One of my church pianist readers recently requested that I provide some helpful tips on how to play glissandos.

One of the trickiest technical moves in my How Great Thou Art  piano arrangement is the glissando found on page four.   (Shown below)

Glissando Tips

1.  Notice the  three tenuto (line marks) under the left hand in measure 29.  These marks are pointing out the melody for the words “…then sings my…”.  Emphasize the melody and keep the glissando volume in the background (little softer than left hand).

2. The right hand begins the glissando with the index finger immediately after the left hand plays the G octave with the first tenuto (line) mark.  (It happens to be the same G as the left thumb just finished playing in the G octave).

3. Start the glissando with your right hand index finger…flipping the right hand over after the index finger starts.  The index finger and 3rd finger will glide across the keys in an upside down, horizontal position.  Once the index finger begins…the third finger will carry the brunt of the notes as you glide upward.  The index finger will act more as a support and guide for the third finger.  Just remember….the third finger is longer so it naturally has better contact of the keys.

4.  Word of caution to church pianists:  Glide across keys in a lightweight; relaxed fashion to avoid sore fingers 🙂

Visual Tips for the Glissando in How Great Thou Art

This has been a very difficult week.  One of my piano students I’ve been mentoring to be a church pianist passed away this week…very unexpectedly.  Please pray for the family.

I’ve managed to prepare a “free accompaniment” idea for Heaven Came Down.  This particular hymn contains a mundane bass line..making it a challenge for the average church pianist to create an interesting accompaniment.  What to do?  You have to play what’s not there 🙂  Easy said…but a challenge to do right?  For that reason, I’m sharing a free accompaniment idea that can be used for the verse of this hymn.

I”m limited on what I can share because this hymn is still under copyright. Therefore, I can only share a small portion for educational purposes only…(called the “fair use” law). Just use the same accompaniment idea to finish out the verse.  I would tend to use this accompaniment idea ONLY if the congregation is secure with their voice parts…whatever that may be.  Most of our congregation sings melody.

Click here to download Heaven-Came-Down-congregational-idea

I know I’ve shared free arrangements of “Just As I Am” prior to this…but wanted to share a longer arrangement of it this time.  I’m feverishly working on a “congregational” accompaniment book for the pianists at our church.  If all goes well…I will offer it  on my site once I acquire a  generous collection of hymns.

Our church pianists have enjoyed using the “working” copy of this book. They like the pre-made introductions…especially for those awkward entry hymns that require “special treatment” for a comfortable introduction.  The song leader has also commented on it making his job easier.

Without further introduction…here’s your free piano arrangement of “Just As I Am”

Click on the above title in “red” for the arrangement

Special note: I haven’t included an introduction to this arrangement yet because we mainly use background music for invitation. I may consider modulating for some of the other invitation hymns in this book.

Another special note:  This particular arrangement is not included in the first congregational collection but a more elaborate arrangement of Just As I Am is included in the Piano Invitation Collection.

Following the song director is a challenge for a lot of church pianists.  Since I’m ancient…and have memorized the majority of the hymnal…I’m more free to look away from the hymnal and watch the director.

Seriously,  the church pianist must learn the hymns well enough  in order to  look away from the music at the song leader or at least have the leader’s arm  within your peripheral vision.

How does the pianist get comfortable playing “by feel”?  Try playing a familiar song in the dark.  I’m serious!  Playing in the dark is an excellent way to sharpen your senses/skills…just as a blind person may have a more keen sense than the average person because they are avidly “tuning in” to the situation at hand.

At least ten years ago…I was playing the prelude  in the Charlotte coliseum at a teacher’s convention.  It was right after 9/11.  All of a sudden, the lights went out!  A sudden rush of anxious, whispered voices stirred through the auditorium.  My thoughts…”Now what?!”

Thankfully I knew the hymns I was playing from “many” years of practice 🙂   The Lord just guided my fingers and I just played  soothing hymns to hopefully calm the concerned crowed (considering we had guards around due to the 9/11 event.  I remember hearing people singing along with several of the hymns.   A little over ten minutes went by before the lights came on.  It seemed like an eternity to me.

