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| A help ministry for church pianists all over the world! |
I published an elementary piano solo of Nothing But the Blood of Jesus several years ago.
I also promised to provide the alternate (second piano) teacher or student piano accompaniment for FREE.
Well, I’m working on the second piano part and should hopefully finish it by the end of this week.
Click this link…. to hear the two piano arrangement of this hymn.
Just started revival meetings with Alton Beal this week to last through Wednesday.
My daughter-in-law will be helping me with accompanying this week so I wrote this arrangement (I Shall Know Him)… for her to accompany the vocal solo for tonight.
The vocal soloist happens to take a lot of freedom with the text …lots of ebb and flow. So I freed the pianist from the melody to allow more freedom for the pianist and soloist.
Wanted to share this free piano/vocal solo arrangement for “I Shall Know Him” before running errands!
Click on title to download free arrangement: I Shall Know Him
You need to have the Audio Player Plugin installed to use this shortcode
I’m on Greg Howlett’s email list and just received an email from him offering his piano arrangement of “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” for FREE at the following link:
As stated by Greg: “You might recognize this arrangement because it is an adaption of a longer version I recorded of this song on Quiet Place. I hear from people often who want arrangements from that album and this is the most requested song.”
Here is Greg playing it on youtube:
*Link for full arrangement below:
I recently attended a couple piano workshops by Shelly Hamilton.
“Accompanying Made Simple” was a very practical workshop providing the church pianists with simple yet practical ideas for accompanying special music.
Shelly brought her accompaniment suggestions to life by offering a free arrangement of Day by Day which includes three different accompaniment styles. Thanks Shelly!
I attended Shelly’s workshops so that I could share accompaniment ideas with my church pianist readers. Click on the following links to download the handouts for this workshop.
Accompanying Made Simple (outline)
Are you a church pianist that doesn’t know how to transpose? Do you choose hymns for prelude that are in the same key for this very reason? I have good news for you!
It is not always necessary to transpose from one song to the next if you go up a perfect fourth between each hymn. I’m providing a free prelude below but read the important info below before you hurry to print the free prelude.
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Going Up a Perfect 4th Interval From One Hymn to the Next Hymn:
What You Need to Know:
1. An interval is the distance between two notes
Example:
C to D is a 2nd interval because you count from 1 t0 2 to go from C to D.
C to E would be a 3rd interval and C to F a fourth.
2. Within every key/scale… the fourth interval is called a perfect fourth which consists of five half steps. So… from C to F is a perfect fourth. Why is it called a perfect fourth? Just accept it and go on or if you’re curious…check out the following links 🙂
Quick quiz in Creating Perfect Fourths:
What is 5 half steps (a perfect 4th) above F? Answer is: B flat (see picture below)
(Are you noticing that we’re going in order of the flat keys as we go up a 4th?)
The key of F Major has one flat, the key of B Flat Major has two flats. Cool!
Ok….so what is 5 half steps (a perfect fourth)… above B flat? You got it! E flat and the key of E flat has three flats.
Now…let’s apply this “no transposing” concept using the following hymns which are a perfect fourth apart for a nice topical prelude!
Click on each song title to download for FREE!
Free Prelude for Church Pianists:
Since I Have Been Redeemed – F Major
Power in the Blood – B Flat Major
Saved by the Blood – E Flat Major
Free Arrangement
Click on song title at bottom of article… to download FREE copy.
1. Listen to the Mockingbird (Alice Hawthorne)
2. Oh Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone (lyrics only) *German folk tune
3. Carry Me Back to Tennessee (better known as Ellie Rhee)
4. Whispering Hope (1868)
I could not locate the story behind the writing of “Whispering Hope” so without further ado…click on the following song title to download your free early advanced arrangement of…
Click arrow below to hear complete audio of this free piano arrangement.
You need to have the Audio Player Plugin installed to use this shortcode
I decided to share for FREE….transitions for an Easter prelude.
A late intermediate to early advanced church pianist would benefit most from this IF they already know how to improvise hymns from the hymnal.
The following PDF includes four hymns that I printed from Timeless Truths Free Online Library.
Keep in mind that the hymns in the following Easter prelude are taken from a hymnal as is but I’ve also included a separate sheet which includes the transition for each song in the prelude collection. (These hymns are in the correct keys to match the transition sheet below.)
Easter Prelude Contents:
There is a Fountain (B flat Major)
When I See the Blood (C Major)
Since I Have Been Redeemed (F Major)
Glory to His Name (G Major)
Click here to download Easter-Prelude
Click here to download Transitions for Easter Prelude
Hopefully this helps the church pianist who has difficulty with adding transitions/modulations between hymns during a prelude.
