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I just posted another new late elementary piano arrangement of “Gesu Bambino“. This Christmas piano solo was written for one of my very industrious late beginner students several years ago and I just discovered it in my pile of files 🙂
My student really enjoyed playing this piece because of the flowing texture.
Just to let my church pianist readers know I just published a new advanced Christmas piano solo of “What Child is This”. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this Christmas piece!
My keyboard of 76 keys is used to record the complete audios of my arrangements but this particular arrangement contains a fast arpeggio run that goes beyond the length of my keyboard.
So… a youtube video of this piano arrangement will be available sometime soon.
Here is a free easy choir arrangement of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. This is an easy two-verse arrangement for young girls and ladies’ SA group.
The young girls sing the first two lines of each verse and the ladies (soprano and alto) join on the third line.
Not a lot of prep time involved in learning this easy selection….allowing the singers to focus on the message.
I wrote this arrangement to go with the easy Christmas Program found at the following link:
Just to let my readers know that my arrangement of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was just published today.
The arrangement is available in our online music store at the following link:
Advanced Piano Solos: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Or…purchase it directly below:
Our church is presenting an easy Christmas program on Jesus’ birth this year. I have shared this program before but have since revised it. The revised copy is also color-coded for a more “user friendly” format.
I had hoped to offer all of the music to this program in my store this year but haven’t had time to finish them all. Hopefully…by the end of this week…several of the arrangements will be available in the music store.
Please click on the following title to download a free copy of this easy Christmas program entitled…
Available songs for this program:
O Little Town of Bethlehem (young girls & ladies’ SA) *FREE!
Angels We Have Heard on High (children’s choir & adult choir) *includes background music
I have two Christmas arrangements that will be published very soon!
One is an early advanced arrangement of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and the other is an easy two-part ladies’ arrangement of “What Child is This?”
Also working on other Christmas arrangements of various sorts that I hope to publish in time for this year.
I’ve been writing ALOT lately..getting ready for our church’s Christmas program.
Our church choir is presenting the “Christmas Story”. Several choir members have been chosen as narrators to present the Luke 2 passage. Christmas carols have been inserted at appropriate times to support the scripture. We also have the younger kids singing a couple songs and using them for the manger scene characters.
Even simple programs require ample practice in order to present an effective message on the birth of Christ. I’m SO excited about this year’s program! Since the program is rather easy..we’re adding a few touches to make it extra special.
More details soon 🙂
I have always loved the Christmas carol entitled, “What Child is This”. The music and words seem to go hand in hand…making for an unforgettable hymn.
Here’s Letha, my student that passed away this past spring…playing my arrangement of “What Child is This”. She played it at one of our local nursing homes last December.
This particular arrangement is now owned by Lorenz Corporation. who recently bought out Soundforth.
Due to the recent home going of one of my piano students…I’ve been preparing music for her funeral. I came across these two songs that I thought I’d share with other church pianists in case they have not heard of them. Both of these pieces are VERY comforting and appropriate for any occasion but especially for funerals.
His Way is Perfect by Betsy Kistler
Be Not Afraid by Craig Courtney
Click here to see PDF sample of
Here’s the only youtube recording I could find.
Recently, I’ve been working on an arrangement of “Rock of Ages”. The introduction contains what I call “weighty chords”…chords with three or more notes. Thus, the following tip…
Scenario: A pianist sees a chord with three or more notes…(brain computes)…HEAVY touch! Your brain thinks….I can’t possibly mash all those notes down at once without attacking them 😉 Word of caution: Relax and apply gentle even pressure as though you’re lightly kneading dough… to avoid a “chunky” or “weighted” sound…especially when the full chords occur on the weak beats.
For example, in 4/4 time, the 1st and 3rd beats are naturally accented. Therefore the 2nd and 4th beats are weaker. In 3/4 time…only the first beat of each measure receives the accent. Why? To produce a more shapely rhythm and to avoid a mechanical/laboured sound.
The following excerpt is from an arrangement that will be included in a “Funeral Collection” which I hope to finish within the next several months. Notice the full chords in the left hand. I will give a brief demonstration of a suggested way to interpret these chords…fighting against the natural tendency of “heavy hand” treatment.
Every church pianist probably owns a copy of the traditional “Wedding March”. I’ve personally been wanting a new arrangement of this well used tune. So…I finally finished a new version of the “Wedding March”.
The majority of the weddings that I use this song for…want it to last long enough for the married couple to exit and then transition into another tune for the rest of the wedding party. The bride is usually open to suggestions for this separate song after the wedding march. I usually suggest “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven”…an old hymn tune but very majestic and happy! Of course there are other tunes that work beautifully. (another article) 🙂
I just like the smooth transition from “Wedding March” to “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven”. Here’s an audio sample of this transition…
Wedding March transitioning into Praise My Soul the King of Heaven
It took me forever to find this alternate tune for Praise My Soul the King of Heaven by Mark Andrews. I found that this tune is copyrighted…so I can’t create an arrangement of it. Sorry about that.
An absolutely beautiful two piano arrangement of it is available in “The Wilds” online music store. The following link takes you to their music store. (I couldn’t get the specific page link to work). Once you’re on the main page…click on “product search” on the left and type in “Praise My Soul the King of” to find the two piano arrangement.
