.

The thumb cannot always comfortably plug the tenor note into the right hand as we’ll see in the last video below.

Watch this video first if you need a more involved description of the five part playing style and then proceed to the latest video below which describes the exception to the five part playing style.

I’m preparing a video tutorial on pedal suggestions for the church pianist who would appreciate some helpful tips on how to sound smooth when playing hymns.

Get ready with these prep tips!

1. Sit elbow length from the keys (knees should be slightly under keyboard.)
2.  Sit on front half of bench

More pedaling tips coming soon!

Ever have a hard time trying to figure out what to use for an interlude between verses when accompanying a vocalist or other small ensemble?

Here’s just one interlude method I use to help the soloist find his way back to the next verse…

Easy Six Beat Note Fill In!

Sharing one of my favorite fill ins for pianists!

Use this fill in for hymns in 3/4, 9/4, 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8

Where to use? On a melody note lasting 6 beats.

How to use? Determine what chord is being used during the six count note.

Left hand plays single bass note in lower register of keyboard on 1st beat and plays a chord on fourth beat.

Right hand enters on beats two through beat six.

Tip: To prevent disorientation….notice the melody note you’re heading to after the fill-in.

Apply to hymns of like nature using the time signatures listed above.

Below…is a video demonstrating the four examples from video above.

To me…a wordy hymn is just that…a hymn with a lot of words which also contains a  busy rhythm such as  eighth notes.

Watch the video below to learn a tip on how to make wordy hymns sound smooth instead of choppy.

Click on title to download FREE pdf for the verse of “My Savior First of All”

How to play with a conversational style on wordy hymns…a topic that’s been on my mind lately.

A good example of a wordy hymn is “My Savior First of All”.  I’ll share tips on how church pianists can play this particular hymn with a natural/conversational tone…making for a more meaningful delivery even when playing for congregational singing.

Coming soon….next week 🙂  Hmm…next week has come and gone due to unavoidable circumstances 🙁  I will do this asap!