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!

 

*CD Giveaway!  Enter below to get a chance to win this CD!

I love finding resources for church pianists!  One of my music composer friends, Mary Lynn Van Gelderen, recently published a  CD of  devotional piano music entitled “I’d Rather Have Jesus“.  Several of the selections are beautifully orchestrated by composer Samuel Joshua.

Hear samples of “I’d Rather Have Jesus CD” HERE

See Mary Lynn Van Gelderen play “Life Again!, ” featured on the CD…written by Mary Lynn and her husband John R. Van Gelderen. Click HERE

Here is a list of each piano solo arrangement (Special note:  Three of the selections are available as choral arrangements only) *All of the printed piano arrangements can be purchased through Gentle Praise.

Life Again!  (choral or free pdf of hymnal version)

I’d Rather Have Jesus (pdf instant download)

No Not One (pdf instant download)

Were You There? (pdf instant download)

Jesus Paid it All (available in the future)

Help Me Win the Lost (choral)

It Is Well (pdf instant download)

The Old Fashioned Way/Whiter Than Snow Medley (coming soon as a free download)

Pentecostal Power (available in the book  “Have Thine Own Way” by Mary Lynn Van Gelderen)

Great is Thy Faithfulness (not available at this time)

Little is Much (pdf instant download)

Have Thine Own Way (available in the book “Have Thine Own Way” by Mary Lynn Van Gelderen)

Knowing Christ (choral)

My Country Tis of Thee (available soon in a new collection by Mary Lynn Van Gelderen and Samuel Joshua)

How to enter contest drawing for FREE CD of I’d Rather Have Jesus:

Copy and paste the link to this article to facebook, twitter (or other social media)… and copy and paste your link with your comment here to validate your posting.

Your name will then be automatically entered in the drawing for a FREE copy of I’d Rather Have Jesus CD. (Please note: comments are moderated but will be posted as soon as I see them throughout the day)

This CD giveaway contest will expire on November 28, 2014 at 8pm EST.  The winner will be contacted via email that same evening and announced in this article.

 **Only available for residents within the continental US

Gentle Praise is an excellent resource for the church pianist!

I’m looking forward to sharing a resource for church pianists this coming week!

This will involve a drawing for a CD giveaway as well!

My latest music writing activities:

Beginning a new advanced Christmas piano solo….not telling the name of the song just yet until I know it’s going to work out 🙂

Also working on several songs by Mina Olgesby that have never been in print.  Excited about this opportunity!

And in my spare time….trying to finish my first congregational arrangement booklet (it will contain ten songs)!

 

Downloadable Link Below

I was going to share a free sampling of left hand improvising ideas for Revive Us Again but I wound up writing a full verse and chorus of this challenging hymn.  It’s not a hard hymn to play but difficult to dress up for congregational singing.

The first line of the hymn is basically the same chord!  Most church pianists realize that they have to adhere to the chord structure in the hymnal when playing for congregational singing IF their congregation sings parts…to prevent chord clashes.  I can’t help but add chord substitutions on this hymn!  Our congregation doesn’t sing parts so I can have fun!  🙂

I’m sharing several improvising ideas for Revive Us Again (congregational style).  I tried to liven up the 1st line of music by creating broken chord tones and alternating bass notes within the same chord. A broken chord tone pattern already exists in the hymnal version but offered a little different one and added a little more variety than the hymnal version.

Revive-Us-Again-congregational-or-prelude

With Thanksgiving right around the corner…I thought I’d share a free advanced piano prelude arrangement of “Showers of Blessing”.

Notice the tempo marking at the beginning.  The rate of speed makes the difference in this piece!  I didn’t realize how much activity there was in my prelude playing until penning this particular one to paper. Wow!  No wonder I’m tired after preludes!  😉

*You can download the pdf version and hear complete audio  at the bottom of this article.

*Click on title to download pdf version of this free piano arrangement:

“Showers of Blessing”

You need to have the Audio Player Plugin installed to use this shortcode

 

 

I’m trying to decide whether or not to  periodically stray from the melody in the congregational accompaniments I’m working on for publication.   I can’t help myself!  It’s more fun to stray from the melody as in the following free congregational accompaniment (excerpt) of Saved, Saved!

This is more of how I would play for congregational singing for Saved, Saved.  (The written music below is the same as the recording)  🙂

You need to have the Audio Player Plugin installed to use this shortcode

 

Click here to download your free copy of “Saved, Saved!” congregational accompaniment verse excerpt!

 

In my opinion, “Saved, Saved!” is one of the most awkward hymns to play for the church pianist.

It pays to have large hands for this song! Lots of octave spreads!  But…there IS an art to playing repetitive octaves in a relaxed touch…making it easier on the hand.  (I learned this art by playing classical music with lots of octave action!)

Classical music helps to develop SO many technical moves which can aid the church pianist in hymn playing. (another post!)

To be honest…I  leave out a lot of melody on this particular hymn when accompanying the congregation…freeing up the hand  to provide more of a  supportive accompaniment and to prevent awkward hand movements.

I didn’t stray too far from the melody in this version to prevent church pianists from getting disoriented. (Hee hee) Want a challenge? I’ll have to share the FUN version another time.

I will share a couple of tips via video soon for the following free pdf of “Saved, Saved!” (congregational accompaniment: verse excerpt)

Click here to download “Saved, Saved!” congregational accompaniment excerpt

Who wants the FUN version sampler?  (VERY advanced)

 

I know…not all church pianists have big hands like Rachmaninoff!  With that in mind…I created alternative fill-ins for the runs in The Love of God advanced piano solo that I just published a couple days ago.

I hope these alternative fill-ins will be more user-friendly for those with small hands.  The whole piece is really written for a pianist with large hands but maybe those of you with smaller hands can adapt this arrangement with these alternative fill-ins.

Click here to download alternative fill-ins

 

 

*Click here to read introduction of diminished and augmented chords to understand the following free handout on augmented examples in hymns.

 

Explanation of the following visual:

When progressing from a I to IV chord…raise the 5th note of the I chord (G) to (G#) making it an augmented I chord which strongly leads into a IV chord.

 

Click here to download a free pdf of the Augmented  Chord Substitution Sheet

 

Just wanted to share a couple of spontaneous prelude transitions that I created today for one of my hymn playing students during their lesson.

She’s wanting more help in the area of prelude transitions…and needed to see examples for transition ideas.

Hope they’re a help to other church pianists too!

Prelude Transition tips:

When creating a prelude transition consider the following:

1.  The time signature you’re coming from and going to

2.  The key signature you’re coming from and going to

3.  Mood of approaching song

4.  Add a ritard toward end of first song before the transition to allow breathing space for the player and listeners.