I just thought I’d share a couple of sacred piano arrangement books with my church pianist readers that I use quite frequently.

Fairest Lord Jesus  by Dan Forrest (favorite arrangements: “Fairest Lord Jesus, Lead Me to Calvary and Hiding in Thee”)  *Intermediate

Have Thine Own Way Mary Ann Van Geldren (favorite arrangements: all of them!)   *Late intermediate

Draw Me Nearer by Faye Lopez  (favorite arrangements: all of them) *Advanced

As a church pianist, I’m always looking for new/old piano offertory books.  I will share more  offertory books with you soon!

As promised, I’m offering a free hymn piano arrangement today for church pianists.  The title of the hymn is “Like a River Glorious”.

This free piano arrangement can be used for prelude, congregational singing or as an offertory.

As a church pianist, I would find this arrangement most suitable for congregational singing.

Like a River Glorious (free piano hymn arrangement)

Hi!  This week I’m working on several new arrangements to offer in the music store.

I recently posted “America Medley” piano duo in the piano ensemble section of the store. It’s actually more of a late-intermediate level.

I’ve also added a patriotic advanced piano  solo of “The Star Spangled Banner”.

Audio excerpt of America Medley

This free piano hymn arrangement of “I Feel Like Travelling On” is geared for the beginning church pianist at an early elementary level.

My piano student featured in this video, is a church pianist who plays by ear but is learning to read music. She’s doing quite well! I’m writing arrangements with her level in mind.

Maybe some of you church pianists can share this with your students or use this free piano hymn arrangement for yourself. 

I Feel Like Travelling On

I haven’t forgotten  part three of Scales in Hymns 🙂   I will post it tomorrow.

Sharing a video of my piano arrangement “Jesus is the Sweetes Name I Know with What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. 

Several church pianistshave asked about this arrangement.  This particular one has been set aside for an advanced book  to be published through Soundforth sometime in the future.

 In time, I’ll provide some more videos with helpful information for church pianists. (I’m a little camera-shy…so it takes me a while)

Hope everyone is doing well!

Accompanying the vocalist is so different from playing for congregational singing.  For the most part, a steady rhythm is maintained for congregational singing.

Not so for accompanying the vocalist. I would encourage all church pianists to sing along mentally as you play.  Doing so will prevent the pianist from rushing the vocalist.  So many vocalists over the years have expressed their concern over pianists that rush their singing…not allowing them time to breathe and freely interpret the hymn.  It’s so easy to do!  Think about it…the pianist doesn’t have to physically breathe at the end of a sentence…so he or she just moves right along…forgetting that the poor vocalist would like to breathe!  I know…I’ve been guilty many times of this very thing 🙂

Just focus on the message of the hymn and allow the singer to lead you.  I understand some vocalists feel more comfortable following the pianist.  Please encourage them to take the lead once they have learned the song; allowing them more freedom of interpretation.

In the future, I hope to provide a video with helpful tips for accompanying the vocalist.

I thought I would share a free audio for my free piano hymn arrangement of “In the Garden”.  It always helps me to hear the original audio of an arrangement so I can hear what the composer intended for interpretation.

“In the Garden” part one free arrangement

“In the Garden” part two free arrangement

The free audio should help give you an idea of the general tempo throughout this free arrangement.

Here is part two of the free piano hymn arrangement “In the Garden”.

This piano arrangment of “In the Garden” illustrates how the church pianist can deviate from the melody quite a bit when accompanying a vocal soloist or instrumentalist such as a violin or flute.

“In the Garden” Part One

Audio of entire arrangement: In the Garden

“In the Garden” is such a peaceful; reflective hymn.  I don’t hear it used much anymore.  This free piano arrangement of “In the Garden” (part one) shares some accompaniment ideas for the church pianist.

complete free audio HERE

Editor notes for “In the Garden”(Part One) Accompaniment

As an accompanist, it’s not necessary for me to play the melody for every word…maybe just a few here and there to give the soloist (whether vocal or instrumental) some support.

I start with melody for the first several words and then ease into more of an accompaniment style.   By measure three, I’m really into a free-style…just staying within the chord frame and being creative.

Notice how the accompaniment flows freely into each new chord change. In other words…it’s best to maintain a smooth transition from one chord to the next for this particular hymn…producing a peaceful mood.

In measure 8…most soloists will slow down on the word “discloses”.  The piano accompaniment can still maintain a steady but slower flow through the ritard.

I look forward to sharing the chorus of “In the Garden” in part two of this free piano arrangement.

“In the Garden” part one

 “In the Garden” part two

As church pianists, we could use some inexpensive, creative
ideas for offertories, right?

Did you know you can use a piano arrangement written for
a vocalist to accompany say…a violin or flute solo?

Or…use a piano accompaniment written for one of these instru-
ments to accompany a vocalist.

Not too long ago…I shared a free vocal arrangement of
“Haven of Rest”. One of my church pianist readers used it
to accompany her sister, who plays violin.

It turned out so nice that I decided to share this offertory
idea with you… with their video. Links to music included below the video.

Haven of Rest part one
Haven of Rest part two
Haven of Rest part three