When the Roll is Called Up Yonder (improvising idea)
All church pianists understand there are those hymns that just need a little dress-up to bring them to life! One of those such hymns is When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. Why the need for a dress-up? Because there are a lot of repeated chords throughout the entire hymn. What can be done to make this hymn sound more interesting? Replace the repetitive bass line with a simple improvising idea.
![When-the-Roll-simple-dressup-chorus-intermed-cropped When-the-Roll-simple-dressup-chorus](https://thechurchpianist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/When-the-Roll-simple-dressup-chorus-intermed-cropped.jpg)
Click on the following song title to see this improvising idea put to use. The pattern can be seen in the first few measures.
For those of you at a more advanced level..you’ll find a free sample below of what I would play to accompany congregational singing. (I transferred the stepping down pattern to the right hand for the first phrase of the chorus.
Tags: church pianists, when the roll is called up yonder
This entry was posted
on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 3:26 am and is filed under Accompaniment tips, congregational singing, Improvising hymns.
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