How to Enrich Your Congregational Singing
I love to sing “Amazing Grace”! It reminds me of when I accepted Christ as my Saviour at the age of 29.
A quick tip for church pianists on how to enrich congregational singing…
1. Start in a lower key. The congregation sings out better in lower keys…especially if you have a congregation like ours that mainly sings melody.
2. Modulate up a half or whole step higher on the final verse.
In the following video…we started in E flat major and ended in F Major.
The church pianist CAN add zest to congregational singing! Learn to play a hymn in different keys for added enrichment.
I will attempt to write out Amazing Grace in a user-friendly version for congregational piano accompaniment within the next two weeks and share for FREE! (transposed verse will be included)
I love these ideas but at my church both piano and organ play. I find it hard to take any liberties since I am not playing alone. Any suggestions for those of us who would love to add flare to hymns but still have to keep the organist in mind?
Have played both in churches where we had piano and organ and in churches with only piano (currently working piano only), this is what has worked for me – assuming that your organist is a strict note-player, you build your arrangements around the score that she is playing, making certain that all the harmonies and rhythms blend correctly. Keep in mind that if you need the organist to play something not in the original score this assumes that you will notate the change and get it to her with time to learn it. (Much easier now than in the pre-PC, pre-Finale/Sibelius/etc. days!)
Hope this helps some.