| The Church Pianist |
| A help ministry for church pianists all over the world! |
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)
I asked my readers to provide the name of an ‘awkward to play’ Christmas carol. I would then create an article concerning that carol. “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” was the most mentioned piece.
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.
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:
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I was able to finish page two of “All Hail the Power” tonight even after a busy but good week of revival at our church. I will try to share some music highlights of our week sometime soon.
In my next article…I ‘ll share editor notes along with an audio of this free piano arrangement for “All Hail the Power” congregational accompaniment.
I enjoy playing and singing “All Hail the Power”. The church pianist must add lots of fullness to this majestic hymn to portray the mood of the text.
Just picture it…God is on His throne and scores of angels are bowed down before Him. A huge choir is singing “All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall…”
I think the words as I play this wonderful hymn. The melody and text are a great match!
Ingredients for Majestic Hymns
Lots of left hand octaves for fullness and energy
Full chords in right hand
Occasional dotted rhythm…adding extra zest!
Due to a hectic but wonderful weekend…I’m sharing a free piano arrangement of “At the Cross”. I wrote this particular arrangement for one of my students who is preparing to be a church pianist. Our congregation usually sings unison…so the piano accompaniment contains chords that would not support the four-part style from most church hymnals.
You’ll notice it’s also in a different key…C Major. She only had two weeks to learn the song before playing it in church. (She filled in for me while I was out of town)
Hopefully some of you church pianists can make use of this arrangement. You could also use it as accompaniment for a vocal solo or ensemble singing unison.
Click here to download your free piano arrangement of “At the Cross”
Click here: God of Our Fathers (print music and view while reading the information below)As promised, here is part two of “God of Our Fathers”. I used dotted rhythm in measures # 9, 12 and 14 to liven up the accompaniment.
The busy left hand octave movement was also added to give this hymn some driving motion as in measures #11, 12, 15 and 17. (Also in the right hand on measure #14)
This free arrangement of God of Our Fathers can also be used as a short patriotic offertory or for congregational piano accompaniment.
“God of Our Fathers” is a wonderful hymn to sing anytime of year, but especially around July 4th. This stately hymn reminds Christians of God as their leader.
In part one of today’s free arrangement of “God of Our Fathers” I tried to portray the majestic mood of the text by solid octave movement in the left hand and full chords in the right hand.
The introduction (trumpet fanfare) was doubled (both hands) for a fuller sound. The octave higher treatment gave it a brighter tone.
In measure five, I added a light touch of syncopation to the left hand for text enrichment. The words for this measure speak of God’s ”…almighty hand”.
Congregational singing plays such an important role in the worship service. As a church pianist, I try to play with enthusiasm, since I represent the Lord in all I do. I want others to know that I truly believe the words of the great hymns of faith as I play them for God’s glory.
To be honest, I don’t always feel energetic on a Sunday morning when I’ve had maybe a couple hours of sleep… but God is good. He gives me just enough energy to make it through. I’ve found I do better during those times. I think it’s because I’m relying more on His help…as I should ALWAYS do
Part two of “God of Our Father’s” will take us up an octave as we prepare for the climax of this great hymn. Looking forward to sharing the rest!
One of my readers recently asked if the chord substitutions of Just As I Am tutorial video was available in sheet music. I have since created the sheet music for this brief lesson.
Click on the following link to see the video of Just As I Am chord subsitutions for the final line of this soul-stirring invitation hymn. I use the minor chord substitutions in this hymn…to give it a warmer sound.
Just As I Am (video link: chord substitutions)
Click here for free sheet music of Just As I Am chord substitutions
Free Piano Arrangement of Just As I Am (invitation background style)
One of my readers recently asked if I knew where to find an arrangement of “This Little Light of Mine” that wasn’t so elementary that a choir could sing to. Well…I decided to write an arrangement of “This Little Light” and really enjoyed creating it!
Since my time is limited due to the busy month of May…much to your advantage…everyone receives this arrangement…FREE… since that’s all I’ve had time to do this week
There are so many word variations to this song. You’re welcome to substitute your own verses
Let me say a big “thank you” to Sharon for unknowingly inspiring me to write this piano/choir arrangement of “This Little Light of Mine”
*Available as hard copy 
