Posts Tagged ‘free piano arrangement’

Free Piano Arrangement: Let Him Have His Way With Thee

Thursday, April 18th, 2013

One of my readers recently requested some arranging ideas for “Let Him Have His Way With Thee”. She said she hasn’t been able to find a piano arrangement of this particular hymn.  So…I wrote a quickie for you all that will hopefully be a nice addition to your “free piano” arrangement collection 🙂

Click on song title to download your free piano arrangement of…

“Let Him Have His Way With Thee”

Audio

Free Congregational Piano Arrangement: Christ Arose

Friday, March 29th, 2013

cross

“Christ Arose” is a very well-known hymn that most churches only use around Easter.  We use this beautiful hymn periodically throughout the year as a reminder of Christ’s glorious resurrection.

Robert Lowry, a well-known hymn composer/preacher, wrote “Christ Arose”

Click on song title below to download your free congregational arrangement:

Christ Arose in B Flat

Christ Arose in A Flat (lower)

 

 

 

Fingering Tip for The Old Rugged Cross (free piano arrangement)

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

One of my church pianist readers recently asked me for some help on measures 29  and 30 of the free piano arrangement for “The Old Rugged Cross”.

In measure #29…The right hand has to reposition on the second beat in order to compensate for the upcoming busy movement.  I created a quickie video demonstrating a suggested fingering to make this area feel more comfortable to the hand.

Feel free to ask for any guidance or tips on this piece or any other arrangements I’ve written.

The Old Rugged Cross: Video of Free Piano Arrangement

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

Several months ago, I offered a free piano solo arrangement of “The Old Rugged Cross”; written in loving memory of one of my students who has gone home  to heaven.

This free piano solo arrangement of The Old Rugged Cross can be downloaded at the following link:   More Free Hymn Arrangements!

Here is a video of me playing the arrangement:

Free Piano Arrangement: I Love to Tell the Story (page two)

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

Here is the remainder of the free congregational piano arrangement… “I Love to Tell the Story”.

I enjoy playing for congregational singing because that’s when I can “go outside the box” and play more than just melody.

Having a knowledge of chord theory opens the door for so much creativity!  For example…in measure #12…I knew the chord for the measure was a B Major chord…so I just added moving  3rds in the right hand for a fill-in. I used the same idea again in measure #18.

I’ll point out one more neat idea in measure #22.  Notice the half note octave “A” in the left hand.   An “a” minor chord can replace  a C Major chord because they both have two notes in common….”C and E”.

A “G” from a “C” chord also fits in an “a” minor 7th chord. Now if you know your theory….that will make sense.  Note members for the “a” minor 7th = ACEG

I challenge all church pianists to brush up on their scales and chord theory.  I found an excellent, practical music theory book that has been so helpful to me.  Stay tuned…for my next article on this VERY easy-to-understand book!

I Love to Tell the Story page two

I Love to Tell the Story page one

Free Piano Arrangement: I Love to Tell the Story (page one)

Friday, June 8th, 2012

“I Love to Tell the Story” has always been a favorite of mine.  The story to this wonderful hymn can be found at cyberhymnal.org. This particular hymn came from a rather long poem.  The first part of the poem contained at least fifty stanzas!

I’m sharing a free congregational piano arrangement of “I Love to Tell the Story” for the advanced church pianist.  This free arrangement contains a lot of full chords which is necessary for supporting congregational singing.

I apologize for not posting as often but circumstances haven’t allowed me to do so.  I always hearing from my readers. Thanks so much for your encouragement!  I love to hear how the site has been a help to you.  That’s what keeps me going 🙂

Click here to download free piano arrangement of “I Love to Tell the Story” page one

I will post the remainder of this arrangement as soon as possible.

I Love to Tell the Story page two

Free Piano Arrangement of The Old Rugged Cross

Saturday, April 7th, 2012

As promised….here’s a free piano arrangement of “The Old Rugged Cross”.  I wrote it in memory of Letha Snodgrass, my piano student and friend. Sorry I didn’t post this sooner for those who would have used it for Easter. I just haven’t been in the writing mood lately until now.

Click on this link to download: The Old Rugged Cross

Audio of The Old Rugged Cross:

Audio of The Old Rugged Cross:  

Free Piano Arrangement: Just As I Am

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

I know I’ve shared free arrangements of “Just As I Am” prior to this…but wanted to share a longer arrangement of it this time.  I’m feverishly working on a “congregational” accompaniment book for the pianists at our church.  If all goes well…I will offer it  on my site once I acquire a  generous collection of hymns.

Our church pianists have enjoyed using the “working” copy of this book. They like the pre-made introductions…especially for those awkward entry hymns that require “special treatment” for a comfortable introduction.  The song leader has also commented on it making his job easier.

Without further introduction…here’s your free piano arrangement of “Just As I Am”

Click on the above title in “red” for the arrangement

Special note: I haven’t included an introduction to this arrangement yet because we mainly use background music for invitation. I may consider modulating for some of the other invitation hymns in this book.

Another special note:  This particular arrangement is not included in the first congregational collection but a more elaborate arrangement of Just As I Am is included in the Piano Invitation Collection.

Free Congregational Piano Arrangement: Away in a Manger

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

manger

 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)

Free Piano Arrangement: Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

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.