| The Church Pianist |
| A help ministry for church pianists all over the world! |
What am I doing now? Inputting my congregational arrangements for the second booklet and creating sample audios for another great sacred piano solo book from Lorenz called He Leadeth Me.
He Leadeth Me is a nice collection of sacred piano solo arrangements by various arrangers, some I’m not as familiar with… but enjoy their style.
I hope to share a book review on He Leadeth Me this coming week.
Holy Holy Holy (real advanced piano solo) is almost complete! I hope to publish it very soon.
I’m REALLY enjoying the creation of the second collection of Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements. What’s neat about these collections is they could be used for unison choir arrangements or accompaniment for flute or violin special. See Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements Collection One by clicking HERE.
The words of the hymns mean even more to me… in the light of what’s going on around our nation. My heart is truly being poured out on the pages of this collection. I try to convey the text in the piano accompaniment. What a comfort the words of these hymns have been to me!
Here’s the list for the ten hymns in this collection:
1. And Can it Be
2. At the Cross
3. Come Thou Fount
4. Heaven Came Down
5. Higher Ground
6. I Shall Know Him
7. It’s Just Like His Great Love
8. My Faith Has Found a Resting Place
9. Near the Cross
10. What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Working on several music projects right now:
1. “Holy Holy Holy” very advanced piano solo * Almost finished with handwritten version.
2. Beginning to compile songs for Piano Hymns Congregational Booklet Two
3. Preparing several book reviews for Lorenz Publishing Corporation.
VERY excited about the arrangements I found in these books! Most of them are advanced.
Just letting my readers know I’m in the process of posting the individual hymns from the Congregational Booklet One for sale on the Congregational Piano Hymn page of our online music store. (navigation buttons at top of this page) So far I’ve posted: All Hail the Power, Are You Washed and Blessed Assurance.
Several have requested the Blessed Assurance congregational arrangement after seeing the first sample page of it in an older article. It’s now sold separately or in the Congregational Booklet One.
Special note: Multiple uses for the church pianist! The piano accompaniment arrangements from the Congregational Booklet One can also be used to accompany the following: vocal soloist, flute or violin.
Early registration (adult/teen) $59 by June 30th (Register three by June 30th and get one FREE!)
Registration $69 July 1st through July 24th
Registration at the door $79
A Great Find for Church Pianists!
I just subscribed to Dorothy Taubman’s youtube channel. I’ve known of Dorothy’s work and have gleaned from several of her youtube lessons over the years.
I would love to attend piano clinics but distance is usually a factor so I bring learning to my living room via youtube and other internet resources.
If you want to play with ease, you will enjoy the following video. I was encouraged to discover that I teach some of the same solutions for technical passages but enjoyed hearing Dorothy’s easy-to-understand solutions!
Helpful Resource for Church Pianists!
Sorry for the delay in posting…our household has been down with the stomach bug.
Here is the excerpt of Isn’t the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful which I shared with my hymn playing student last week. The left hand ideas resemble the improvisation I shared in the free piano prelude arrangement of “I Am Resolved”.
It’s always helpful to see the same ideas in several different keys and songs of like nature for ample reinforcement.
(Due to the copyright still active on this hymn…I could only share a portion as stated in the “fair use” copyright law.)
Having said that…if I could have shared more…I would have branched out the right hand an octave higher during the chorus to stretch my student’s playing ground.
Special note: When trying to apply the above left hand ideas… choose hymns of like nature (same time signature; similar rhythmic structure; peppy mood).
I lied! 😉 I said I would publish at least the verse of I Am Resolved tonight…wound up finishing the chorus too…but don’t think you’ll mind 😉
I’ve been working on fill-ins with my most advanced hymn playing student. She plays for chapel at school and has also begun to play for church when the main pianist (her mom) is out of town or sick. She’s doing a great job but has such a zeal to advance her hymn playing. Well….LOVE helping her with that!
Below is a result of her lesson this week 🙂
Click here for free piano arrangement of I Am Resolved
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!