| The Church Pianist |
| A help ministry for church pianists all over the world! |
Finished it! Hope you enjoy this free Christmas piano arrangement of “In the Bleak Midwinter”. The arrangement is written at an advanced level.
Click on the title to download free arrangement:
(image below is for viewing purposes only)
Click here to hear youtube video of this free piano arrangement of “In the Bleak Midwinter”
“We Plow the Fields and Scatter” may not be a familiar hymn to some circles but this is a great song for Thanksgiving or anytime of year!
One of my readers requested piano accompaniment of this song for a trumpet solo… back in July of this year and I finally finished it.
I had a lot of fun with this one! Thanks for this song suggestion Cherie!
Just to let everyone know….working on a FREE advanced Christmas piano solo of “In the Bleak Mid Winter”.
Hope to publish it by no later than Wednesday of this coming week…just started it yesterday.
I have two ideas for the introduction but can’t decide which one to use. I like them both!
Looking forward to sharing this free piano arrangement with you!
I have posted audios for my piano solo arrangements of Amazing Grace & Saviour Like a Shepherd (from the Funeral Collection).. on youtube.
Several of my readers have asked if I could post all of the arrangements from my Funeral Collection on youtube. I will do so as time permits. Thanks for your interest!
These arrangements can also be used as offertories, vocal solos or violin specials! Saviour Like a Shepherd would also be appropriate for a wedding 😉
Playing for funerals is not the easiest task for a church pianist; especially if the deceased person was a close friend. Over the past year, I’ve had to play at several funerals of people I knew very well.
God has given me the grace to make it through these funeral services. I like to play songs that comfort the family as well as myself. I avoid too slow of a tempo on purpose…making it less of a sad tone and more bearable for the family. Hymns with a medium tempo/mood such as Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, He Hideth My Soul and Like a River Glorious are a few of what I call comforting tunes to play at such a time. Check out my piano funeral collection consisting of about 18 minutes playing time.
Several readers have emailed me lately asking for funeral tips.
Automatically I think of the prelude (music played before the funeral). The length of the prelude can vary according to many factors. For example, the last funeral I played for took place at a funeral home. The family of the deceased person had many relatives that attended the viewing across the hall from the chapel. The funeral home provided music over their intercom system during the viewing time. We worked it out for me to start playing the prelude once the people started entering the chapel which was about twenty minutes prior to the service.
Playing for a funeral at a church can vary depending on if the viewing is held at the church or not. At our church, the sound man provides soft taped music in the background during the viewing and sometimes a little longer prior to the service; to avoid having me play for an extended period of time. The background music is just a collection of suitable recorded instrumental music from our church services. I usually begin playing about 15 to 20 minutes before the service.
Unless you all do things differently, the immediate family members start filing into the area of the funeral service right before time to start the service. This is one of the most emotional times of the funeral. I make sure I continue providing music during this difficult time to avoid an awkward time of silence. I finish playing when I see the last member of the family being seated or when the pastor looks at me and steps up to the pulpit to let me know he’s ready…whichever comes first.
Once again, at the end of the service, I begin playing when the family begins to exit and continue until the majority of the crowd disperses.
Some pianists have asked me where to expect the soloist(s) to sing. Depending on the order of service, the special music can be placed just about anywhere. Here are the different places I’ve seen vocal specials during a service: at the beginning after family members are seated, after an initial welcome and remarks from pastor, after pastor’s message, after a prayer, for the conclusion of the service (especially if it was a favorite song of the deceased person).
Playing for a funeral service is the church pianist’s opportunity to minister to both family and friends during a difficult time through God’s gift of music.
“Christ Arose” is a very well-known hymn that most churches only use around Easter. We use this beautiful hymn periodically throughout the year as a reminder of Christ’s glorious resurrection.
Robert Lowry, a well-known hymn composer/preacher, wrote “Christ Arose”
Click on song title below to download your free congregational arrangement:
Christ Arose in A Flat (lower)
Just wanted to announce to my readers that the piano funeral collection is now available in the music store.
In the near future, the songs will also be sold separately.
Hear audio excerpts from several of the hymns below:
Amazing Grace & Saviour Like a Shepherd
Just so everyone knows…I’m working feverishly…trying to finalize the piano funeral collection today. Due to being sick, I fell behind a little but now editing the last song in the collection today!
We will be visiting our grandson tomorrow so I’m hoping to publish the piano funeral collection tonight or no later than tomorrow night.
This versatile; nine piece collection can be used for: funeral prelude, individual offertories or as vocal specials due to the included lyrics in the piano score of each hymn.
Well, back to work…almost finished!
I have been grabbing my rare spare moments….trying to finish the “funeral collection” for church pianists!
I hope to complete it by no later than mid-March. All the arrangements except for one have been entered in Finale. Now the finishing touches begin such as: key changes between each song; dynamics,visible lyrics for each song to help the church pianist focus on the message of each song. Each arrangement in the funeral collection can also stand alone as an offertory.
Each piece is written in (hopefully) a simplistic yet artistic style…making it easier for the average pianist to prepare with minimal practice. Most of the songs are in easy keys such as: C, F and G Major with the exception of at least two in the key of E flat Major.
The funeral collection will consist of at least fifteen minutes playing time.
Looking forward to publishing this collection soon!
Just thought I’d let you all know what’s going on in my little corner of the world 🙂
I’m trying to complete the funeral collection I’ve talked about for the past 5 or so months. The collection is almost finished! The hymns in this funeral collection are songs of comfort..played from the heart.
We have had so many funerals this past year at our church and so these songs have been soothing to me during the arranging process.
Song list so far for this funeral collection:
Rock of Ages, Amazing Grace, Trusting Jesus Medley, Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us…(this amounts to about 8 minutes of playing thus far). I hope to add a couple more.
Writing has come slow for me lately but it’s flowing more now 🙂 I hope the flow continues!
I just finished the hand-written organ accompaniment for my recent free congregational arrangement of “Amazing Grace”. Hope to publish it for FREE by this weekend. I even created an audio of the piano and organ part including the vocal score…turned out real nice! Looking forward to sharing all of this soon!
Until then…may God bless you all as you seek to honor Him in your music ministry.