| The Church Pianist |
| A help ministry for church pianists all over the world! |
Just came across a song I had forgotten about… entitled “My Hope is Jesus” by Ron Hamilton.
Ben Everson did a great job singing along with this wonderful choir! A well written piece…words and music go hand in hand!
I think this song would make an excellent choir piece for Easter…or any time of year for that matter!
Done! Finally! I was extra picky with this collection and hope it’s useful to many church pianists.
I tried to create exciting accompaniments to enhance the congregational singing. Each arrangement contains an introduction as well as a couple verses/choruses worth of accompaniment. Three of the arrangements even have key changes!
But relax 🙂 The arrangements are written in a lower key than the hymnal (at least two to three half steps lower). We have discovered that the congregation sings out even more when they can sing in a reasonable key 😉
10 Late intermediate to early advanced piano congregational arrangements. (All Hail the Power, Are you Washed, Blessed Assurance, Does Jesus Care, Dwelling in Beulah Land, I Love to Tell the Story, Praise Him! Praise Him!, Rock of Ages, Sweet By and By, Sweet Hour of Prayer) 34 pages
The arrangements in this booklet are in lower keys; making it easier for the average congregation to sing. *Three of the arrangements have key changes!
Each arrangement contains an introduction and at least two verses & choruses…several of the hymns contain three verses worth of accompaniment.
*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. *Complete audios not included with collections.
I just published an early advanced Christmas piano solo of “Away in a Manger Medley”.
I call this my homespun style….just wrote straight from my heart. Hope it’s a blessing to you.
*CD Giveaway! Enter below to get a chance to win this CD!
I love finding resources for church pianists! One of my music composer friends, Mary Lynn Van Gelderen, recently published a CD of devotional piano music entitled “I’d Rather Have Jesus“. Several of the selections are beautifully orchestrated by composer Samuel Joshua.
Hear samples of “I’d Rather Have Jesus CD” HERE
See Mary Lynn Van Gelderen play “Life Again!, ” featured on the CD…written by Mary Lynn and her husband John R. Van Gelderen. Click HERE
Here is a list of each piano solo arrangement (Special note: Three of the selections are available as choral arrangements only) *All of the printed piano arrangements can be purchased through Gentle Praise.
Life Again! (choral or free pdf of hymnal version)
I’d Rather Have Jesus (pdf instant download)
No Not One (pdf instant download)
Were You There? (pdf instant download)
Jesus Paid it All (available in the future)
Help Me Win the Lost (choral)
It Is Well (pdf instant download)
The Old Fashioned Way/Whiter Than Snow Medley (coming soon as a free download)
Pentecostal Power (available in the book “Have Thine Own Way” by Mary Lynn Van Gelderen)
Great is Thy Faithfulness (not available at this time)
Little is Much (pdf instant download)
Have Thine Own Way (available in the book “Have Thine Own Way” by Mary Lynn Van Gelderen)
Knowing Christ (choral)
My Country Tis of Thee (available soon in a new collection by Mary Lynn Van Gelderen and Samuel Joshua)
Copy and paste the link to this article to facebook, twitter (or other social media)… and copy and paste your link with your comment here to validate your posting.
Your name will then be automatically entered in the drawing for a FREE copy of I’d Rather Have Jesus CD. (Please note: comments are moderated but will be posted as soon as I see them throughout the day)
This CD giveaway contest will expire on November 28, 2014 at 8pm EST. The winner will be contacted via email that same evening and announced in this article.
I was looking for sacred trumpet solo arrangements for our Pastor to play during the offering. I found the following books on one of my favorite sites: Sheet Music Plus. I was able to “SAVE THEM FOR LATER” purchase on their site….LOVE that feature!
Top Choice: http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/the-sunday-instrumentalist-sheet-music/19932162
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/come-thou-fount-sheet-music/18421146?ac=1
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/instruments-of-glory-vol-2-sheet-music/18421458?ac=1
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/give-me-jesus-sheet-music/19642406?ac=1
I enjoy hearing our Pastor play his trumpet for offertory and glad to find books we would reasonably utilize!
With Thanksgiving right around the corner…I thought I’d share a free advanced piano prelude arrangement of “Showers of Blessing”.
Notice the tempo marking at the beginning. The rate of speed makes the difference in this piece! I didn’t realize how much activity there was in my prelude playing until penning this particular one to paper. Wow! No wonder I’m tired after preludes! 😉
*You can download the pdf version and hear complete audio at the bottom of this article.
*Click on title to download pdf version of this free piano arrangement:
“Showers of Blessing”
You need to have the Audio Player Plugin installed to use this shortcode
I just wanted to let my readers be aware of the latest products published in our online music store. The following arrangements are also available in the Funeral Hymn Collection that was published earlier this summer.
I know…not all church pianists have big hands like Rachmaninoff! With that in mind…I created alternative fill-ins for the runs in The Love of God advanced piano solo that I just published a couple days ago.
I hope these alternative fill-ins will be more user-friendly for those with small hands. The whole piece is really written for a pianist with large hands but maybe those of you with smaller hands can adapt this arrangement with these alternative fill-ins.
Click here to download alternative fill-ins
Just published the sheet music for the advanced piano solo of “The Love of God”.
I love to play runs as you will notice in this arrangement. I guess you could say this arrangement is “overrun” with runs 😉
Seriously, I tried to bring the words to life in this beautiful hymn.
“The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring chile He reconciled And pardoned from his sin.
Chorus:
The love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure, The saints’ and angels song.“
The touching message of verse three was found written on the wall of an insane asylum….penned by a male patient. These soul-stirring words were discovered at the time of his death.
“Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made,
Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, And ev’ry man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Tho’ stretched from sky to sky.”
What an awesome message all wrapped up in one verse! I would venture to say this man was in his right mind when he composed this heart warming message.
Hear complete arrangement on my youtube channel
*Special note: I will be providing an article with free fill-in alternatives for the runs to those who prefer the less busy passages 🙂
Finally! The Love of God advanced piano solo is complete! I wrestled with the ending for quite a while.
Thanks to Hannah Myers, one of my advanced students, for giving some excellent suggestions!
This hymn is one of my favorites. Have you heard the story behind the writing of verse three? Very touching! I will have to share it soon 🙂
Just wanted to share the video of my completed arrangement for The Love of God. Sheet music coming tomorrow!