Sometimes it’s refreshing to hear a simple offertory.  I like to be able to distinguish the melody when hearing an instrumental special. My son, and another gentleman in our church were suppose to play a guitar/harmonica offertory this past Sunday night. Unfortunately, they hadn’t had much time to practice.

They asked if I would play along on the piano with them for support. They wouldn’t be able to practice until Sunday evening before church during the time I had to practice with the vocal special for that night. So…I quickly wrote a simple piano accompaniment that Sunday afternoon and had my daughter-in-law practice with them that evening.  They did great for a last minute ensemble!

Here’s the video of them playing “In the Sweet By and By”.

Click here for free copy of the piano arrangement for this simple offertory  (including melody score for an instrument)

Tip: The accompaniment may also be used to accompany a vocal solo

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.

Click on the following song title to see this improvising idea put to use. The pattern can be seen in the first few measures.

When the Roll is Called Up Yonder (part of chorus)  Intermediate version

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.

When the Roll is Called Up Yonder (part of chorus) Advanced version

 I recently composed a congregational piano arrangement of Away in a Manger for one of my upcoming church pianists to play for church while I’m away.

So..I’ll share it with other church pianists that may be able to put it to use this Christmas.

Click here to download Away in a Manger (free congregational piano arrangement)

I asked my readers to provide the name of an ‘awkward to play’ Christmas carol.  I would then create an article concerning that carol. “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” was the most mentioned piece.

Last year, I did an article on this very song but it was for ‘piano solo’ style. Today’s free piano arrangement of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” will be congregational style.

As I was arranging this carol, I had to force myself to stay within the chords “as written”.  I could have added a lot of minor chords to “warm up” the piece but I stayed true to the voice parts 🙂

Due to frequent chord changes, the church pianist will have to play in a more ‘chorale’ (solid chord) style in order to support the ever-changing voice parts.  There is still time to throw in ocasional dress-ups to create a more interesting sound as you will see in today’s free piano arrangement of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”.

Click here to download “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” before viewing editor notes below.

Editor notes for “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”

General information:

I tried to create smooth harmonic (chord) changes throughout… in spite of the frequent chord changes in this beautiful Christmas carol.

Here and there you’ll see where I deviated from the melody line to create a smoother move for the hands.

Notice how the right hand at the beginning…started with three notes and gradually worked into an octave format.  One of my former piano teachers always taught me to write in a more “user friendly” style for pianists in general…to avoid awkward moves/leaps.  Hopefully, this arrangement will be comfortable and beneficial for other church pianists.  I did keep the early advanced to advanced pianist in mind when creating this arrangement.

Measure #4:

Beat 2 and 3 of right hand is an echo fill-in during the held word “me”

Measure #5:

A sixteenth note improvised pattern on beat 2 is added… to dress-up the melody line and continues through measure 6.

Tip!

Church pianist tip: Learn to analyze other people’s arrangements; applying ‘learned ideas’ to your own playing. Over time, you will develop your own style but you must learn to apply learned ideas as a  springboard to developing your own style.

*Click on image for a larger view

One of my favorite improvising ideas is adding contrast for an interesting sound.  The excerpt listed above is taken from the hymn “Count Your Blessings”. The phrase is the last sentence of the last verse.   This idea can be used on any of the verses at this point in song…but I like to save special effects like this for the final verse.

Here’s what helped me come up with the idea:  I knew that an A7 chord was the basic chord for the first two measures of this example. So… I played “stepping notes” within the A7 chord frame and entered into a D major chord on the syllable “jour-” and back to an A7 for “ney’s” and ended with a D chord on “end”.  The ascending notes in the piano score ran contrary to the melody in the vocal score…creating an energetic drive to the message of the song.

The complete arrangement of “Count Your Blessings” congregational style can be purchased below.

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 Over the past ten years, I’ve learned ALOT of theory amidst many hours of  composing hymn arrangements.  There’s so much more I need to learn but I just pick up tips here and there and put them to use.  Now…I’ll share one of those tips with you.

The following improvising tip has made a difference in my hymnplaying; creating a more open, balanced sound.  I apply this tip to my congregational and solo playing.

The following hymn example contains “Come Thou Fount” in D major and the improvising tip.

Click here to download “Come Thou Fount” with improvising tip.

Just for fun: After playing  the above improvised example…add the 3rd of the chord in the right hand too…just to hear the difference.