She asked some excellent questions! The comment reads….

 “I have trouble filling in the blank spaces in songs (for example, whole notes, or the end of a verse, leading into the next verse).

I have no idea what to play in those spots and sometimes, that creates an uncertainty for the congregation about when to start singing again. What can I play to help sort of “lead in”?   Thank you!”

~Stephanie~

 This mini-series is designed for the church pianist who plays from the hymnal but would like to learn simple fill-ins for long-held notes such as dotted half notes, whole notes or tied notes. (I’ll address the latter part of Stephanie’s question in another mini-series).

 For starters, let’s focus on fill-ins at the end of a verse leading into the chorus. Two factors determine what can be played for any fill-in:

1. Note duration (length of note at end of verse)
2. Chord progression from verse to chorus (see music below for more details).

 To keep things simple, I will show one fill-in idea using examples in easy keys.

A. Fill-in for chord progression: I to IV  ( view and print PDF Music Examples)

Challenge: Try same piano fill-in on the following hymns:

I Know Whom I Have Believed

What a Day That Will Be

Glory to His Name

 This is just one fill-in idea! There are many more   No need to overload your brain at this point

Part two of piano hymn fill-ins will include more fill-in ideas!

Thanks Stephanie for the questions! Hopefully this will help other church pianists needing to learn more fill-in ideas.