Archive for the ‘Special Music’ Category

Early Advanced Christmas Piano Solo: Away in a Manger Medley

Thursday, November 20th, 2014

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.

Away in a Manger
Early advanced Christmas piano solo, 3 pgs. Approx. 1:42 time length
Price: $3.50

 

Resource for Church Pianists

Friday, November 14th, 2014

Id-Rather-Have-Jesus-CD

*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)

How to enter contest drawing for FREE CD of I’d Rather Have Jesus:

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.

 **Only available for residents within the continental US

Gentle Praise is an excellent resource for the church pianist!

Sacred Trumpet Solos!

Tuesday, October 7th, 2014

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!

Free Piano Arrangement: Showers of Blessing

Friday, October 3rd, 2014

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.

Showers-of-Blessing-psa-resized

*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

 

 

Latest Products for September 4, 2014

Thursday, September 4th, 2014

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.

Does Jesus Care
Does Jesus Care
Early advanced sacred piano solo, 2 & 1/2 pgs. *Also available in the Funeral Hymn Collection
Price: $2.50
Rock of Ages
Advanced sacred piano solo, 2 pgs.Approx. 1:28 Excellent for short offertory or funeral prelude. Very flowing piece. *Also available in the Funeral Collection.
Price: $2.50
Trusting Jesus Medley
An early advanced piano solo of two well-known hymns: "Simply Trusting with Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus". Use for offertory or funeral prelude. 5 pgs. *Also available in the Funeral Hymn Collection.
Price: $3.95

The Love of God (alternative fill-ins)

Monday, August 18th, 2014

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

 

The-Love-of-God-alternative-runs

 

The Love of God: Advanced Piano Solo: Published!

Friday, August 15th, 2014

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.

The Love of God
Advanced sacred piano solo, 3 pgs. Approx. time length: 2:07 Youtube video below of entire arrangement
Price: $3.50

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 🙂

 

The Love of God Advanced Piano Solo

Thursday, August 14th, 2014

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!

What I’m Working On…

Thursday, July 24th, 2014

coming_soon

What are diminished and augmented chords?  Where can I use them? The first article on diminished and augmented chords will answer these questions.

The other post I’m creating deals with tips for choosing vocal solos for the male voice.  I enjoy the challenge of looking for solos that fit a certain person’s vocal range/ability.  Singing a song that fits the singer’s range allows for a more positive experience for the soloist as well as the listeners 😉

It’s our responsibility as Christians to be as effective as we can to carry God’s message through whatever means possible and that includes singing.

Looking forward to sharing more soon!

Youtube Recordings for The Piano Invitation Collection…

Monday, July 21st, 2014

News for my church pianist readers: I’ve been creating video recordings of The Piano Invitation Collection and publishing them on my youtube channel.