For the past couple of months…I’ve been creating “ready-made’ hymn arrangements for some of my church pianist students who are need of improvised hymns for congregational singing. (Can also be used as piano solo)

These hymn arrangements are nothing more than a copy of a hymn from the hymnal with my added improvised notes in red.

Just curious, would this meet the need for others as well? I’m considering adding them to our online music store if there’s enough interest.

The cost would be less than my regular “printed arrangements”.

Here’s a FREE copy of one of these ready-made hymn arrangements. (Also trying to decide what to call them….any suggestions?)

*Also…are you all ok with it being handwritten just as it appears in free arrangement below?  

*Special note: THANKS for the feedback! After reading the comments here and on facebook….I will be putting these type of easy-to-play congregationals into print instead of by hand. I will do away with the original notes from the hymnbook and ONLY type in my (hopefully) easy-to-play congregational/piano solo arrangement. Thanks again for your helpful comments!  I do have (more involved ) congregational piano arrangements for sale HERE.

Ready-Made Hymns for the Church Pianist

Congregational playing if done properly, takes ALOT of energy!

Ever feel totally wiped out after congregational playing? If so, you’re doing something right!  🙂

I’ve heard a couple of approaches to teaching exciting congregational playing…first is to play VERY loud the whole time with no room for emotion vs. play with a big sound but leave room for emotion.  Shelly Hamilton refers to this second method as “kneading” into the keys for music quality…you can “dig” into the keys for a big sound-just not banging…to allow room for emotion.  Shelly mentions playing with “back” weight.  After trying the above methods…I prefer the latter way….much more enjoyable; adds warmth…more meaningful way of playing and the congregation responds well to this method!

The church pianist is to provide support to the congregational singing. Play with gusto!  Give solid sounding introductions. Make it sound like you know what you’re doing! 🙂  *It may help to bracket off the section(s) you play for intros in your hymnal or other songbook… so you won’t get lost.

Energetic playing is contagious!  Your congregation will catch on real quick!

Video Example:

I recently published fill-in ideas for The Old Rugged Cross.

One of my readers asked me today if I could include the fill-ins on the printed hymnal version for ease of use.

I had to cut and paste and resize the fill-ins to fit the printed copy of the hymnal version so it’s kind of rough looking but it’s the best I could do with time allowed in my schedule.

Thanks for the suggestion Becky!  🙂

Click on following titles to download your free copies of the following:

The Old Rugged Cross (verse fill-ins)

The Old Rugged Cross (chorus fill-ins)

Family coming into town any minute and just finished a quickie for church pianists to use for Easter…fill-in ideas for The Old Rugged Cross when playing for congregational singing.

Sorry I didn’t have time to share more!

Happy Easter!

Click on title to download your free copy of fill-in ideas for:  THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

Click here to download fill-ins included on sheet music of the hymnal version for this hymn.

Sorry for the delay in publishing this free piano congregational arrangement of Saved, Saved, Saved!

The words of this hymn carry the message of  joy a Christian has in having Christ as their personal Saviour 🙂

For that reason, the music should sound happy and upbeat to support the text.

Generally…the faster or more wordy a hymn goes, the lighter the note texture (in my opinion).  😉

Why a lighter texture?  Playing  frequent big; heavy  right hand chords (chords with 3 to 4 notes)  throughout… wouldn’t allow for easy mobility; thus causing the pianist to “drag” the tempo.

The occasional full chords can still occur with a fast tempo…especially on long held words such as in measure #8 (see dotted half note for right hand). Full chords also sound nice and feel comfortable toward the end as tempo gets slower (see measures #19 & 20…right hand).

I also use occasional rests to provide more ease of hand movement as in measure #8…allows right hand time to ease into the fill-in. Same idea applies in measures 10, 15 and 17-19.

The rests just seem to create a more balanced “feel” when entering busy fill-in passages.

You’ll notice I use a lot of eighth notes in groups of 3’s to drive the majority of the first verse and chorus.  I would change fill-in rhythms on the remaining verses to give my hands a break!  😉  Well…actually it also sounds nicer to use a variety of fill-ins for a  fresher sound.

I’m thinking of a couple interpretation tips to share as well.

Hmmm….sounds like another post in the works for Saved, Saved, Saved!

Click on song title below to download your FREE copy of Saved! Saved! Saved! (one verse and chorus)

Saved! Saved! Saved!Saved-Saved

One of my readers requested fill-in ideas for the song But Until Then.  I already shared fill-in ideas for the verse in a previous article HERE.

The chorus of But Until Then may be a challenge for church pianists who don’t feel comfortable improvising.  The fill-in notes are what give the music a forward motion; adding life to the hymn…IF the fill-in notes are rhythmically correct 😉

Since this particular hymn is under copyright…I’m limited on what I can share according to the US Copyright Office.

For a simple explanation, I will paste and copy a portion of the description for the Fair Use Act from US Copyright Office website:

Fair Use Copyright Act

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

The amount being considered “fair use” is up for debate but I try to stay on the conservative side of usage which explains why I presented a “cut and paste” layout of only the long held words.

Click below to download your free copy of:

But Until Then (chorus) fill-in ideas

But Until Then verse fill-in ideas

One of my readers recently asked if I could share fill-in ideas for the hymn… But Until Then.

Wow! Lots of held words in this hymn….making it a challenge for the church pianist to maintain a steady flow while wondering what to add!

This particular hymn is still under copyright….thus limiting what I can share but will do my best!

Here are several fill-in ideas for the verse of But Until Then.

I will share a few fill-in ideas for the chorus in the next post.

Click on following song title to download free fill-in ideas for this hymn.

But Until Then

Sorry I couldn’t share the chorus now but working on other arrangements.

So glad to have finally finished this collection of Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements! I always enjoy writing in an accompaniment fashion…much more can be played than the melody 🙂

I may have strayed more from melody in this second collection but not enough to lose your congregation 😉

Hope you enjoy this collection!  A special thanks to the John W. Peterson company for working with me to include “Heaven Came Down” which I REALLY had fun writing!

Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements (Booklet Two)

10 Late intermediate to early advanced piano congregational arrangements. 37 pages Songs include: And Can it Be, At the Cross, Come Thou Fount, Heaven Came Down, Higher Ground, I Shall Know Him (My Saviour First of All), It's Just Like His Great Love, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place, Near the Cross, What a Friend We Have in Jesus) *Special note: The arrangements in this booklet do not support the four-part singing found in most hymnals. *Other suggested uses: vocal solos, violin specials, unison choir specials. **Another special note: These arrangements can not stand alone as piano solos since some of the melody is absent during the piano accompaniment.

Price: $16.00

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

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Getting excited!  Finishing up my 9th out of 10 congregational accompaniments for Congregational Hymn Accompaniments Booklet Two!

The 10th arrangement is almost done too!