Ever had a person in your church pass an encouraging note to you… after you returned to your seat from playing for whatever?

I have two notes I’ve saved from many years ago during my early teen years. (see pic below)

Both of the encouraging notes seemed to come at the right time!  I guess there’s never a bad time for an encouraging note 😉

Which reminds me….maybe all of us could send encouragement via text, hand-written note, etc. to someone who played or sang in a recent service to encourage those involved in the music ministry.

Before I forget…I’m going to text one of my piano students who filled in at the last minute this morning for the offertory and a note to the gentleman who sang the special this morning before he went over to preach for children’s church.  We have such a great group of people who are faithful to sing or play for God’s glory.

Have any notes of encouragement you want to share from times past or recent?

Have you ever wondered what to play for a funeral or how loud or soft to play?  Watch this video for tips on playing for a funeral at your own church.

Funeral Hymn Suggestions (List of hymns)

Funeral Hymn Collection (sheet music)

Look who covered for me last night during prelude!
It’s so nice to have my students help out in our music ministry.
We had a few kinks (due to my oversight).

I had Allissa (the more advanced student) play the intros for the couple hymns they played together. They all played a review piece by themselves too. The prelude lasted about six minutes.

One of my viewers recently asked me what I use for a connector chord going from the end of a chorus back into another verse of a hymn.

I like to use the IV chord. (It usually is an inverted IV chord).  The IV chord spices up the sound a little bit too.

Hope the following examples are beneficial to you!

Click on the following title for free download: Add a Connector Chord!

I checked the most recent recording of our congregation singing Dwelling in Beulah Land and discovered they didn’t sing it as fast as I was thinking.

My son led this hymn in a more moderate tempo.  But…the arrangement is quite suitable for medium speed.

Some hymns just seem more demanding than others. This is one of those hymns!  Once you see the chorus…you may understand why I’m tired after playing just one verse and chorus!  😉

I get very emotionally involved in the text as you’ll notice in the chorus 😉

I’m sure  you all may have even better ideas for this particular hymn. Special note: I did add several corrections to this arrangement as of June 8th, 2021

Click here for verse and chorus

Question Concerning the Chorus:

Anybody know the purpose for the right hand quarter rests during the chorus?

Chorus Sampler for Beulah Land (piano congregational style) 

Part Two:  Chorus coming this Monday!

I LOVE adding zest to the old hymns.  Over the past several years…I have become more free with congregational accompaniment…meaning…I play less melody  IF the hymn is familiar to the congregation.)

The congregation REALLY gets in to this particular hymn. They sing it with much enthusiasm!

I will publish the chorus for Dwelling in Beulah Land this Monday.

Click here to get Part One” Dwelling in Beulah Land (VERSE ONLY)

Click on image below to enlarge…

As promised, here’s the verse of Dwelling in Beulah Land like I might play for congregational singing at my church. (link contains verse and chorus)

Editor notes:

1.  This arrangement was written to be handled at about quarter note = 120 tempo
2.  I ironed out the excessive wrinkles (dotted quarter note + eighth note) and played  more even rhythms to make it easier on the hands of the pianist…as in measures: 1,3,5,6 etc.
3.  I also inserted 6 quarter note rests during the verse to break up the right hand movement and for interesting rhythm!
4.  The quarter note + half note rhythm in the left hand created more rhythmic drive.
5.   I have more freedom with this song because our congregation knows it very well.  You would need to add more melody if your congregation is not as     familiar with this song. Notice: I used just enough melody to prevent me from being disorientated and to provide some melody stability for the singers 😉
6.  My goal is to make the congregational style accompaniment support the singers and to make it enjoyable/comfortable for the pianist to play

Click here to download your free copy of verse & chorus.

Dwelling-in-Beulah-Land-piano-congregational

I’m sharing the rest of “The Call for Reapers” as promised last weekend.

Tips for the complete arrangement:

1. For those who don’t like playing sharp keys…just easily transpose to E flat major. The notes are the same….just think three flats instead of four sharps!
2. Try applying the accompaniment pattern of the chorus to hymns of like nature and chordal structure such as:
3. Measures 25 – 27 would go well for the words “softly and tenderly Jesus is” for the hymn “Softly and Tenderly.”
4. Read the note at the bottom of the sheet music that you’re about to download…

Click here to download the chorus of “The Call for Reapers”

Part One can be found by clicking this line… “The Call for Reapers”

Part One:  The Call for Reapers 

This past Sunday I had to play in E Major (four sharps) for a male vocal solo and survived! He was singing “The Call for Reapers” out of the hymnal. The hymnal version was in the key of A flat major.

In his first practice I discovered E Major was the most suitable  key for his baritone range.  I decided I would brave the sea of black notes and make it work!

Usually I would have had the vocalist go to another nearby key that I could reasonable transpose to.

As I’ve mentioned before….E major is NOT my most comfortable key to play in.  Some of my readers are sharp key lovers but I’m quite the opposite!

A simple sketch of  “The Call for Reapers” was all I needed to keep me on track.  It worked wonders!  I was able to follow the piece fairly easy. The gentleman sang two verses and choruses but I just wrote out one verse and chorus as more of a guide.

Most hymns in the church hymnal don’t go beyond three sharps or five flats.  That explains why I don’t feel as comfy beyond the hymnal key range.

Maybe there are other church pianists who could benefit from this  simple sketched out arrangement of “The Call for Reapers”.

This particular hymn makes a great choice for Mission’s Conference or other mission related meeting.

I’m sharing the verse in this post and will publish the chorus by hopefully next weekend.

Click on following title to download your FREE copy of the verse

Part Two (chorus) by next weekend.  (March 8 – 10, 2021)

The Call for Reapers