As promised, here’s the verse of Dwelling in Beulah Land like I might play for congregational singing at my church. (link contains verse and chorus)
Editor notes:
This arrangement was written to be handled at about quarter note = 120 tempo
I ironed out the excessive wrinkles (dotted quarter note + eighth note) and played more even rhythms to make it easier on the hands of the pianist…as in measures: 1,3,5,6 etc.
I also inserted 6 quarter note rests during the verse to break up the right hand movement and for interesting rhythm!
The quarter note + half note rhythm in the left hand created more rhythmic drive.
I have more freedom with this song because our congregation knows it very well. You would need to add more melody if your congregation is not as familiar with this song. Notice: I used just enough melody to prevent me from being disorientated and to provide some melody stability for the singers 😉
My goal is to make the congregational style accompaniment support the singers and to make it enjoyable/comfortable for the pianist to play
A lot has been going on since about March. All is well but just a lot of major events that are now settling down 🙂
One of the major events is we will be fostering a child around the age of 11 or 12 this summer. A lot of prep goes into this! 🙂
We’re excited about giving a kid a chance in life. It’s the least we can do to reach out while we’re still young enough to do so.
I’m hoping to have a little more wiggle room this summer to create more posts here on my website.
I’ve been writing arrangements for my piano students as of late and also working on an advanced piano arrangement of “God Will Take Care of You’.
Next Thursday, I’ll be hosting a fundraiser event for one of my piano friends on facebook live…
May 20th at 8pm EST. I’ll be playing comforting hymns for the Meister family. Please join me in supporting this family through prayers and other help if God lays it on your heart.
I’ll be playing live on facebook March 18th, 2021 at 8pm EST
You won’t need an account to view this event. Just click on the link below… around 7:55pm that evening to give yourself time to find me.
Once you’re on my facebook page….you may have to scroll down the page to see live video of me or the piano in my livingroom. You’ll see the same view as the picture below.
I’m sharing the rest of “The Call for Reapers” as promised last weekend.
Tips for the complete arrangement:
For those who don’t like playing sharp keys…just easily transpose to E flat major. The notes are the same….just think three flats instead of four sharps!
Try applying the accompaniment pattern of the chorus to hymns of like nature and chordal structure such as:
Measures 25 – 27 would go well for the words “softly and tenderly Jesus is” for the hymn “Softly and Tenderly.”
Read the note at the bottom of the sheet music that you’re about to download…
This past Sunday I had to play in E Major (four sharps) for a male vocal solo and survived! He was singing “The Call for Reapers” out of the hymnal. The hymnal version was in the key of A flat major.
In his first practice I discovered E Major was the most suitable key for his baritone range. I decided I would brave the sea of black notes and make it work!
Usually I would have had the vocalist go to another nearby key that I could reasonable transpose to.
As I’ve mentioned before….E major is NOT my most comfortable key to play in. Some of my readers are sharp key lovers but I’m quite the opposite!
A simple sketch of “The Call for Reapers” was all I needed to keep me on track. It worked wonders! I was able to follow the piece fairly easy. The gentleman sang two verses and choruses but I just wrote out one verse and chorus as more of a guide.
Most hymns in the church hymnal don’t go beyond three sharps or five flats. That explains why I don’t feel as comfy beyond the hymnal key range.
Maybe there are other church pianists who could benefit from this simple sketched out arrangement of “The Call for Reapers”.
This particular hymn makes a great choice for Mission’s Conference or other mission related meeting.
I’m sharing the verse in this post and will publish the chorus by hopefully next weekend.
Click on following title to download your FREE copy of the verse
Part Two (chorus) by next weekend. (March 8 – 10, 2021)
“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”…an excellent reminder to focus on Jesus as we travel through this earthly life.
As I grow older…the words to these old hymns become even more meaningful.
Here’s a homespun hymn arrangement of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” I just played from my heart and tried to replicate via paper 😉
I especially love the last verse:
“His Word shall not fail you_HE PROMISED 🙂
Believe Him and all will be well.
Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell!
This arrangement is VERY advanced due to at least a half dozen runs…measure #42 contains a run I’ve never used or seen before…but it just seemed to fit.
I will admit it’s the hardest run for me to play in this arrangement. But…with practice it can happen 🙂
Advanced sacred piano solo, 4 pgs.
A majestic entrance to this arrangement opens up to the chorus and then goes into a verse with a final chorus. At least a half dozen runs are included in this exciting arrangement!
I just finished the final copy of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”.
This is a very advanced piano hymn arrangement with at least a half dozen runs sprinkled throughout the piece.
To be honest, I didn’t think this arrangement was worthy of publication. Why? Sometimes I feel like my homespun arrangements aren’t that interesting. But this is the style I like to play….just straight from my heart.
My piano friend, Meryt Wilson encouraged me to publish this piece.
Maybe there are other church pianists that could make use of this homespun arrangement.
I’ll be creating the video today and hope to publish it by no later than the end of this week.
Headed to meet up with one of my piano friends, Meryt Wilson! We try to meet at least once a year to trade ideas and just have fun playing the piano or pianos together! I’ll try to share the highlights of our meeting asap!
I’m almost finished with a very advanced arrangement of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus!”
Meryt will test drive the piece for me today before final publication.
Dwelling-in-Beulah-Land-piano-congregational
