“Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” is a beautiful hymn to use at Christmas time.  This particular hymn contains a lot of accidentals…creating awkward moves for the church pianist.  I will attempt to create smoother harmonic changes making it more user-friendly for the average church pianist.

Editor notes for Part One of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”

Download the free pdf  example here to view as you read the information below.

1. I like to use a ‘G’ natural in place of the ‘G’ sharp on the last word of line one. I just think it sounds better.

2. Notice the chord number labels in line two. Whenever a I chord is lasting more than one beat and moving to a V chord…you can substitute a vi chord in place of the I chord before moving into the V chord.   The vi chord creates a warmer tone.

In plain English…a I chord in the key of D = DF#A and the V chord in the key of D = AC#E

I look forward to sharing more improvising ideas with the rest of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” in part two.

*Keep in mind…the chords in the piano score will not match the four parts from the hymnal version.

I have compiled several of my free Christmas piano arrangements under the ” Free Hymns Pdf” page for easier access. 

 Most church pianists are gearing up for Christmas; searching out Christmas piano arrangements. Hope these free arrangements are a help to your music ministry.

Here’s another nice resource for church pianists.  I found this website not too long ago and thought I’d share it with you. It’s an easy name to remember….pdfpiano.com

The site contains gospel piano solos and piano duets.  Many of the arrangements require minimal practice…making it a nice resource for church pianists with limited practice time.

I announced earlier about the soon coming release of my book entitled: Showers of Blessing. This piano arrangement book is now available through Soundforth. Soundforth did an excellent job putting the book together!

The book contains eight early intermediate sacred arrangements. The final arrangement is a peppy piano duet of Stepping in the Light.

Here are sample audios for each arrangement…

America the Beautiful

A Shelter in the Time of Storm

Come Thou Fount

It is Well with My Soul

Onward Christian Soldiers

Showers of Blessing

Stepping in the Light  (duet)

What Child is This

Busy times…but still here 🙂   I’d like to share a free patriotic  piano arrangement with my church pianist readers.  My Country Tis of Thee is a very old hymn. The author of the melody is unknown but the words were written by Samuel Francis Smith.  

My Country Tis of Thee (Audio of free piano arrangement)

I enjoy playing Canon in D for weddings.  Recently, I added a piano solo arrangement of  Canon in D to the music store. (store offline due to construction)

Here’s a group of my piano students and myself playing a piano quintet arrangement of Canon in D, plus a violinist.

I hope to post an article by Saturday.  Our oldest son just got engaged and we’ve had company. I”m also playing for a wedding this weekend….not my son’s 🙂

How many of you are playing for a wedding anytime soon and could use a free arrangement for a wedding?

Hi!  This week I’m working on several new arrangements to offer in the music store.

I recently posted “America Medley” piano duo in the piano ensemble section of the store. It’s actually more of a late-intermediate level.

I’ve also added a patriotic advanced piano  solo of “The Star Spangled Banner”.

Audio excerpt of America Medley

Wow!  After writing this piano arrangement of “O Holy Night”, I discovered that it was originally written in 4/4 time.

I like it in 6/8 time. It gives it a more flamboyant movement.

Here is part 2 of the free piano arrangement of “O Holy Night”.

O Holy Night in A Flat page two through four

Part 1 of “O Holy Night in A Flat Major can be downloaded from the following link:

O Holy Night Page One

O Holy Night has a wide note range! As a church pianist, I usually have to lower this song for vocalists.

Maybe you can use  this simple piano arrangement as either a piano solo or vocal accompaniment.

This is part one of O Holy Night.

O_ Holy_ Night_ in _A_ Flat

O Holy Night Part Two