I’m feverishly writing an advanced two piano Christmas duo for another SMPress competition. I have to turn it in by October 10th!
Meryt Wilson and I will be premiering this Christmas piano duo on October 12th at 8pm….live on facebook at the following link… https://www.facebook.com/thechurchpianist/
Please join us for an evening of fun as other church pianists gather round to learn a few tips on modulation and accompanying 6/8 hymns.
Here’s a sampling of “Gesu Bambino” two piano arrangement (It’s similar to the arrangement on my“Simply Christmas” CD.
Your ladies’ ensemble will love singing this beautiful song by Mina Oglesby. The text describes how we are just plain old clay and how God is our Potter. He’s molding our lives to make us vessels of love.
I hope to reunite the ladies’ ensemble I directed years ago that sang this actual arrangement and share it with you all via video.
I do have a youtube video of Mina singing “The Potter’s Hands” and will share below…(THE ACCOMPANIMENT ON THE VIDEO IS NOT MY ARRANGEMENT) *LISTEN TO AUDIO SAMPLE)
Sacred vocal two part arrangement for ladies' ensemble. Words & music by Mina Oglesby and arranged by Jenifer Cook. *Price covers two or more copies.
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I met a nice young lady at the Composer Symposium this past summer who attends the church where my husband and I were married!
She is a great violinist and offered to add the violin bow & slur marks to my arrangement of “Nearer My God to Thee”. It has taken me a while to finalize the arrangement but now complete and available in our music store.
A big thanks to Abby Phillips for adding the violin markings! See video of Abby below playing her own arrangement of “I’d Rather Have Jesus” in her home church.
Sacred violin solo w/ piano accompaniment; 4 pgs. *Price covers two copies.
A nice solo piece for any occasion. The beautiful melody of this hymn flows gently back and forth between the piano and violin. *Bowing & slur marks included for violin.
Most of the editing was the result of a private lesson with Marty Parks. Very thankful for his input! He shared a great pointer on how to better communicate rhythmic interpretation in written music.
(Thanks to Robert Sterling and Brad Nix for pointing out the 9 over the tuplets for clarity). I just honestly had shied away from learning how to input tuplets with Finale and FINALLY learned how! 🙂 Thanks to Joseph Martin for his overall encouragement and teaching spirit 🙂 Also, thanks to John Parker for his written comments on the arrangement!
For example, instead of a breath mark (large looking comma)…just insert a rest…makes a clearer statement. Also, NOT to show key change too early which is what I ALWAYS do! 😉 *See key change illustrations below the video.
Due to requests for the critiqued version…there are now two different arrangements of Abide With Me in our music store…the advanced original version & Critiqued version. Those who like a challenge will enjoy playing the critiqued version….which contains minor editing changes…ending with a run up the keyboard. Listen to the critiqued version below…
Now to show you the original and new key change correction 🙂
Just published the Easy to Play Congregational Collection One today! I will be out of town this upcoming week but will supply video or audio samples for this collection when I return.
Easy-to-Play Congregational Collection-One
Early intermediate to intermediate piano congregational arrangements, 16 pgs.
Jenifer wrote these arrangements in an easy-to-learn fashion for the beginning church pianist. You'll find these arrangements to be fairly structured making for minimal practice.
Song list: Amazing Grace, Day by Day, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, I Need Thee Every Hour, It is Well, Nothing but the Blood, Only a Sinner, O Worship the King, Satisfied, Trust and Obey. *Amazing Grace contains optional key change into Grace Greater Than Our Sin
So many times I have wanted to play “A Passion for Souls” for the invitation but not many people know this song…at least not in our church. The melody is ok but felt like it needed a face-lift.
I like to play familiar songs during invitation…hymns that the people know since I play background music during invitation. (I miss the days of hearing the congregation sing during invitation).
Back to topic! I thought…if I could re-work the melody on this song…maybe it would revive a long lost hymn…at least for our church 🙂
So…a new melody to “A Passion for Souls” flowed out of my mind during a recent spurt of inspiration last week. Hope the song is a blessing to you.
I’m singing it as a duet with a friend this Sunday morning. (The arrangement can either be a duet or solo) I’ll share a video of the duet asap.
Here’s a sampling of sheet music for “A Passion for Souls” which I will publish next week. (Click on image below for larger view)
One of my former piano students approached me at church a couple months ago and asked if I would write her an offertory arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus”.
Well…I finally got around to it! 🙂 But what a surprise! This arrangement just flowed out of my little brain this week and I quickly penned it to paper. It’s not always that easy for me to arrange a hymn!
I tried to arrange this piano solo well within her early intermediate level…hoping she could learn it soon. Even though I’m an advanced pianist…I wouldn’t mind playing this for offertory.
So much music is racing through my little brain…can’t get it on paper fast enough!
Just had this one race through my mind this morning of “I Must Tell Jesus”. I’m writing this for one of my former students who I’m conditioning for church pianist.
Sorry for the low profile lately. I’ve been recouping from being sick since returning from vacation a week and half ago.
My daughter-in-law requested a violin solo arrangement of Nearer My God to Thee. I finally finished tweaking it! 😉
I enjoyed weaving the melody back and forth from piano to violin. Nearer My God to Thee is a very comforting hymn; making if a nice solo piece for any occasion but especially a funeral.
Sacred violin solo w/ piano accompaniment; 4 pgs. *Price covers two copies.
A nice solo piece for any occasion. The beautiful melody of this hymn flows gently back and forth between the piano and violin. *Bowing & slur marks included for violin.
