I’m visiting my parents this weekend and will have to post an article this coming week.  Just finished practicing with my dad. He’s singing “Finally Home” tomorrow for a special.  Now I need to practice something for offertory.

I think I’ll play a simple arrangement of a hymn since I’ve not had time to practice 🙂  I pray everyone has great Sunday services tomorrow.

I’m working on an article dealing with the well-known patriotic hymn entitled: “God of Our Fathers”.   I’ve had fun dressing up this hymn!  Remember how this song starts with a trumpet fanfare?  I’ve always liked this introduction in lieu of a standard intro. But, it needs a little more fullness to create an even more exciting and confident entry for the congregation.

If all goes as planned, I will post part one of this congregational/piano solo arrangement of “God of Our Fathers” sometime tomorrow.

Alot has been going on at my house in regards to my website.  My previous storefront developed some bugs. So…my husband is helping me set up a new store that’s so much better than the previous one.  It just takes ALOT of time…so bear with me as I try to juggle articles and store construction.

And…the winner of Soundforth’s free book giveaway is…Kimberly Handley!  Congratulations! 

Kimberly won the book entitled “This Little Light of Mine” containing sacred piano solos arranged by Susan Greene.

I just attended the smoothest wedding rehearsal and wedding ever!…my son’s 🙂

While flying home yesterday,  I began to list the things I observed in my son’s wedding rehearsal that helped create this seemingly, effortless event. 

 Many church pianists, like myself, occasionally find themselves in the position of wedding consultant/pianist/coordinator/etc. 

For this reason, I’ll share my wedding notes with you soon…in hopes that the list can be of help to other church pianists placed in the position of wedding assistant.

 It always excites me to have young people wanting to get involved in the music ministry.  Our church family is so supportive of their  young people’s endeavors to serve the Lord.

Hannah and her family have recently joined our church and they are a blessing.  Hannah hasn’t had lessons in a little while and is a level one student.  She is anxious to begin lessons this fall and is ready to  serve in the area of music.  Amen!

I recently gave her one of my beginner arrangements of “Nothing But the Blood“ along with an audio to help her out.  To my surprise, she had it down in a short time.  (It’s always encouraging to work with self-motivated young people)  🙂

As a church pianist, I try to encourage our youth to get involved in the music minstry.  I’m thankful that our young people are interested in doing so. The younger they start, the easier it becomes as they gain experience and much practice.   I usually schedule the younger ones for a Wednesday or Sunday evening until they feel more comfortable.  (Sunday mornings require longer offertories due to a larger attendance.)

Here is a video of her playing the offertory at our church this past Sunday night. (Notice the encouraging responses at the end)

I’m also providing this arrangement free…with this article.  I plan to offer more of the beginning student hymn arrangements as time allows…in the music store.

July 4th is almost here!  Do you have a patriotic piano arrangement ready?

We’re using the “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” piano duo arrangement by Glenn & Jan Christianson.  Audio excerpt

A nice patriotic piano solo is “Onward Christian Soldiers” arranged by Elmo Mercer.  Audio excerpt

Just two weeks until July 4th!  I know at least  “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is available for download.

Busy times…but still here 🙂   I’d like to share a free patriotic  piano arrangement with my church pianist readers.  My Country Tis of Thee is a very old hymn. The author of the melody is unknown but the words were written by Samuel Francis Smith.  

My Country Tis of Thee (Audio of free piano arrangement)

I had did have good intentions to post this week but it’s just not going to happen 🙁

Hopefully, I will be able to post an article next week sometime amongst my annual spring  recital preparations.

Have a wonderful Lord’s Day tomorrow!

Sincerely,

Jenifer

I’ll be posting  a free piano arrangement of “Like a River  Glorious” sometime this week. This free arrangement will  be written in a prelude/congregational style for the church pianist. 

“Like a River Glorious” is a beautiful hymn….speaking of God’s wonderful, everlasting peace that He gives to those who have trusted in Him.

To start with…I will show you a page of hymn arrangement samples containing scales.  Scales are used to embellish a melody or simply as a fill-in.  In the following examples…both functions are utlizied.

Editor notes for Scale Variations in Hymns

Count Your Blessings  (the opening scale is added as extra filler to  an introduction)

Jesus Loves Me (the scale creates a nice dress-up for the melody)

Let the Lower Lights Be Burning (this scale creates a nice filler on the syllable “more” and blends into the next two words “But to”)

Editor Notes for final page “Practical Scale Exercises”

When trying to master technical passages in hymn arrangements…I will isolate the passage and master it.  Sometimes I create or embellish upon the passage making it more fun to practice.  Hope the following scale exercises will stimulate other church pianist’s creativity.

Practical Scale Exercises