Over the past year, I’ve had a good many of you ask for “improvising hymns” lessons. I wish I had time to teach all of you!

But wait….there may be a solution!

How many of you would be interested in mini-course lessons?
My husband and I started talking it over today.

I could try doing my first mini-lesson on Zoom. The lesson would cover just one specific topic.

I’m thinking a half hour per session at a cost of $10 per session with a

minimumof 5 applicants.

What are your thoughts? What specific topic would you like to see covered?

The “most mentioned” topic will be our first mini-lesson! I’m rooting for “chord substitutions” to be the first one 

I’ve also posted this on facebook and have a lot of  feedback/topics. So far…chord substitutions is the “most mentioned” topic.

I grew up in the Greenville SC area and always enjoyed hearing Shelly Hamilton play the piano.  She had a positive impact on my hymn playing style.  I enjoy using her Hymnproviser Workbook series (three books total) as reference material for my hymn playing teaching.

Click on this link to view Hymnproviser Workbook One.

For the next four Mondays, beginning April 13th at 2pm EST…Shelly Hamilton will teach fill-in ideas for one hymn per live-stream session. (30 minutes per session) She’s also planning on a question/answer time as well!  You will enjoy her teaching style as she shares how to make a hymn sound more full.

The live-stream sessions are geared to the intermediate church pianist.  Shelly is offering a quarantine special on this four session event!  I’m looking forward to tuning in for Shelly’s Virtual Hymn Playing Class starting this Monday at 2pm EST!

For more information, click on the following link: 

Virtual Hymn Playing with Shelly Hamilton

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”.

Working on “I Am Resolved” prelude arrangement for one of my hymnprovising students.  She was asking about different left hand fill-ins because of all the repeated bass notes so…I was just going to jot down a few ideas for her and wound up writing the whole verse!  Guess that means I need to write out the chorus too.

I’ll share the verse hopefully by this evening (once I enter it into Finale).

This particular student is needing to expand her right hand playground area. She has always played right hand in the middle area of the keyboard.  I’m gradually conditioning her to broaden the right hand playing area… as you’ll notice towards the end of the verse.

My student and I laughed as I observed her trying to improvise on her own…playing the right hand an octave higher.  The funny part was she had no idea what to do with her left hand at that point since she had all that extra space!  😉

She WILL improve as she broadens her horizon!  I look forward to working with her at this stage of her hymn playing and plan to share with you all… what we do each week.

Look forward to sharing the first part of a  free piano prelude arrangement soon!

Click here to download worksheet before watching video for “Improvising Hymns” Lesson Two 

Have a pencil handy!

The following short video tutorial on improvising hymns is geared to the beginning church pianist.  Playing straight from the church hymnal can sound rather plain. Learning how to dress up the hymns adds a new dimension of sound! This lesson gives some simple left hand fill in ideas for the first line of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”.

Special clarification about the theory rule mentioned in this lesson concerning omitting the 3rd of the chord…The 3rd can be omitted from either hand.   Wait until you see the video below to understand this explanation 🙂

The next video tutorial will reveal more improvising ideas for “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”.

Click here to see My First Improvising Lesson

Do you ever have a hard time knowing what to play for fill-ins when improvising hymns? 

This simple, instructional video gives the beginning church pianist some easy-to-use  right hand fill-ins!

As promised in part one of this lesson…I’m sharing a video demonstration of my very first hymn improvising piano lesson.

The only change…I used the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” instead of “Like a River Glorious”.  Either hymn is fine but I decided on the second one for the video.

Youtube video link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yemAttikFNU

Click here to download free pdf arrangement:   When_ I_ Survey_ the_ Wondrous_ Cross_ five_ part_ style_

My last article dealt with using the IV/V chord fill-in for 4/4 time.

This fill-in can also take place in other time signatures….as long as

there are at least three beats…allowing time for complete development.

Original article on this subject:

https://thechurchpianist.com/improvising/the-church-pianist-improvising-hymns-fill-in-idea/

I will share several more examples in time signatures other than 4/4.

Remember…this fill-in works great when the I chord lasts for three or more beats.

Click here for pdf:   Improvising_Hymns_Using_the_ IV_and_ V

This improvisational idea works well at the end of a verse…..leading into the chorus.

The following two ingredients are necessary in order to use this fill-in idea.

1.The final chord of the verse must be a I chord and last for at least three beats.

2. The first chord of the chorus must also be a I chord.

For example: In G Major….the I (one) chord is GBD.

 On Beat #3…

1. Play a IV chord in the right hand

2. Play the V note of G Major in the left hand for the bass note ( note: D )

This creates the chord notation: IV/V

Editor notes for today’s example:

After the word…”Thee” the right hand plays a “climb the ladder”

fill-in to make an easy transition to the upper register of the piano.

*Description of the Fill-In Idea: (occurs in final measure of verse)

Click here for pdf image: Improvising_Hymns_Draw_Me_Nearer

Here’s example #2 of an improvising idea.

Click here for pdf example: Improvising_ Hymns_Day _by_ Day 

This idea can be used anywhere in a hymn

where a one chord last for at least three to

four beats in addition to the following measure

starting on a one (I) chord.

 It  adds a nice flowing movement from

one measure to the next.