Sorry for the lack of posts.  We were out of town three times unexpectedly over the holidays and I’ve had the flu since last week.

Plan on posting as soon as I’m better.

Congratulations to Julia Swarner for winning a FREE copy of “I’d Rather Have Jesus” CD by Mary Lynn Van Gelderen.

Julia…I need your email address 🙂  Please email me at jenifer@thechurchpianist.com  Thanks!

Returned from trip to my parent’s and working on the piano invitation collection.

Oh…there will be thirteen arrangements instead of twelve.  I had been overlooking one other song in my file collection while working on this project. It’s actually a medley of “Draw Me Nearer with Close to Thee”.

 I’m re-structuring one of the invitational arrangements into a medley.  “I Must Tell Jesus” flows nicely into “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.

Just inputted one of my most recent invitational arrangements today to Finale…”I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go”.  (great for messages with a mission’s emphasis)

The invitation collection will consist of twelve arrangements and the pieces mentioned above are the last two!

Yes, I’m still here!  We have had a very hectic schedule for the past three weeks and just getting back to our normal (we hope) routine.

I’m working on this week’s article right now which is a free sheet of improvising ideas for accompanying a vocal solo to “Down From His Glory”.

The ideas will be similar to Faye Lopez’ spontaneous arrangement which took place at this past year’s annual Wild’s Music Conference.

I know…I’ve been fairly quiet!  Just to let you know why 🙂

I’ve been working on a “Background Invitation” collection that I hope to finish soon!  I hope to have at least twelve songs in this collection.  Just started on the ninth one.

I also woke up this morning with ideas for a piano duet of “Come Thou Fount” and started writing before it left me!  Can’t wait to share this one!

Back to writing….

Please pray for my son and daughter-in-law as they just had their second miscarriage in the past three months.

The picture above was taken of them this past Christmas with their precious son… whom I’m watching this week.

My next article will probably be next week.

Appreciate the prayers.

After wanting to go to the Wilds Music Conference for at least the past ten years….I finally got to go!  My schedule just didn’t allow it in years past since the conference was scheduled at the end of December and into New Year’s Day.  ( I believe the Wilds is changing the music conference to a later date next year….to sometime in January.)

Please understand that this conference is a general music conference.  Since it’s only about a 2 & 1/2 hour drive…I felt it was worth attending.  Read the conference description below as stated on The Wilds website:

“Join us for the mixture of general preaching sessions, biblical philosophy and practical “how to” workshops, and choral reading sessions which will make you more effective in your ministry of music in your local church. Both trained musicians and laymen alike will benefit from the blessing and refreshment of fellowship around Christ-honoring music at this conference.”

Here’s what I did at the conference:

* Hymnplaying master class (once a day for three days) great practical ideas for pianists in general!

* Attended at least eight Choral reading sessions (free pack of music per session)

* Rubbed shoulders with musician friends (always pick up ideas from fellow musicians!)

* Went to Sacred concert by Matt & Christy Taylor on Wednesday evening

I do plan on sharing my gleanings in future posts.  The highlight of my week was playing in the Hymnplaying master class for critique.  What constructive advice I received!  (will share in video soon!)

Been enjoying family & guests over the holidays.  Now it’s time to gear up for the new year!

I’m currently working on several chord substitution examples to share with you.

These examples are in relation to the final lesson on chord substitutions.

You may have to review the previous chord substitution lesson in preparation for these examples.  Plan to post the examples tomorrow!

Just finished the Christmas piano solo of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” this morning!

One of my readers requested that I arrange an intermediate level of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”.  This piano arrangement may appear to be late intermediate level but the technical side of it may qualify for an early advanced level piano solo.

Regardless of the outcome, I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I had writing it!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Late intermediate to early advanced Christmas piano solo, 2 pgs. Approx. 1:33

Price: $3.00