Bell sounds add life to Christmas carols.

Here are several examples of different
bell ingredients I used in my arrangements
on the “Simply Christmas” CD… mentioned
in a previous article.

Click here for free Sounds of Christmas  for piano

Explanation for the Examples:

1. Joy to the World (right hand bell tones)
Notice the intervals of the bell tones and try
in several different keys for reinforced learn-
ing and versatile application.

2. Joy to the World (right hand bell clusters)
I simply add a ‘D’ to a C chord to create
a dissonant sound for the bell effect.

3. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
This is one of my favorite chime sounds.
Notice how all the notes in the right hand
chords are a 4th apart. This is how to create
the chime sound!

4. O Little Town of Bethlehem (bell echo)
Bell echos add a sweet; dreamy texture to
lullaby-type melodies.
The bell echo occurs in the right hand (last measure).
It’s just a broken octave ending with a nice harmony note
occuring a 3rd under the broken octave.
Remember: 3rd and 6ths create beautiful touches of
harmony.
I just used the ‘Alberti bass’ pattern in the left hand.

Alberti bass means a broken chord in this order:
“Bottom~top~middle~top”

Hopefully, you can incorporate these Sounds of Christmas

into your own Christmas carols this year.

 

 

Anyone in need of an intermediate

christmas piano arrangement?

 I arranged this song for one of my students.

 It’s well suited for a small church.

The chorus can be repeated if needed.

You can use this free arrangement as offertory or prelude special.

Click the following title for a  free piano arrangement of

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

The following free christmas piano arrangement of Away in a Manger is suitable for a children’s choir or can stand alone as a short offertory.

If you’re a church pianist of a small church like me…then you probably create or tweak a written Christmas program that best suits the number of people available for a program.

In the next article…I will deal with tips for Christmas programs.  Some of the tips will refer to today’s free Christmas arrangement…so have it handy for my next post.

Click here for free arrangement of :  Away in a Manger (for children’s choir or short offertory)

Funerals are not easy for any of us. Death has visited our church family twice in the last two weeks…both very unexpected.  I’m just thankful that both men knew the Lord.

I’ll just share some thoughts with you on playing for funerals.

Think about the mood of music needed for this occasion. For me…I want to play hymns that soothe the broken hearts of many people.

Varying the speed of hymns adds a nice touch. I try not to play too many slow hymns in a row… to avoid a sense of despair. In my mind, I’m trying to encourage the family that is so overwhelmed with sorrow. I want to remind them that God cares… and their loved one is in heaven (if that loved one had asked Jesus into their heart).

Here’s a list of hymns I would play before the funeral starts.  Maybe this will help those of you who have a hard time deciding what to play for a funeral.

Check out the Funeral Hymn Collection also available in our music store.

Abide With Me

Blessed Assurance

Jesus is the Sweetest Name I Know

He Hideth My Soul

Does Jesus Care?

God Leads Us Along

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

Simply Trusting

It is Well

Wonderful Peace

My Saviour First of All

Draw Me Nearer

Near to the Heart of God

Blessed Quietness

In the Sweet By and By

There’s Just Something About That Name

Zion’s Hill

Beulah Land

How_Beautiful_Heaven_Must_Be  page one

How Beautiful Heaven Must Be       page two

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

*Click on the red underlined hymns above for a free piano solo arrangement and blue underlined hymns for arrangement from the online church pianist music store.

Ever notice how it’s the old hymns of faith that soothe our hearts during such times of need?  I thank the Lord for such a strong heritage of music.

Playing for a funeral is just another way for the church pianist to minister to the hearts of his or her church family.

 

 

This is a very easy Christmas program I put together several years ago for our church. 

We like to involve as many ages of people as possible. Here are the groups of people we used.

Narrators: young teenagers

Adult choir

Children’s choir for: “Away in a Manger”

The manger scene characters were young children in costume.

The actors did not have speaking parts…just showed action as indicated on the program order.

Click here for: Free easy Christmas program

Is your church in need of an easy Christmas program?  I just found one tonight while surfing the web.

Go to the following link to see and hear the music and to view the narration script. The easy two part choir arrangements are beautiful!  The instrument part on “O Come O Come Emmanuel” sounds so pretty.

This would be an excellent program for any size church!

Title of the program: The Story of the Carols

I wanted to share this free piano arrangement of The First Noel.

