| The Church Pianist |
| A help ministry for church pianists all over the world! |
My husband told me this day would come 🙂
One of my website readers approached me in a parking lot this past weekend… and said,”Are you the church pianist!?”
I told her it was a first for me to have a total stranger recognize me out and about in the middle of nowhere!
I asked for a picture with her 🙂
Thanks to all of you like this lady…who encourage me to keep writing!
Update:Â Just to let you know:Â I’m working on a moderate advanced piano solo for “The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago”
You can still leave peppy hymn suggestions below 🙂 Thanks!
One of my readers requested more piano solo arrangements of the old traditional peppy hymns. A great suggestion!
So…I thought I would ask my readers for some peppy hymn suggestions.
Our niche is the traditional hymns in the public domain.
Examples: When I See the Blood, Showers of Blessing
The hymn is copyrighted if it has a copyright label at the bottom or top of the hymn similar to this:
The hymn is public domain if there isn’t a copyright label at the bottom or top of the hymn similar to this:
Just to alert my beginner church pianists…I published two beginner sacred piano solos this week.
The titles: Near the Cross and No Not One.  I wrote these pieces for my students. My younger students have really enjoyed playing No Not One. The older beginner students like Near the Cross.
Both pieces contain suggested fingering for the beginner to late beginner student.
I think we’ve all been guilty of rushing busy passages in piano arrangements. The brain computes…”lots of notes….I must go fast!”
When in reality, a lot of these passages are meant to be handled a bit slower than what appears on the page.
Take time to “feel” the music…breathing life into the piece!
One of my readers recently asked for ideas on left hand octave chord patterns. This is just one of many patterns possible!
I started with a fairly easy one and will share another pattern when able. Sorry for this quick-thrown-together video due to time restraints.
I’m preparing to help out my Mom after she has same day surgery on her knee. Much going on but I will try to at least share quick tips or such for at least the next month…then maybe the dust will settle by then ;).
I want to create a series of booklets on hymn improvising ideas for the church pianist.
The first booklet is going to deal with left hand patterns for devotional style hymns. (I’m working on it now)
The most challenging part for me is presenting everything in a well ordered approach.
I want to keep these books practical, short and concise. Each booklet will deal with one topic.
Another booklet will deal with right hand fill-ins and so on. Hopefully the church pianist can grasp the concept(s) from each booklet in order to make application on their own.
Each booklet will provide a sufficient amount of examples for ample reinforcement.
The booklets will be geared to the intermediate and beyond church pianist.
The church pianist will need to know their scales, chords and chord inversions. A prior knowledge of interval reading would also be helpful.
For the first booklet, the concepts and examples will be presented in the keys of C , F, and G Major for ease of application.
I’m considering naming the booklet series “Making Hymns Expressive”.
I loved writing this arrangement because I wrote how I felt like expressing it at the time. When I try to structure my pieces…it sometimes stifles my creativity.
But….structure is also good because it makes the piece more playable…without awkward leaps and such.
I have SO many favorite hymns and “There is a Fountain” is on that list!
I tried to depict an overflowing fountain in the beginning and ended with a different twist…still sounding as a fountain.
This piece is geared to the early to moderately advanced church pianist. The entire arrangement stays in the key of C but contains a lot of full chords.
The only thing holding me back from publishing a wedding song is a title. It’s my first time to write a wordless melody for weddings.
If you don’t mind listening to my wedding tune to help make your suggestion…thanks!
Every title I’ve thought of so far has already been taken such as:
Melancholy Waltz
Love’s Promise
Promise of Love
Delicate Rose
Enduring Love
Click title to hear sample: ” There is a Fountain”
I came across some beautiful CD’s a few years ago that I just love to play for a relaxing background at home.
The two CDs I have are “Springtime Reflections” and “Peaceful Praise”.
One day, I looked up the arranger online and to my pleasure…I found the arrangements were also available in sheet music!
Dave Combs, the publisher, generously mailed me copies of Gary’s books so that I could share sound samples with my readers.
You can find the following books from the video below at www.combsmusic.com
They also have free sound samples and sheet music samples HERE
Special note: “Inspirational Treasures” shown on the left below, contains the song “Beneath the Cross” (excerpt in video) and makes a nice Easter special.