VERY excited about this beautiful song, “We Have a Saviour Who Cares” by Mina Oglesby!

You and your congregation will be blessed by this heart-warming song which reminds believers of God’s constant presence in their  lives.

A very appropriate song for those going through a difficult time…who need that extra encouragement….to know that God cares!

The following video was recorded before the written arrangement took place so I will try to provide a more accurate recording asap but this will give you a general idea of the song.

We Have a Saviour Who Cares

Vocal solo or duet (medium range) 8 pgs. *Price covers two copies * No audio included. Video below. Heart-touching melody and words by Mina Ogelsby. You and your congregation will be encouraged by this uplifting song about God's abundant love. *See youtube video link below to hear this song. This recording took place before my written version on sale above..so it's not an exact note replication but close enough.

Price: $5.00

So glad to have finally finished this collection of Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements! I always enjoy writing in an accompaniment fashion…much more can be played than the melody 🙂

I may have strayed more from melody in this second collection but not enough to lose your congregation 😉

Hope you enjoy this collection!  A special thanks to the John W. Peterson company for working with me to include “Heaven Came Down” which I REALLY had fun writing!

Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements (Booklet Two)

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

Just started revival meetings with Alton Beal this week to last through Wednesday.

My daughter-in-law will be helping me with accompanying this week so I wrote this arrangement (I Shall Know Him)… for her to accompany the vocal solo for tonight.

The vocal soloist happens to take a lot of freedom with the text …lots of ebb and flow. So I freed the pianist from the melody to allow more freedom for the pianist and soloist.

Wanted to share this free piano/vocal solo arrangement  for “I Shall Know Him” before running errands!

Click on title to download free arrangement: I Shall Know Him

You need to have the Audio Player Plugin installed to use this shortcode

I’m on Greg Howlett’s email list and just received an email from him offering his piano arrangement of “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” for FREE at the following link:

Free Arrangements

As stated by Greg: “You might recognize this arrangement because it is an adaption of a longer version I recorded of this song on Quiet Place. I hear from people often who want arrangements from that album and this is the most requested song.”

Here is Greg playing it on youtube:

I’m re-organizing my growing collection of music and am parting with some Christmas books I used when I worked with the children’s music ministry at various churches.

So…am posting the following Christmas music for sale on our “Used Music for Sale” page.

Also posting an intermediate piano solo Christmas book 🙂

Several of my church pianist readers have requested an easier alternate ending for the piano arrangement of Holy Holy Holy.

So…I’m offering it for FREE below as a pdf printable version.  This will replace page 3 & 4 of the Advanced version of Holy Holy Holy making it accessible for early advanced pianists!

HOLY HOLY HOLY_Page_3_FREE

*Link for full arrangement below:

Music Store  Advanced Piano Solos

I published a late intermediate arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen a couple  years ago.  I was needing an early intermediate arrangement of this Christmas song for one of my piano students to play for recital this year…so…got up around 5 am last week and this one just flowed.

It’s not very long because we like short and sweet recitals 😉  The shorter solo also allows time for the student to learn a piano duet with me for the recital.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Early intermediate Christmas piano solo, 2 pgs. Approx. 1:00 Great recital piece or short offertory! This uniquely crafted arrangement begins and ends with a flair!

Price: $2.75

Getting excited!  Finishing up my 9th out of 10 congregational accompaniments for Congregational Hymn Accompaniments Booklet Two!

The 10th arrangement is almost done too!

I recently attended a couple piano workshops by Shelly Hamilton.

“Accompanying Made Simple” was a very practical workshop providing the church pianists with simple yet practical ideas for accompanying special music.

Shelly brought her accompaniment suggestions to life by offering a free arrangement of Day by Day which includes three different accompaniment styles.  Thanks Shelly!

I attended Shelly’s workshops so that I could share accompaniment ideas with my church pianist readers.  Click on the following links to download the handouts for this workshop.

Accompanying Made Simple (outline)

Day by Day page one

Day by Day page two

Here are some great ideas for easy choir arrangements! Please keep in mind…these are my personal notes taken from a recent workshop entitled, “On the Spot Arranging” by Mac & Beth Lynch.

Mac and Beth are working with a small church choir of their own and shared a lot of excellent; practical ideas for using the hymnal to sing like a choir and not like the congregation 🙂

I know of more than one church pianist who fills the role of pianist and choir leader….or assists the choir leader with choosing choir specials.  I hope these few arranging ideas will get your own creative juices going.

Refer to a hymnal for the following arranging suggestions:

“When I See the Blood” 

Have men sing the echos in unison (melody only) during the chorus for a change! Why? Gives less of a “chuncky”  or “monotone” sound.  Singing the melody for the echos gives a more shapely tone.  (singing the echos in parts as written is fine…but the unison just provides a nice; refreshing change for an easy-to-sing arrangement).

“Nearer Still Nearer”   (A lot of hymns can be utilized as SAB by deleting the bass)

Use as SAB (men on tenor)

“I Surrender All” 

Verses: SAB

Chorus: Men on melody; Ladies on alto (1st line of chorus)
SATB on 4th line (final line of song)

“Burdens Are Lifted”

Nice SAB! As written (men sing tenor line throughout)

*Extra information:

Close harmony on: line one and last phrase of line two thru four)
Open harmony on first half of lines 2 through 4
Close harmony means less than an octave between soprano and tenor
Open harmony is more than an octave between soprano and tenor

“When I See the Blood Medley”

Verses: Men on melody; Ladies on alto
Chorus: Men on melody; Ladies on alto (no echos)
*At end of chorus…go into “The Cleansing Wave”
SAB throughout (men on tenor) Could go to 4 parts on chorus.

“I Know Whom I Have Believed” Nice  SB Arrangement!

1st half of line one: men on tenor, ladies on soprano (parallel 6ths)
2nd half of line one: men on alto, ladies on soprano (parallel 3rds)
1st half of line two: men on tenor, ladies on soprano (parallel 6ths)
2nd half of line two: unison (written harmony not as feasible for two-parts)

Chorus:

Men on melody, Ladies on alto throughout or go to unison on last phrase of
chorus on word “Unto” then split into 4 parts on “…Him against that day.”

My thoughts:  Input these simple hymn arrangements in finale (vocal score only) to have for quickie choir arrangements…instead of having choir members mark up their hymnals and to save on choir practice time since we only practice for half an hour.

Which reminds me….I need to make copies for our choir of “Jesus Loves Me” quickie arrangement which I shared in a recent post.  We’re never too old to sing this hymn.