Your ladies’ ensemble will love singing this beautiful song by Mina Oglesby.  The text describes how we are just plain old clay and how God is our Potter.  He’s molding our lives to make us vessels of love.

I hope to reunite the ladies’ ensemble I directed years ago that sang this actual arrangement and share it with you all via video.

I do have a youtube video of Mina singing “The Potter’s Hands” and will share below…(THE ACCOMPANIMENT ON THE VIDEO IS NOT MY ARRANGEMENT) *LISTEN TO AUDIO SAMPLE)

The Potter's Hands (duet)

Sacred vocal two part arrangement for ladies' ensemble. Words & music by Mina Oglesby and arranged by Jenifer Cook. *Price covers two or more copies.
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Price: $8.00

I periodically downsize my sacred music library and have several sacred piano and vocal books available. Just click on image above for more details.

I never really noticed the time signature change in “Just When I Need Him Most” until today.

We sang this at our church last night for a congregational and the people REALLY enjoyed singing it.  The words are so comforting!

It’s just one of those seasons at our church where there’s a lot of physical needs and such a song reminds us of Jesus’ ever-present help 🙂

We sang this song in a prayerful mood with  a slow walking speed so I had time to add left hand flowing patterns similar to the following free pdf of “Just When I Need Him Most”.

Most importantly, notice the key change at the chorus….but the flow will still be pretty much the same 🙂  I actually changed to 6/8 timing one measure earlier than the hymnal shows… because it felt more natural to not hold as long before entering the chorus.

Maybe this will help a beginning church pianist to see what fill-ins could be used for a slow to medium hymn in 6/8 or 9/8 timing… such as my arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus”.

Warning: This arrangement is NOT intended for piano solo use… due to missing melody notes at the beginning of the chorus…unless of course you know how to add them in 😉

Click on song title for free download: Just When I Need Him Most

I have always loved the words to A Passion for Souls by Herbert G. Tovey but have always wished for a different melody.

While looking over the words last week…a melody begin to flow in my head and I quickly penned it to paper.

At first I thought of writing it as a solo but while singing through it with a friend I soon realized a harmony part would be nice 🙂

My friend and I sang it this morning at church.  Here’s the video.

I’ll be out of town this coming week but plan to publish it when I return.

So many times I have wanted to play “A Passion for Souls” for the invitation but not many people know this song…at least not in our church. The melody is ok but felt like it needed a face-lift.

I like to play familiar songs during invitation…hymns that the people know since I play background music during invitation. (I miss the days of  hearing the congregation sing during invitation).

Back to topic!  I thought…if I could re-work the melody on this song…maybe it would revive a long lost hymn…at least for our church 🙂

So…a new melody to “A Passion for Souls” flowed out of my mind during a recent spurt of inspiration last week. Hope the song is a blessing to you.

I’m singing it as a duet with a friend this Sunday morning. (The arrangement can either be a duet or solo) I’ll share a video of the duet asap.

Here’s a sampling of sheet music for “A Passion for Souls” which I will publish next week. (Click on image below for larger view)

For the past couple of months…I’ve been creating “ready-made’ hymn arrangements for some of my church pianist students who are need of improvised hymns for congregational singing. (Can also be used as piano solo)

These hymn arrangements are nothing more than a copy of a hymn from the hymnal with my added improvised notes in red.

Just curious, would this meet the need for others as well? I’m considering adding them to our online music store if there’s enough interest.

The cost would be less than my regular “printed arrangements”.

Here’s a FREE copy of one of these ready-made hymn arrangements. (Also trying to decide what to call them….any suggestions?)

*Also…are you all ok with it being handwritten just as it appears in free arrangement below?  

*Special note: THANKS for the feedback! After reading the comments here and on facebook….I will be putting these type of easy-to-play congregationals into print instead of by hand. I will do away with the original notes from the hymnbook and ONLY type in my (hopefully) easy-to-play congregational/piano solo arrangement. Thanks again for your helpful comments!  I do have (more involved ) congregational piano arrangements for sale HERE.

Ready-Made Hymns for the Church Pianist

One of our choir’s favorite arrangements….”The Cleansing Wave.”

The Cleansing Wave (two to three part mixed)

Two Part Mixed Choir Arrangement (piano and vocal score included. Optional Violin also included. Violin part is geared to the more Advanced Violinist. Listen to the audio which includes piano vocal and violin score. *Special note: SAB on the last page. Piano & vocal score arranged by Jenifer Cook Price covers as many copies as needed for your ministry. Violin accompaniment by Abby Phillips Lockaby

Price: $8.00

Gearing up for Easter music!  Planning ahead is the key! How many of you church pianists are involved in planning for your church’s Easter service?

