His Eye is on the Sparrow has always been a favorite of mine.  On a recent visit to my parent’s house…I accompanied my dad to sing this old but comforting hymn.

Dad has always taught me to “feel” the words when I play or sing.  He seems to make the words come to life as he sings from his heart to the Lord.  Thanks Dad for being such a wonderful teacher!  Thanks to a patient Mom who made me practice piano which prepared me for years of service to the Lord in the music ministry.

Please allow the message of this song to soothe your soul 🙂

This is the time of year that I research piano offertories for church  and recital pieces for my students to play at the upcoming spring recital.

 The following book “In the Light of His Glory” by Martha Mier, contains twelve late intermediate to early advanced piano arrangements.  The book was produced by Alfred Publishing Company.  I like Alfred’s website because they show sample pages from the different sacred piano books or any other music for that matter. The sample pages from this book sound beautiful! 

 The three samples available at the time of my search were: “Near to the Heart of God” , His Eye is on the Sparrow” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.

Being nervous can definitely affect the church pianist!  I can remember my early years of playing for church….knees knocking together….heart beating fast, etc.   I could barely keep my foot on the damper pedal for my leg shaking so bad!  Ever been there?

I enjoy visiting our local nursing homes and playing the piano for the elderly.  Sometimes I will play an upcoming offertory for church at the nursing home; allowing me the  opportunity to share the piece in a more relaxed setting before playing it at church.

Joy Morin, of Color in My Piano shares some practical tips for the nervous pianist.

Dealing with Performance Anxiety by Joy Morin of Color in My Piano Blog.

 Who has TIME  to memorize music?! 

Memorizing music requires planning ahead doesn’t it? A challenge for all church pianists. 

Many pianists like myself, serve as a volunteer pianist for their church. I enjoy every minute of it…but…it does takes time to adequately prepare for offertories and other special music.

One of my goals this coming year is to spend more time planning/preparing my offertories.  I always know at least one month in advance when I’ll be playing my next offertory. I want to be as effective as I can for the Lord by being prepared. There are times I just have to play an offertory on the spot but for the most part…I know ahead of time.

Memorization should be a natural outcome of consistent practice on a particular piece over a long period of time.  Yeah…like a year!  No 🙂   Memorizing a piece can easily happen in a month to two months time with daily practice.

Choosing an offertory arrangement within your capability is of upmost importance.  Choose an arrangement well within your level so you can focus on the message and not struggle through it. It’s ok to choose a challenging piece…but be realistic 🙂  I like to find arrangements that clearly communicate the message of the hymn without too much frill.  Occasionally, I’ll play a more involved piece such as: “Saviour Like a Shepherd Leads Us’ arranged by Roger House, “Onward Christian Soldiers” arranged by Duane Ream or maybe “Blessed Assurance” arranged by Marilyn Ham.  I really enjoy these particular arrangements because each one of them conveys the meaning of the text with little deviation from the main melody of the song; allowing the listeners to follow along in their minds or in some cases (out loud)  🙂  Personally, I like hearing those in the congregation singing along with me. It means they are focusing on the message instead of me.

I”m getting off track. (Sorry about that). Back to memorizing…one of my piano teachers from high school days gave me the following memorization tip that has really helped me. He told me to “find several escape hatches” (easy places in the arrangement) that I could return to in case I got disoriented when playing from memory. To this day,  I still use this tip when playing from memory.

Joy Morin, of Color in My Piano website, offers practical memorization tips (including my favorite tip mentioned above) in the following article:

12 Tips for Memorizing Music

Are you constantly searching for piano offertory music?  It’ nice to be able to find a piano offertory book where you can use more than one or two songs.

As a church pianist, I’m always looking for offertory music.  Over time, I have created my own favorite  list of piano offertory books that I have purchased through the years.

Take a look at the list in progress under Offertory Resources at the top of my website. Hopefully, this page will be a great help to other church pianists too!

 Hmmm…accompaning vocalists…what a responsiblilty we have as church pianists to support the singer; allowing them to take the lead. 

Our job as a pianist is to provide a nice backdrop of sound to enhance the singer’s message. This is an area I would like to expound upon…at a later time:)

Until then….the following tips for accompanying the vocalist makes a nice start.

I came across this practical, informative article today on Sheryl Welles’ Notable Music Studio blog. The article addresses the importance of learning to accompany the vocalist.  Laura Lowe of  The Piano Studio, authored this practical advice on accompanying.

Article: Teaching Well-Rounded Musicians

Improving Ideas for Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne (part two)

The improvising ideas in this hymn are simplistic but are meant to add warmth to enhance the beautiful words of this old melody.

Improvising ideas for Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne: part one

*Keep in mind…the chords in the piano score will not match the four parts from the hymnal version.

I have compiled several of my free Christmas piano arrangements under the ” Free Hymns Pdf” page for easier access. 

 Most church pianists are gearing up for Christmas; searching out Christmas piano arrangements. Hope these free arrangements are a help to your music ministry.

Communication between the sound man and the church pianist or music director is vital.

Every church pianist may not be in the same situation as myself.  We have two young men  that help out with our music ministry.  Our church seems to be the hub for training young musicians and then releasing them into various ministries. 

I try to take up the slack and keep open communication between myself and the sound man. Here are several ways I attempt to keep the sound man up-to-date.

Provide him with the following:

*Current Special Music Schedule (gives him advance notice for setting up extra microphones for group specials)

*Program Scripts (with sound cues)

*Periodic conversations with sound man to make sure things are running smoothly

*Practice in advance with sound man with various group specials (instrumental or vocal) to work out microphone settings. 

These are only a few suggestions that I thought may be helpful for church pianists; who like myself…are trying to work as a team with the sound crew 🙂

Once again…I understand that not all church pianists are in this type of situation.  But, it may make you more aware of the importance of proper sound; reminding you to thank the sound crew or person for their help with this ministry. 

It’s so important to keep open communication amongst ourselves in the various ministries of our church…especially the sound crew 🙂

Alot of times, our choir will sing a special from the church hymnal.  Sometimes I just want an introduction other than the regular last phrase of the song. 

 Congregational introductions do require introductions that are self-explanatory.  But…for the choir and other specials, it’s nice for the church pianist  to have a creative introduction as long as it fits the song. 

I”m sharing an introduction idea today that would work for offertory, choir or other vocal special. 

For example, if you’re giving an introduction for a song in C Major…start the introduction with an F chord…then to a C chord and finally end with a G (7) chord right before the first word of the song.  

Sound clear?   Check out the example below that illustrates this type of introduction.  In this particular case, I used the introduction idea in an offertory special entitled  “We Gather Together”.

Click on image to enlarge for clearer view.