I’m always looking for easy arrangements for men’s ensemble or choir.  Our choir has short practices due to many members travelling long distance to church.  Therefore, we try to use two to three part arrangements…depending on who’s available to sing.

Several of our young men recently formed a singing group.  They learned an easy two part arrangement of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”.  I think they practiced only three times due to time and distance factors.  I thought they did real well for a first time together!

I’m sharing a youtube video of the men’s ensemble  so you can hear how the arrangement turned out.

This two part men’s arrangement is available for purchase at the following link:

Men’s Two Part Arrangement of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

The words to “Come Thou Fount” were penned by a preacher named Robert Robinson in 1758.  He wrote this song several years after coming to know Christ.

Robert was prone to wander like all of us as revealed in the words “…prone to wander Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;” But then his request of  renewed devotion “Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.”

For those that have wondered about the meaning of “Ebenezer” in verse two….”Here I raise mine Ebenezer…”   Ebenezer means “stone of help”.

Click on song title below to download a free ladies’ two part acapella arrangement. I’ve offered the arrangement in two different keys.

Come Thou Fount (ladies’ two part) *acapella arrangement in B flat (lower key)

Come Thou Fount (ladies’ two part) *acapella arrangement  in C Major

My Mom

When you think of Mother’s Day songs…you think of songs that offer tribute to Mothers, right?

Well, why not consider songs of devotion to God that can be sung by a group of ladies or female solo? As mothers, we constantly strive to live a godly life. Why not sing about that devotion?

Here are a few suggestions for ladies’ ensemble: (Click on each song title to view music)

1.  The Shepherd Psalm by John Carter (Hope Publishing Co.)

Audio 

2.  A Tender Heart by Ron Hamilton (Majesty Music)  Also available in: Patch the Pirate Praises 1

Audio for A Tender Heart

3.  By the Gentle Waters by Cindy Berry     Audio for Gentle Waters

(SATB  arrangement but beautiful words and melody; could be sung unison)

4.  Take My Heart by Roger Summers

5.  Be Thou My Vision (traditional; from hymnal) *Add flute melody in background for easy dressup

6.  Come Thou Fount (traditional; from hymnal) *I have a ladies’ two part acappella arrangement of this song to hopefully publish by the weekend.

Recently, a friend of mine was searching for “Finally Home” by Don Wyrtzen  in a lower key to sing for a funeral.  I was able to point him to MusicNotes.Com

MusicNotes.Com is an online music store specializing in downloadable sheet music.  They have over 200,000 songs in downloadable format and over 260,000 music books.  If you subscribe to their weekly email newsletter…you’ll receive coupons!  All you have to provide is your email address and a password.  Prices for their sheet music are fairly reasonable for the convenience of having the music pronto!

A great feature I absolutely love is being able to choose a lower key for the song I want to order…especially for vocal music.

Finally Home is one of those songs with a very wide note range…making it a challenge to sing  for the average soloist.  The last line of the song contains the highest note of this beautiful song.  Not everyone feels comfortable trying to hit this note…so…there is a solution…sing the alternate notes…E flat to C.  (shown below on the word “glory”).

©  Copyright 1997 by Majesty Music, Inc. (Majesty Hymnal)

*Tip: I would recommend the key of F major for bass soloists.

*Click on image for a larger view

One of my favorite improvising ideas is adding contrast for an interesting sound.  The excerpt listed above is taken from the hymn “Count Your Blessings”. The phrase is the last sentence of the last verse.   This idea can be used on any of the verses at this point in song…but I like to save special effects like this for the final verse.

Here’s what helped me come up with the idea:  I knew that an A7 chord was the basic chord for the first two measures of this example. So… I played “stepping notes” within the A7 chord frame and entered into a D major chord on the syllable “jour-” and back to an A7 for “ney’s” and ended with a D chord on “end”.  The ascending notes in the piano score ran contrary to the melody in the vocal score…creating an energetic drive to the message of the song.

The complete arrangement of “Count Your Blessings” congregational style can be purchased below.

Price:

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 Just sharing a video of my dad’s recent solo during my visit this past weekend. I feel most free at the piano when accompanying my dad.

*I believe this particular arrangement is out of print but I found it at rejoicemusic.net As of right now…they only have 13 copies left at $1 each.  Click here to see if any copies are still available.

Just thought I’d share a cute special from our recent revival with Dwight Smith family.

I enjoy playing and singing “All Hail the Power”.  The church pianist must add lots of fullness to this majestic hymn to portray the mood of the text.

Just picture it…God is on His throne and scores of angels are bowed down before Him. A huge choir is singing “All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall…”

I think the words as I play this wonderful hymn.  The melody and text are a great match!

Ingredients for  Majestic Hymns

Lots of left hand octaves for fullness and energy

Full chords in right hand

Occasional dotted rhythm…adding extra zest!

Click here to download “All Hail the Power” congregational accompaniment

My dad just told me about a reputable website that sells used church choir music.  I was SO excited to find out about The MusicLibrary.com!

This site sells used music for churches that are trying to get rid of music they no longer use.

For the last several weeks I have been brainstorming…trying to figure out what to do this year for our church Christmas program.   I checked out TheMusicLibrary.com and found enough books for the “Christmas at Home” cantata by Ron Hamilton…reasonably priced!

Our books should arrive next Friday just in time to start learning the songs on Sunday, September 18th.  The music in Christmas at Home are SATB arrangements.  Our choir is mainly a two part choir but getting use to three parts now… due to new choir members 🙂  (Praise the Lord)

We are going to simplify the songs by singing unison on some and two parts on other songs.”Christmas at Home” is one of my favorite cantatas because of the strong emphasis on salvation.  This is an excellent cantata to bring unsaved family and friends to.

So…if you’re looking for Christmas program material or music in general…check out TheMusicLibrary.com

Trying to figure out what to play for piano introductions can be tricky at times for church pianists.

The previous article entitled: Piano Introductions (part two) provided a piano introduction of “Wonderful Words of Life” using only the verse.  Sometimes it works better just to use the starting and ending phrase of a verse. Other times, the entire first line of the verse works well for the introduction.

Always remember to end the introduction with the one (I) chord for the key you’re using. For example, if the song is in C major…make sure you end on a C major chord to provide a “finished” sound.  Otherwise, you’ll have everybody guessing when to enter.

There are times when a V 7 chord works well at the end of an introduction or during the invitation when you’re providing background music and you’re in the middle of a phrase and need to end on a chord that makes sense before the congregation starts to sing…but I will cover that at another time.  SO much to talk about!  🙂

In today’s example, you’ll notice a fairly, easy piano introduction for “Count Your Blessings”. The faster the hymn, the less frills the church pianist has time to play 🙂

Click here for: Piano Introductions: Part Two (second example)