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 🙂

Looking forward to publishing “We Have a Saviour Who Cares” by Mina Oglesby.

I’m working on the written arrangement of this duet.

Here’s a video clip of myself with a friend singing it at our church this past Sunday.  (The alto part will have a higher harmony in several spots for the final written version; just had to keep a low harmony throughout for my limited vocal range)

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!

*For  more information or to purchase… click Lorenz Publishing Corporation

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.

Just published a very advanced piano solo of “Holy, Holy, Holy” today!

Thanks to several of my piano friends for test driving the piece before publication!

Just sharing youtube recording of the arrangement:

(Buy sheet music listed below the video)

Holy Holy Holy (VERY ADV.)

Very advanced sacred piano solo, 3 & 1/2 pgs. A very moving rendition of a well-known hymn. Jenifer's fresh stylings bring this hymn to life as it communicates the thought of God's holiness.

Price: $3.95

Holy Holy Holy (real advanced piano solo) is almost complete!  I hope to publish it very soon.

I’m REALLY enjoying the creation of the second collection of Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements. What’s neat about these collections is they could be used for unison choir arrangements or accompaniment for flute or violin special.  See Congregational Piano Hymn Arrangements Collection One by clicking HERE.

The words of the hymns mean even more to me… in the light of what’s going on around our nation.  My heart is truly being poured out on the pages of this collection. I try to convey the text in the piano accompaniment. What a  comfort the words of these hymns have been to me!

Here’s the list for the ten hymns in this collection:

1. And Can it Be

2. At the Cross

3. Come Thou Fount

4. Heaven Came Down

5. Higher Ground

6. I Shall Know Him

7. It’s Just Like His Great Love

8. My Faith Has Found a Resting Place

9. Near the Cross

10. What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Just came across this piano book, “May Jesus Christ be Praised” with a nice patriotic medley by Marilynn Ham and thought I’d share it.  You can only view the first two pages but it’s a nice looking piece for offertory! I also like the looks of “When Morning Gilds the Skies”.  These are arrangements are for the advanced pianist.

Sheet Music Plus has it on sale right now for $13.59 plus shipping. I’m buying my copy right now 🙂

Not sure how new this book is but I haven’t seen it before.

My dad, Reece Yandle, wrote this patriotic vocal solo at least eight years ago or more. It has been used as the theme song for a teacher’s convention and sung by dad at different meetings.  People have been asking for copies of the song and now it’s possible.

“In God We Trust” as stated on our American currency…takes on a deeper meaning for those who have trusted in Christ as their Saviour.

I have published this prior to Father’s Day as a Father’s Day gift for my Dad 🙂

Listen to the audio sample below as you sing the following words (wait for the introduction)

“In God we trust no matter come what may,

In God we trust though dark and drear the way.

Always trusting in His love and pow’r we must,

This is our cry, “It is in God we trust!”

In God We Trust

Medium range sacred vocal solo; 4 pgs *Great for a patriotic special! *Price covers two copies.

Price: $6.00