I’m trying to decide on a nice Easter ensemble medley for maybe three to four pianos, flutes and clarinet for an offertory. Feeling the creative juices flowing too! I think I’ll adapt my trio piano version of “Power in the Blood Medley” for this group.

Concerning choir music…we usually don’t have a full-fledged program due to time limitations but try to learn new songs for these special occasions.

One of my favorite Easter cantatas is “The Bread of Life” by Lloyd Larson. All of the music is very well done!  I found a fairly decent recording of this very cantata on youtube.  It helps to hear a good representation of the music before tackling a new song…also provides the director with the interpretation ideas of the song such as word coloring (emphasizing certain words to elevate the meaning of the text)…. and also….what tempo is most effective.

At this point, the one song we’ll be learning from this cantata is “Taste and You’ll See” a nice upbeat piece on the Christian’s experience  of God’s salvation.

I’m sure I’ll be sharing other resources for Easter offertories and vocal specials along the way as we look towards an effective Easter service for God’s glory!

So…start getting ready now for your Easter service while you have ample time! 🙂   Not counting the last week of December….Easter is 15 weeks from now.

Sounds like a long time but not when you’re preparing new music or a cantata….even if it’s an easy program.  Have fun as you seek out Easter music!

Many church pianists have already been practicing for their church’s Christmas program.

In many cases, the church pianist IS the choir leader and has the task of deciding what to do for a Christmas program.

My son is our choir director. He works at least 50 hours a week and the father of three small children. Needless to say,  I help out by coming up with a simple program to fit our 40 minutes per week choir practice time. (this accounts for starting roughly two months in advance; which may vary from church to church depending on your choir’s ability)

My son and I have about a 40 minute commute to church so we’re very time conscious!

Our most-involved Christmas program back in 2011 was entitled “Christmas at Home” by Ron Hamilton. We used the “readers theatre” version due to limited time. The main actors were acting their first play ever. (Part Two sampler of our Christmas at Home)

In recent years, we have experienced a much more pleasant, relaxing time through having easier Christmas programs.

I have written two VERY easy Christmas programs…one of which is FREE HERE.  I’m still editing the second FREE Christmas program.

Now…ideas for enhancing your Christmas Program…

• Lyrics taken from cantata books make for great narration when coordinating a chronological list of songs together for a short choir concert. (That’s what we’re doing this year)

• Include congregation by having them sing a song in the program. ( the choir could sing a descant taken from a hymnal while the congregation sings the melody) Another neat idea…have Pastor lead congregation in  reciting Luke 2:14 at the appropriate time during the program. Very effective! (Tip: Include Luke 2:14 in the Christmas program bulletin)

• The congregation could also stand and sing a song following their verse (Luke 2:14) Song suggestions: Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World (include lyrics in the program bulletin)

Easy Christmas Program Suggestion:

1. Several different adults recite the Christmas story(Luke 2:1-19) in microphone off stage while children in appropriate costume act out the narration.

2. Stage setup:  Only two scenes: Manger scene center stage, shepherd scene on left or right of manger scene. (props for shepherd scene not necessary).

3. Songs can be inserted appropriately throughout the narration.

4. Extra tip:Remind children that they must listen to what’s being read so they can act accordingly…to avoid appearing mechanical

Also a good idea to remind narrators to read with conviction! It brings the story to life!!

Hopefully this will help church pianists or choir leaders trying to find last-minute ideas for an easy Christmas program.

Please feel free to leave comments or ideas below.

A reminder: I do have over a dozen FREE piano and vocal Christmas arrangements available HERE.

Sharing a few links that may give you an idea as well (don’t fully endorse all the ideas at these links… but you can sift out what you like)

Possible lyrics for poems

Creative Church Idea Attic

I know this one took me a while but I’m especially picky with vocal arrangements…trying to get them just so for publication.

I’ll probably want to tweak it here and there over time but there’s a time where an artist’s creation must come to a close.

This particular song reminds me that my God is always watching over me. I don’t need to feel discouraged or troubled because God is my constant Friend and He cares for me!

I also plan to publish this in a lower key if there’s a need.

His Eye is on the Sparrow

Sacred vocal solo, High voice--Key of C (7 pgs.) Price covers two copies. (*not a flute arrangement :)) Plan to make one though.

Price: $6.00