Just reminding you all that the promo sale expires for the Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangement Booklet Three at 10pm this evening. (EST time)

Thanks for those who have purchased this collection.

Specs for this book:

1. All but one of the arrangements are transposed down at least two half steps.  “Like a River” is the only one in the original key of  F Major
2. All but one of the arrangements have two verses worth of accompaniment.
3. These arrangements cannot stand alone as a piano solo due to missing melody notes. The notes were deleted on purpose since we’re dealing with accompaniment.
4.  The arrangements in this collection can serve two purposes:  accompaniment for congregational singing or vocal solo specials

Congregational Piano Arrangements Booklet Three

11 Different congregational arrangements ranging from Late Intermediate to early advanced. 37 pages of music. He Leadeth Me with fill-ins for the fermatas is the bonus piece! These arrangements do not support the four vocal parts from the hymnal. Most of the songs are also lower in key by at least two half steps. Titles: At Calvary, Crown Him, He Leadeth Me (with fermatas), He Leadeth Me (without fermatas) I Must Tell Jesus, It is Well, Like a River, One Day, Stand Up for Jesus, Tell it to Jesus and Wonderful Grace of Jesus.

Price: $16.00

Can’t wait to publish my Booklet Three of Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements today!

Here’s a sneek peek of the first page of each arrangement.  More details soon!

I also play live on facebook tonight at 7:30pm this evening.  Much to do!

Oh!  Did you notice there are 11 different songs instead of just 10? Notice anything else?  I’ll explain soon!

Jenifer

I’m working on the final congregational arrangement for my third volume of piano congregational arrangements!

This volume is geared to the church pianist at the early advanced level. Check out Piano Congregational Arrangements Volumes One & Two.

This collection will be published on July 20, 2023 at a special rate of  $13 (sales price good for July 20th (3pm EST)  through July 22nd (10pm EST)  After this time, the regular price of $16 will apply.

One of my readers asked me how I keep my music organized for services.

I just came up with a more reasonable way this past Sunday.

I created two sticky tabs to use in the hymnal for our two congregationals per service. The third sticky tab marked with a “C” stands for choir special.

Our choir typically sings a song from the hymnal for Sunday mornings because we don’t have everyone with us until Sunday night service.  Quite a few of our choir members either work in our children’s ministry or work in the nursery.

That’s just part of having a small church 🙂

My son, the choir director, has a notebook full of our 8.5 x 11 sheet music for the choir.  I have the same type notebook.

I think we’re going to create a hanging file for each of our notebooks because the notebooks are getting full!

We already have all of our choir music in hanging file folders in alphabetical order.

I also carry around a two pocket folder that houses my AM & PM sheet music for upcoming vocal & offertory specials.  Works great for me!

It’s also been helpful to have a hanging file folder for each person who sings on a regular basis.  They can always fall back on a song they’ve done before  in case they’re filling in at the last minute.

Here’s how my pianist hymnal would look like on a typical Sunday morning.

I included a pic of our “order of service” which the Pastor provides for us.

I’m sharing a brief list (below) of some of the ideas I walked away with after my annual meeting with my piano friend Meryt Wilson.

Hopefully they are a benefit to you as well.

Before I forget, one of the sacred piano books I recommended to Meryt was “Sacred Reflections” by Virginia Halberg.

This book has my favorite arrangement of “Great is Thy Faithfulness”  Suggestion:  I delete measures 45-50 and I end earlier at measure #91. (see image below)

I ended earlier because I didn’t feel the need to continue any further with the extra triplet note section. (personal opinion)

Here’s a free arrangement of Christ Arose for the early intermediate church pianist.

Most hymnals offer this  Easter hymn in the key of C Major.  I’ve provided this arrangement in a lower key…B flat major.

This early intermediate piano arrangement was written for one of my students who is the church pianist for her church.

Just click the following link to print this arrangement:

CHRIST AROSE (early intermediate congregational arrangement)

February 28, 2024  Update:

I am working on a “FREEBIE” for “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”  congregational style.  (Not intended for piano solo since it’s accompaniment style) Download it HERE

Our church LOVES to sing What a Friend We Have in Jesus!  As I was playing for them to sing last night, I thought, “I could just download and capture that part of our service and use it as a teaching tool.

So…You’ll have to listen to the two clips below and notice the instructions embedded in the clips.   These fill-in tips are only meant to be suggestions.

I know each church pianist has their own version of fillers but I thought I’d share a couple for you all to grab by ear.  Of course not every church pianist plays by ear so….I can create up to several of these fillers in written form once I hear from you all.  Please leave your fill-in requests below in the comment section so I can start creating a few in print for you!  🙂

Ah!  I’m hearing you all now!  I will see what I can do about sharing some of these fill-ins for “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”

I’m assuming most of you play this song in F Major…..right?

I’m almost finished with a tutorial showing how to add sixteenth note runs to hymns.  (For the late intermediate pianist and beyond)

This particular tutorial will deal with adding runs to congregational accompaniment.

There will be five pages of examples for this particular run in various keys, time signatures and different hymn excerpts.

Each example will not only show the run application but will also share a graceful way to work out of the run.

This Sixteenth Note Run tutorial will be available in my online store asap.

I’ll publish a brief you tube commercial before publication.

For adequate preparation on my part….What questions do you have about playing runs in hymns or what difficulties do you face when playing runs etc.?   Thanks in advance for any feedback!

For those wanting more written examples… I’m sharing two more visuals of right hand runs using sixteenth notes.

Runs add a nice driving force to the music and creates energy if played correctly 🙂

Tip:

Emphasize the 1st note in each sixteenth note group for a more shapely sound.  Emphasizing every note can sound mechanical.

In my earlier days of being church pianist, I would often rush a run.  It’s so easy for our fingers to speed too much when viewing a sea of black notes  that need to occur in a brief moment!  I had to  make myself slowly practice the run and count the main beats as I conquered the sea of notes in front of me. In time the run sounded like it fit!  Just remember….not all runs mean “super fast!”

Click on the following title to download free pdf with two more examples of this right hand run:

 MORE RIGHT HAND RUNS

Do you want to add spice to your congregational playing  or playing for  the choir?

As promised…I will be sharing more right hand run examples tomorrow.

For those just stopping by….click on the following link to see the 1st examples of a right hand run using sixteenth notes.

Right Hand Run: Using Sixteenth Notes