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*Link for full arrangement below:
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.
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)
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.
Using the Hymnal to Sing Like the Choir and Not Like the Congregation
Not everyone can arrange on the spot for choir but with a little advance planning, a simple yet beautiful choir arrangement can be created!
This post will cover how to create a two-part choir arrangement for ladies and men.
Materials needed:
Several minutes
Pencil or pen
Slightly enlarged copy of a hymn from the hymnal. (the enlarged copy allows room for the arranging marks; or you can can type them in)
Directions:
1. Look for a hymn with close harmony (3rds) in the treble clef…like this:
2. Harmony possibilities:
Men on melody (top note) Ladies on alto (bottom note)
Ladies 2 parts on line one and Men 2 parts for line two
Unison line one then 2 parts line two
Children’s choir sing melody and adult choir sings alto for verse & chorus
Flute plays alto (octave higher) while children or ladies sing unison for
a verse.
As you can see….SO many ways to dress up a simple hymn without it sounding like a regular congregational hymn!
Since we only have a half hour choir practice…we prefer to pre-arrange these simple hymns ahead of time instead of having the choir pencil in the layout in their hymnals. So…I’m sharing this simple hymn arrangement with you for “Jesus Loves Me” below for free 🙂 (Sorry it doesn’t include piano accompaniment…not enough minutes in the day for that) 🙂
Oh! But wait a minute! Go on a hunt in your hymnal to find more hymns with close harmony (3rds) in either the verse or chorus and start arranging!
Couple suggestions: When I See the Blood, Standing on the Promises
*Click on the title below this picture of music… for free PDF download of Jesus Loves Me
⇒JESUS LOVES ME (FREE DOWNLOAD)⇐
*I want to thank Mac & Beth Lynch for their wonderful, practical workshop entitled “On the Spot Arranging” for choir. They are also working with a small church choir of their own and the information was very relative for me as well as others. (Majesty MusiCarolina Conference occured July 30-31, 2015 in Raleigha, NC)
Just thought I’d share a video clip of the sacred piano duet “Come Thou Fount” performed by myself and my student, Hannah Myers.
We played it this past Wednesday for offertory before heading out to the MusiCollege 2015 event.
We thoroughly enjoyed playing this peppy arrangement on a cloudy day 🙂
Another nice sacred piano book from Lorenz for the church pianist! This book is listed as an intermediate level but some of the pieces may lean more towards early advanced. A total of fourteen arrangements makes this a nice investment!
My ultimate favorites in this book?
God of the Ages (God of Our Fathers) nice patriotic one!
I Hear Thy Welcome Voice
He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word
I’ve shared audio samples below of my preferred ten out of the fourteen.
Ah Holy Jesus Ah Holy Jesus
God of the Ages God of the Ages
He Leadeth Me He Leadeth Me
He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word He Never Said a Mumbalin Word
I Hear Thy Welcome Voice I Hear Thy Welcome Voice
In the Cross of Christ In the Cross of Christ
More Love to Thee More Love to Thee
O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus
Rejoice the Lord is King Rejoice the Lord is King
Trusting Jesus Trusting Jesus
As a church pianist, I always get excited when discovering a book that can be well utilized for offertories. He Leadeth Me is one such book!
What am I doing now? Inputting my congregational arrangements for the second booklet and creating sample audios for another great sacred piano solo book from Lorenz called He Leadeth Me.
He Leadeth Me is a nice collection of sacred piano solo arrangements by various arrangers, some I’m not as familiar with… but enjoy their style.
I hope to share a book review on He Leadeth Me this coming week.