I periodically downsize my sacred music library and have several sacred piano and vocal books available. Just click on image above for more details.

I never really noticed the time signature change in “Just When I Need Him Most” until today.

We sang this at our church last night for a congregational and the people REALLY enjoyed singing it.  The words are so comforting!

It’s just one of those seasons at our church where there’s a lot of physical needs and such a song reminds us of Jesus’ ever-present help 🙂

We sang this song in a prayerful mood with  a slow walking speed so I had time to add left hand flowing patterns similar to the following free pdf of “Just When I Need Him Most”.

Most importantly, notice the key change at the chorus….but the flow will still be pretty much the same 🙂  I actually changed to 6/8 timing one measure earlier than the hymnal shows… because it felt more natural to not hold as long before entering the chorus.

Maybe this will help a beginning church pianist to see what fill-ins could be used for a slow to medium hymn in 6/8 or 9/8 timing… such as my arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus”.

Warning: This arrangement is NOT intended for piano solo use… due to missing melody notes at the beginning of the chorus…unless of course you know how to add them in 😉

Click on song title for free download: Just When I Need Him Most

I have always loved the words to A Passion for Souls by Herbert G. Tovey but have always wished for a different melody.

While looking over the words last week…a melody begin to flow in my head and I quickly penned it to paper.

At first I thought of writing it as a solo but while singing through it with a friend I soon realized a harmony part would be nice 🙂

My friend and I sang it this morning at church.  Here’s the video.

I’ll be out of town this coming week but plan to publish it when I return.

Just published the Easy to Play Congregational Collection One today!  I will be out of town this upcoming week but will supply video or audio samples for this collection when I return.

Easy-to-Play Congregational Collection-One

Early intermediate to intermediate piano congregational arrangements, 16 pgs. Jenifer wrote these arrangements in an easy-to-learn fashion for the beginning church pianist. You'll find these arrangements to be fairly structured making for minimal practice. Song list: Amazing Grace, Day by Day, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, I Need Thee Every Hour, It is Well, Nothing but the Blood, Only a Sinner, O Worship the King, Satisfied, Trust and Obey. *Amazing Grace contains optional key change into Grace Greater Than Our Sin

Price: $14.00

Here’s a visual sampling of the Collection

So many times I have wanted to play “A Passion for Souls” for the invitation but not many people know this song…at least not in our church. The melody is ok but felt like it needed a face-lift.

I like to play familiar songs during invitation…hymns that the people know since I play background music during invitation. (I miss the days of  hearing the congregation sing during invitation).

Back to topic!  I thought…if I could re-work the melody on this song…maybe it would revive a long lost hymn…at least for our church 🙂

So…a new melody to “A Passion for Souls” flowed out of my mind during a recent spurt of inspiration last week. Hope the song is a blessing to you.

I’m singing it as a duet with a friend this Sunday morning. (The arrangement can either be a duet or solo) I’ll share a video of the duet asap.

Here’s a sampling of sheet music for “A Passion for Souls” which I will publish next week. (Click on image below for larger view)

One of my former piano students approached me at church a couple months ago and asked if I would write her an offertory arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus”.

Well…I finally got around to it! 🙂  But what a surprise!  This arrangement just flowed out of my little brain this week and I quickly penned it to paper.   It’s not always that easy for me to arrange a hymn!

I tried to arrange this piano solo well within  her early intermediate level…hoping she could learn it soon.  Even though I’m an advanced pianist…I wouldn’t mind playing this for offertory.

I Must Tell Jesus

Early intermediate sacred piano solo, 2 pgs. Approx. length 1:24

Price: $3.00

So much music is racing through my little brain…can’t get it on paper fast enough!

Just had this one race through my mind this morning of “I Must Tell Jesus”.  I’m writing this for one of my former students who I’m conditioning for church pianist.

I Must Tell Jesus

“The Sands of Time are Sinking” dates back to the 19th century.  Anne Cousin, the daughter of a doctor and later the wife of a Pastor, wrote this hymn based on letters and deathbed sayings of another Pastor name Samuel Rutherford. The original hymn had nineteen verses! Anne was careful to not copy Samuel’s words verbatim.  She  used poetic images of her own to replace some of Samuel’s sayings.

Anne’s purpose of this hymn was to show the “beautiful Christian reflection on death and what comes after, and on the beauty of the Savior.” Kevin White

What a beautiful hymn to use for a funeral service.  Someone in the recent past asked if I knew of a piano arrangement for this song.  My online search yielded no results. The individual needed the song pronto…so in a few spare minutes….I jotted this arrangement down and provided the person with the following hymn.

Maybe other church pianists can make use of this free hymn for a funeral service or general worship.

Click song title to download free arrangement: The Sands of Time are Sinking

For the past couple of months…I’ve been creating “ready-made’ hymn arrangements for some of my church pianist students who are need of improvised hymns for congregational singing. (Can also be used as piano solo)

These hymn arrangements are nothing more than a copy of a hymn from the hymnal with my added improvised notes in red.

Just curious, would this meet the need for others as well? I’m considering adding them to our online music store if there’s enough interest.

The cost would be less than my regular “printed arrangements”.

Here’s a FREE copy of one of these ready-made hymn arrangements. (Also trying to decide what to call them….any suggestions?)

*Also…are you all ok with it being handwritten just as it appears in free arrangement below?  

*Special note: THANKS for the feedback! After reading the comments here and on facebook….I will be putting these type of easy-to-play congregationals into print instead of by hand. I will do away with the original notes from the hymnbook and ONLY type in my (hopefully) easy-to-play congregational/piano solo arrangement. Thanks again for your helpful comments!  I do have (more involved ) congregational piano arrangements for sale HERE.

Ready-Made Hymns for the Church Pianist

Photo by Jackie Cook

Sorry for the low profile lately. I’ve been recouping from being sick since returning from vacation a week and half ago.

My daughter-in-law requested a violin solo arrangement of Nearer My God to Thee. I finally finished tweaking it! 😉

I enjoyed weaving the melody back and forth from piano to violin. Nearer My God to Thee is a very comforting hymn; making if a nice solo piece for any occasion but especially a funeral.

Nearer My God to Thee

Sacred violin solo w/ piano accompaniment; 4 pgs. *Price covers two copies. A nice solo piece for any occasion. The beautiful melody of this hymn flows gently back and forth between the piano and violin. *Bowing & slur marks included for violin.

Price: $4.50