Just letting my readers know I’m in the process of posting the individual hymns from the Congregational Booklet One for sale on the Congregational Piano Hymn page of our online music store. (navigation buttons at top of this page)  So far I’ve posted: All Hail the Power, Are You Washed and Blessed Assurance.

Several have requested the Blessed Assurance congregational arrangement after seeing the first sample page of it in an older article.  It’s now sold separately or in the Congregational Booklet One.

Special note: Multiple uses for the church pianist!  The piano accompaniment arrangements from the Congregational Booklet One can also be used to accompany the following:  vocal soloist, flute or violin.

Our ladies’ ensemble LOVES to sing “The Reason I Sing” written by Niki Lott of christiancompositions.com

This arrangement can be purchased at christiancompositions.com as sheet music or in a book collection entitled “The Reason I Sing” two to three part arrangements for ladies.

We chose to sing the verses in unison due to our short practice time and we sang only a portion of the arrangement due to our limited vocal range which we’re working on.

This song is SUCH a blessing to sing and look forward to singing more songs from the book entitled “The Reason I Sing”.  One of the ladies in our church has already sang several of the songs as a solo too.

*Special note: I didn’t strictly follow the written piano accompaniment but the written accompaniment is pretty 🙂

Now for sale: “Id Rather Have Jesus”  Early advanced sacred piano solo

I'd Rather Have Jesus

Early advanced sacred piano solo, 3&1/2 pgs. Approx. 2:06

Price: $3.95

or go to store at this link to see other advanced piano arrangements: MUSIC STORE

I just looked at the latest information on MusiCarolina and the workshops are definitely worth the church pianist’s time!

I’m having a hard time deciding which workshops I want to attend.  I think I’ve narrowed it down to:

On the Spot Arranging by Mac & Beth Lynch

Congregational Leading & Accompanying by Ron & Shelly Hamilton

Accompanying Made Simple by Shelly Hamilton

There are plenty of workshops to choose from for the song leader, church pianist or singer!

Click here to see the rest of the workshops

Early registration (adult/teen)  $59 by June 30th (Register three by June 30th and get one FREE!)

Registration $69  July 1st through July 24th

Registration at the door $79

Advanced piano solo

Just got off phone with Word Music…..will be publishing “I’d Rather Have Jesus” this week

Free Arrangement

Click on song title at bottom of article… to download FREE copy.

Whispering Hope….definitely an old hymn! My husband has been wanting me to arrange this hymn for a long time. He finally got his wish 🙂  I’ve written an early advanced piano arrangement of “Whispering Hope” which I’m offering for FREE to my church pianist readers.

I decided to read up on the composer of this song and was surprised at what I found. (in the numbered list below)

Septimus Winner, an American songwriter of the 19th century, was born in May 1827 and died of a heart attack in 1902.  He used the following stage names (pseudonymns) for his written poems and music: Alice Hawthorne, Percy Guyer, Mark Mason, Marion Florence, Leon Dore, Apsley Street, and Paul Stenton.

Septimus’ wife, Mary Ann, was a relative of Nathaniel Hawthorne which explains the generous use of the stage name, Alice Hawthorne.

See if you recognize the following songs written by Septimus Winner. (this will date some of you including myself)    🙂

1. Listen to the Mockingbird (Alice Hawthorne)

2. Oh Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone (lyrics only) *German folk tune

3. Carry Me Back to Tennessee (better known as Ellie Rhee)

4. Whispering Hope (1868)

I could not locate the story behind the writing of “Whispering Hope” so without further ado…click on the following song title to download your free early advanced arrangement of…

Whispering Hope

Click arrow below to hear complete audio of this free piano arrangement.

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My grandson, Nathan

Church Pianist Update

Every now and then I go through a dry spell and it’s been one of those times.

I have three arrangements I’ve been trying to complete but no ideas would flow when I sat at the piano.  Very frustrating!  I guess you could say I took a break and now I’m back on track 🙂

I think the latest congregational collection project burnt me out for a while. Don’t get me wrong….I LOVE to write music but sometimes I need to back up and just “not think” music for a spell to rejuvenate myself.

Before I sat at the piano today, I prayed “Lord, please guide my fingers and help me think clearly.”  The Lord answered my prayer 🙂

I just finished the final editing and layout for “I’d Rather Have Jesus” and conversing with Warner Chappell today to see what needs to be done to procede with publication. Yay!

Also working on an advanced piano arrangement of “Whispering Hope” which will be FREE 🙂  and…..trying to finish an advanced arrangement of “Holy, Holy, Holy”.

Hope to publish something soon!

Gotta go!  More music to write!

Next article:

As church pianist, I find it a challenge to locate nice patriotic vocal specials.

Need any song ideas for July 5th Sunday?  I’ll share a few with you soon!

A recent paint job (last week)… forced me to empty all of my music from our living room closet. What a mess!

After much weeding out of music…my living room closet looks SO much better!  Due to lack of storage space or music I just can’t make use of in a small church…you will be seeing more music for sale on our “Used Music” page.

This project is still in the works but decided to share the process. (Want to replace the blue crate with a black one).

I wish I had a “before” picture to show you but all I can do is share the “after” pictures.

Melody Bober is one of my favorites!

Closer view of labels in sacred music bin

Attention: Piano Teachers and Church Pianists! Now’s the time to shop for sacred piano books with this GREAT deal!

I’ve been teaching from The FJH Music Company’s piano method books for at least fifteen years. FJH also has a great collection of sacred piano books by composers such as Melody Bober, Marilynn Ham and Cindy Berry…to name a few.

For a limited time, the FJH Music Company is making an excellent offer to piano teachers and church musicians!  Click the link below to go to their special promo page which contains the order form with a list of all the books on sale for a limited time only.

ORDER HERE:  The FJH Sacred Piano Library Sale!(40-45% discount with FREE SHIPPING!

A big thanks to Kyle Hackinson, of FJH Music Company Inc., for allowing me to share this excellent sale with my church pianist readers.

Just published a sacred two piano arrangement that I’ve had on file for several years. My male piano students have really enjoyed this energy-driven piece.

Here’s a video of one of my students (on the keyboard) playing along with one of our college students in a recent service.

Sheet music for this arrangement is available under in store under the Piano Ensemble section for Two Piano Arrangements.