I know it’s not the Christmas season but had to share a video of my FREE piano arrangement…”In the Bleak Midwinter” played by Fred, better known as…The African Pianist.  Thanks Fred for your dedication to the keyboard as well as your  contagious inspiration!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85rg5yJ9Nq4&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1plGALMabI54Of495Lxj2GzWUyw2VuajUubILDOEpw8w5SYnXqzI1BedU

I decided at the last minute to record myself playing comforting hymns on the piano this afternoon.

I hope these hymns bring comfort to you all during this season of life.

May God bless each one of you!

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing “live” on face book for the last several months.

As time permits, I edit the face book version to include the names of each hymn that I play and then share here on my website.

Hope you enjoy this session from last week’s “live” face book version.

I’m playing tonight at 8:30-9 pm ish EST

Join in and sing along this evening!  Just click on the following link a few minutes before 8:30 pm to allow you time to find me.

You don’t have to have a facebook account to see the event.

Live Facebook event link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/278983656798545/

Now, to last week’s event

This is a clarification for those who have purchased the “Diatonic Chord Substitution Lesson One” tutorial.  But…anyone can glean from this post!

I recently received an email with this question…

“You said if there are four different notes…then it is a 7 chord.” (She’s referring to analyzing chords from the hymnal.)

She goes on to say, “…however, on your example of “It is Well” (page four of the handout)…on the word “like”, there are four different notes and I don’t think it’s a C7 chord. It looks more like a G¹¹ chord or something…but you say to play a C chord for that whole measure.” Click on image for enlarged view.

Excellent question!

So…here’s the answer…

When coming across this situation where the chord can’t be placed in consecutive thirds…you are more than likely dealing with “passing tones”.  The passing tones are found in the right hand part for this particular example.

Passing tones are secondary notes you have to pass through to move from one note to the next.  Passing tones are not meant to be factored in… to the underlying chordal structure of a measure.

So…look at the word “like” in the picture above.  The right hand notes are “D & F”

Now…step back and look at the overall note ingredients within that measure. The majority of the notes favor what chord? Yes! The C chord.  That’s why I played within a C chord frame for that measure as you’ll see in the next picture below. (I should have made the left hand note “E” a half note.)

Passing tones to music are like joints to the human body. Our joints support movement as the passing tones do to music.  Passing tones are like the accessories/dress-up to the overall melody of a song.

Thanks to one of my readers for a great question!

Please feel free to join me live on facebook this evening at 8:30 pm EST until ?

I’ll be playing from a list of hymns in addition to requests on facebook.

You don’t have to have a facebook account to view my hymn playing session.

Just type in this link to google search bar:  https://www.facebook.com/events/710200659522651/

See you soon!

Jenifer

I was blessed this morning to hear Molly Madden, a wonderful harpist, playing a couple of my piano hymn arrangements.

Molly was able to adapt them for harp. (special permission given)

Thank you Molly for sharing your God-given talent.

I received the following email from one of my readers today concerning my free arrangement of “Whispering Hope”.

“I am also a church pianist and I am writing to thank you for making your beautiful arrangement of Whispering Hope available free of charge on your website. I played it for yesterday’s “Hymn of the Week” feature on our church YouTube channel. By request I’ve been featuring a different hymn every week since the pandemic lock down began, and providing some background into the writing of each hymn. “

I found the story behind this song very intriguing!

I’ll be going live on facebook this evening at 8:30pm EST to play a little over a half hour of hymns.

See you there!  Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/thechurchpianist/

Just published my first tutorial on Diatonic Chord Substitution Lesson One!

Wow!   WHAT a time I had creating this tutorial!

I focused on making it as easy to understand as possible!

The seventeen minute companion video is loaded with visuals!

Diatonic Chord Substitution Lesson One

Diatonic Chord Substitution....one of the easiest to learn! Enjoy this short; concise easy-to-learn chord substitution lesson! Materials include: Seven page PDF (downloadable) handout; Seven page answer key, companion video chock full of visuals and explanations! *Special note: Buyer receives a private video link via email... within two days after purchase. *Jenifer will email the video link to the buyer's email address used at time of purchase. On sale now through May 25, 2020

Price: $12.00

The first mini lesson on Diatonic Chord Substitution is almost complete!

I had SO much fun creating this short mini lesson that involves seven pages in addition to answer key pages and at least a 17 minute video companion chock full of visuals!

I hope to publish the entire project by this Friday. Watch short commercial below with few bloopers!