Hover over “Church Pianist Music Store” to find following link..or click on this link to view New & Used Christmas music for sale.

My favorite arrangement of “My Savior First of All” is by Mary McDonald from her book entitled “This is My Story”.

I’ll be playing this simple; yet elegant version tomorrow for offertory.

The introduction sets the mood for this beautiful hymn tune by John Sweney.

I love to hear my Dad sing this song too!  I’ll be sharing clips of Dad singing this song and others asap.

Here’s a sample page from Mary McDonald’s version of “I Shall Know Him”.

Meryt Wilson and I REALLY enjoyed getting together a couple weeks ago to discuss Accompanying Vocal Specials.  We came up with a series of short videos talking about various ideas on accompanying the vocalist.

Here are several practice tips for the church pianist who plays for vocal specials.

In our next video…we’ll share a couple thoughts when creating an intro for a vocal solo.  Meryt sings while I try to create intros!

Special Note!

I apologize for not posting anything lately.  My dad was hospitalized last week unexpectedly and so I stayed through last week to help them out.

I returned just yesterday and now helping out with grand kids while my oldest son is getting a back issue treated.  I should be able to start posting again by this Friday.

I do enjoy posting articles and writing music but my family comes first.  Thanks for your understanding.  By the way, LOVE the encouraging notes that many of you have written. Thank you SO much!  That’s what keeps me writing! 🙂

Sincerely,

Jenifer

I’m thrilled to FINALLY have this arrangement in print of “His Name is Wonderful to Me” written by my Dad, Reece Yandle.

This new vocal solo is now available for purchase at Sheet Music Plus.  Available in two different keys!  (E flat and F Major)

PROMO SPECIAL:  Buy this arrangement on Sheet Music Plus and email us your receipt of purchase and we’ll email you one piano solo arrangement of your choice…FREE! from Jenifer’s online music store. Email: jenifer@thechurchpianist.com

Exception: Does not include any offsite products. Offer expires August 30, 2019

Dad has written many songs over the  years.  He has published nine of them on Sheet Music Plus over the last couple of years.

Click here to see what he’s published on Sheet Music Plus. 

In addition, Dad has at least three published songs  through Lorenz. The songs are included in three different books of various composers. They are listed below:

Book Title: No Greater Love:  Song Title: “Nevertheless Thy Will be Done” VIEW SAMPLE PAGES

Book title: Face to Face   Song title: “By the Grace of God” VIEW SAMPLE PAGES

Book title: Day by Day  Song title:  “Who Will Go?”  (nice mission theme song)  VEW SAMPLE PAGES

Below is a video of  Alton Beal, President of Ambassador Baptist College, singing my Dad’s song, “His Name is Wonderful to Me.”

Practice Tips

Part One

Finding time to practice vocal specials is a challenge for most church pianists!  Listen to Meryt Wilson and Jenifer Cook as they discuss this challenging topic.

Meryt Wilson, one of my dear piano friends and myself, try to get together at least once a year to boost our music creativity.  This year we decided to discuss the topic of “Accompanying Vocal Specials”.

I’ll be sharing video excerpts of our discussion along the way.

We usually spend the day sight reading each other’s books that may be new to us. We also enjoy playing spontaneous numbers as you will see below.

Meryt has been playing for church since at least junior high age. She also taught piano at Ambassador Baptist College for a number of years in addition to giving private piano lessons. 

You can find Meryt’s sacred piano arrangements at the following link: Sheet Music Plus

Meryt will be adding more arrangements as time permits.

Now on to our spontaneous fun 😉    Just sharing the part that seemed to go well 😉

  Special note:  I’m almost finished editing my Dad’s song “His Name is Wonderful to Me”.  I hope to publish this song tomorrow!  (Sunday August 18,2019)

Meryt Wilson, one of my dear piano friends and myself, try to get together at least once a year to boost our music creativity.
We decided this year to discuss the topic of Accompanying vocal specials.

This is just a candid conversation that took place between us.

Choosing the song for a singer may not be needed most of the time… but here are some suggestions on how it could benefit some singers.

Next video excerpt will discuss practicing tips with vocal specials!   Have you ever heard of audacity?  I’ll mention it in the next video.

What is the accompanist’s role? Should the vocal soloist sing a song just because it’s their favorite? What to do if a singer forgets his or her words? Should you play melody throughout?

Come join Jenifer Cook & Meryt Wilson for a time of discussion on the above topics and more…including funny or embarrassing moments as accompanists at the keyboard.

To be aired here on Jenifer’s website this Saturday, August 17, 2019.

The following article discusses the limitations that come with the intermediate level church pianist.  A reminder, they are doing the best they can do for the moment. But with a little extra practice…they can blossom into a fuller sound of playing by expanding their right hand horizon; opening up space for more left hand creativity!  The following article is meant to encourage the intermediate level church pianist.

Most intermediate level church pianists play basically in the middle area of the keyboard when accompanying congregational singing or other vocal specials.

(See the picture of their range below)

The bass part in the hymnal doesn’t normally go below the second G under Middle C and the right hand probably doesn’t go as high as the second F above Middle C unless the intermediate pianist takes quick ventures into the upper register 😉

When the right hand stays within this boundary…the left hand playing space is limited.  Taking the right hand an octave higher for an occasional spin…opens up more room for the left hand. This does not mean the pianist must stay an octave higher throughout the entire hymn.  It’s actually better to use a combination of both the middle or upper register for variety in sound.

When to change registers for the right hand?  In my early days of training, I was taught to change right hand registers at the end of a line which equates to at least two sentences.  It’s nice to gradually work your way up or down by playing extra chords or notes leading into whatever register you’re heading for.

See example below in the hymn excerpt “Like a River Glorious” (click on image to enlarge)

Click HERE to download free pdf copy of this image without comments in red