Natalie Wickham of Music Matters Blog arranged this easy piano duet of The First Noel. Natalie gave me permission to post an audio of her arrangement but I will share the link to her blog for this nice piano duet.

This free arrangement would be nice for a beginning piano student to play with a teacher or more advanced piano student.

The arrangement is short but would work well in the smaller church. You could always play it two times for a longer offertory.

Click below for a free copy of The First Noel:

http://musicmattersblog.com/2005/10/13/the-first-noel-piano-duet/

Audio:  The First Noel

I have thorougly enjoyed playing through the numerous free Christmas piano samples

on Alfred Music Publishing Co.’s website. 

Here are the rest of my special finds on Alfred’s website.

(I’ve included an audio sample for most of the following piano samples.)

Simply Christmas (Early intermediate for the adult hobbyists) by Dan Coates

Audio: O Holy Night  Traditional style; well arranged

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=30041

What Can I Play for Christmas? (Intermediate) by Cindy Berry

Audio: The First Noel  Nice variety!  I love the introduction.

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=33607

The Christmas Suite Collection-NEW!   (intermediate to late intermediate) by Various arrangers

Audio: What Child is This?  I love this!

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=33471

Magic of Christmas–Book 2  (late intermediate to early advanced) by Dennis Alexander

Audio: Still, Still, Still (piano duet)  Very creative and peaceful 🙂

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=piano%20christmas%20duets

 Carol of the Bells  (intermediate) piano duet by Catherine Rollin

Audio: Carol of the Bells (piano duet)  Very structured for the adult hobbyists 🙂

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=18976

Celebrated Christmas Duets-Book 3 (early intermediate to intermediate) by Robert D. Vandall

No audio available. Sample music only shows one piano part but please view music at following link.

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=31463

Famous and Fun Christmas-Book 5  (intermediate) by Carol Matz

Audio: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear  Simple but very structured for even a late elementary level.

 http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=23222

Christmas Carols for Today (late intermediate to early advanced) by Carol Tornquist

Audio: How Great Our Joy  Very lively!

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=33511

Go, Tell it on the Mountain (advanced piano duets) by Victor Labenske

No Audio available (O Little Town of Bethlehem sounds beautiful!  View it at the following link.)

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=24436

Silent Night (intermediate) piano duet by Sharon Aaronson

Audio: Silent Night (piano duet)    Simple but beautiful with altered melody!

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=18978

Hope you enjoyed viewing these free Christmas piano samples as much as I did!

Are you looking  for piano Christmas offertories? Well…be prepared to shop a while!

A couple times of year, I receive a free sampler from Alfred Publishing Co.

The free sampler consists of Alfred’s ‘just published’ Christmas piano music as well as previous publications.

Each piano book series list a sample page for preview. The following link/s show even more sample pages but

having the sampler offers a simple overview of all Alfred’s Christmas piano products.  For example: I discovered

the group of links listed below (special finds) by entering the product number from the 2009 Holiday Sampler booklet.

You can order your free copy of Alfred’s 2009 Holiday Planner by emailing them at: keyboard@alfred.com

Simply request the : 2009 Holiday Planner.  (Also include your mailing address).

My favorite part to the following links…you can print the sample pages in large enough print!

Have fun looking at all the Christmas piano music! There’s more to the list on the next article.

 

Book Series: 

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/General.aspx?pageid=340 

                                                           

My special finds on alfred.com/piano   *(Audio Samples included before each link)*

Christmas Memories-Book 2 and 3 (intermediate to late intermediate) by Melody Bober

Audio: Hark the Herald Angels Sing

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=28414^28415^28416

Especially for Christmas -Book 3 (late intermediate)   by Dennis Alexander

Audio: Joy to the World/Angels We Have Heard on High

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=31387^31388^31389

It’s Time for Christmas (Advanced) by Ken Renfrow

 Audio: What Child is This?   Audio: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

 http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=33622

Great Piano Christmas Hits (Intermediate/Advanced) by Dan Coates

Audio: Angels We Have Heard on High

http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/SearchResult.aspx?keywords=AF9681

There’s so much more to share! 

Part two of this article will include the rest of my findings on http://www.alfred.com/piano

Managing a website is an ever learning experience for me.

I’ve recently added audio samples from my CD: Simply Christmas

Just click on the navigation button at the top of the screen entitled:

Simply Christmas CD