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 🙂
I never really noticed the time signature change in “Just When I Need Him Most” until today.
We sang this at our church last night for a congregational and the people REALLY enjoyed singing it. The words are so comforting!
It’s just one of those seasons at our church where there’s a lot of physical needs and such a song reminds us of Jesus’ ever-present help 🙂
We sang this song in a prayerful mood with a slow walking speed so I had time to add left hand flowing patterns similar to the following free pdf of “Just When I Need Him Most”.
Most importantly, notice the key change at the chorus….but the flow will still be pretty much the same 🙂 I actually changed to 6/8 timing one measure earlier than the hymnal shows… because it felt more natural to not hold as long before entering the chorus.
Maybe this will help a beginning church pianist to see what fill-ins could be used for a slow to medium hymn in 6/8 or 9/8 timing… such as my arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus”.
Warning: This arrangement is NOT intended for piano solo use… due to missing melody notes at the beginning of the chorus…unless of course you know how to add them in 😉
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 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.
“The Sands of Time are Sinking” dates back to the 19th century. Anne Cousin, the daughter of a doctor and later the wife of a Pastor, wrote this hymn based on letters and deathbed sayings of another Pastor name Samuel Rutherford. The original hymn had nineteen verses! Anne was careful to not copy Samuel’s words verbatim. She used poetic images of her own to replace some of Samuel’s sayings.
Anne’s purpose of this hymn was to show the “beautiful Christian reflection on death and what comes after, and on the beauty of the Savior.” Kevin White
What a beautiful hymn to use for a funeral service. Someone in the recent past asked if I knew of a piano arrangement for this song. My online search yielded no results. The individual needed the song pronto…so in a few spare minutes….I jotted this arrangement down and provided the person with the following hymn.
Maybe other church pianists can make use of this free hymn for a funeral service or general worship.
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.
Finally! My first time to play for the Bridal processional without having to condense off the top of my head!
The Bridal entrance and then the introduction of the couple followed by recessional… are what I consider the highlights of a wedding ceremony.
Both of these highlights are so short lived…making it a challenge for the pianist or organist who usually have to condense or shorten the music selection.
One of my dear friends just got married this past Saturday and wanted Canon in D as the Bridal song. I tinkered around with an intro and also tried making Canon in D sound regal instead of laid back. Of course the idea for an intro didn’t hit me until a few hours before the wedding rehearsal. I am so use to playing the traditional version…so I had to write out the condensed version.
This particular arrangement was meant for the Bride only….so it’s shorter than most wedding selections.
*Tip: I like to taper off (play gradually softer) when the bride gets closer to the front of the auditorium.
Piano arrangement; Bridal processional only. Approx. 40 seconds. One page.
Ever had trouble condensing the traditional Bridal March? Look no more! This short and to the point selection fits the occasion!
A nice trumpet fanfare for the piano introduction...makes for an exciting grand entrance.
Just to remind my readers about the recent publication of “He” (early advanced piano solo) and “Were You There” (advanced piano solo)…both have been entered in the Sacred Music Contest on Sheet Music Plus’ website. The song with the most profit through April 11th, 2017…wins the cash prize.
Thanks to those who have already purchased one or both of these arrangements!
IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Special deal for those who purchase either or both contest songs from Sheet Music Plus during the Sacred Music Contest selling period…now through April 11, 2017.
You can choose one free arrangement from our music store for each contest song you purchase. (Maximum: two free arrangements) *Doesn’t include offsite arrangements.
Just email us your receipt from Sheet Music Plus and your choice(s) of arrangements from our music store.
The contest selling period ends April 11, 2017 and you have until April 20th to email your receipt for your free arrangement(s).
If I win either or both categories….I’ll be using the cash prize to help towards attending the annual Composer Symposium in Atlanta, Ga. this June.
Faye Lopez highly recommended this event to me several years ago and I’m finally going! 🙂 Very excited about learning more to enhance my music writing!
“He” early advanced piano arrangement can be reviewed or purchasedHERE
“Were You There” very advanced piano arrangement can be reviewed or purchased HERE
Special note: “He” is under copyright so unable to provide video of entire arrangement.
Video of the Very Advanced Version of Where You There…
I keep forgetting about sharing this advanced piano arrangement of My Savior’s Love. Thought I’d better do so in time for some of you to learn for Easter 🙂
I published this one in 2009…yeah…and forgot all about it until recently when one of my facebook friends mentioned liking the arrangement and someone today asked if it was available. That put me on a search!
It took a while for me to locate the original file but came across it tonight. So…hope it can be used by some of you church pianists out there! 🙂
