During choir practice yesterday afternoon…our choir was practicing “Faith is the Victory” in unison.
I noticed it was just SO awkward trying to grab all the melody notes…especially during the verse!
Each sentence of the verse starts on a fast note (eighth note) making it almost impossible to keep up with the melody. I thought, “The choir KNOWS the melody…why not delete the first word of each sentence to alleviate the awkwardness!?! (Exception: I’ll play the first word of the song to allow for secure entry) 🙂
My mind devised a plan to ease up my old moving hands 😉 Time to have some fun! Just stay within the vicinity of the melody and you won’t get AS lost 😉
Let the singers do the work!
The result: (Download the free pdf version of “Faith is the Victory” below)
I was able to adapt When I Survey Ensemble to a two piano arrangement. I know not every church has three pianos in addition to flute and clarinet but hope this arrangement of When I Survey will be more feasible for the church pianist(s).
We have two pianos (one grand plus one digital piano) at our church on opposite ends of the stage. I’m going to add strings and have one of our pianists play the digital for the strings. I’m bringing in two… 76 key keyboards and placing them facing me at the grand piano. The flutes and clarinet will play from the front pew facing the pianos. I have found it easier to stay together when positioning the instruments as close as possible to each other with the pianists facing each or maybe side view (depending on the space) in order to see each other’s movements for unified playing.
I’m sharing a “buy it now” and preview of the two piano version below. Click on the image to view a sample page from each piano part.
Intermediate to late intermediate sacred piano duo (two pianos) 4 pages per piano. *Adapted from "When I Survey Palm Sunday Ensemble" Also available as Three Pianos with flute and clarinet
Early intermediate to Advanced Ensemble
Includes: Three Pianos (Piano One: Early Advanced, Piano Two: Late Intermediate, Piano Three: Early Intermediate)
One flute clarinet or Two Flutes (2nd flute can replace clarinet)
*Piano 3 is optional and a violin can replace flute #1
View sample pages by clicking on product image.
10 Late intermediate to early advanced piano congregational arrangements. 37 pages
Songs include: And Can it Be, At the Cross, Come Thou Fount, Heaven Came Down, Higher Ground, I Shall Know Him (My Saviour First of All), It's Just Like His Great Love, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place, Near the Cross, What a Friend We Have in Jesus)
*Special note: The arrangements in this booklet do not support the four-part singing found in most hymnals. *Other suggested uses: vocal solos, violin specials, unison choir specials. **Another special note: These arrangements can not stand alone as piano solos since some of the melody is absent during the piano accompaniment.
Price: $16.00
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Congregational piano accompaniment, late intermediate to early advanced, 4pgs Contains two verses and two choruses.
*Supports unison or soprano and tenor voice parts. Not intended for four part singing.
Here’s a very festive sounding two piano Christmas arrangement which I wrote last year. I already published it on Sheet Music Plus last year and just now remembering to plug it into my online store. I thoroughly enjoyed playing this duo with a friend on facebook live a year ago. I’ve included a video of myself playing with my keyboard recording 🙂
Advanced two piano Christmas arrangement by Jenifer Cook
10 pages, Approx. length: 4:00
Great piece for offertory or recital! A very festive sounding selection with lots of contrast!
The performers will appreciate the balanced interchange between parts.
