What a touching story behind the writing of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. I had never heard it until today.
Wow! What a heart breaking story about the author…yet…his love for Christ grew stronger…watch to see what it took to bring “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” to pass…Click here for free piano arrangement of“What a Friend We Have in Jesus”
I know…last minute… but needed to write a piano duet for myself and a friend to play this Sunday morning. I kept trying to find an easy one to throw together at the last minute but couldn’t find exactly what I wanted.
So…I created an easy piano duet of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”. My life has been crazy busy and haven’t had a chance to practice in advance…so this piece worked out great!
Late intermediate to early advanced Easter piano duet. (one piano four hands) 4 pgs. *Price covers two copies. Written for a fast & easy to learn situation! (for the early advanced pianist)
Easter…. a time to celebrate our Lord’s return. At our church, we include songs about Christ’s crucifixion and return.
I’ve created a list of suggested hymns that I would use for an Easter prelude service. I’ve also placed the hymns into groups that seem to go together.
How to play with a conversational style on wordy hymns…a topic that’s been on my mind lately.
A good example of a wordy hymn is “My Savior First of All”. I’ll share tips on how church pianists can play this particular hymn with a natural/conversational tone…making for a more meaningful delivery even when playing for congregational singing.
Coming soon….next week 🙂 Hmm…next week has come and gone due to unavoidable circumstances 🙁 I will do this asap!
I like it when a person looks me up at least two weeks in advance to practice their scheduled vocal or offertory special instead of waiting until the last minute to rehearse.
This doesn’t include those who have to fill in at the last minute.
Which brings me to another topic…
It would be great if we all had a standby song/arrangement ready to play at a moment’s notice. People do get sick or have other unavoidable circumstances arise that makes for last minute cancellations. If we could get all of our special music crowd (vocal or instrumental) to do this (including ourselves).
Which reminds me…it’s time for me to rehearse standby offertory specials! 🙂
What I’m reviewing: (Click on titles to go to source of arrangement)
“It is Well” arranged by Faye Lopez (my favorite “It is Well” advanced arrangement!)
I came across this touching hymn story about “All Hail the Power” while reading the book entitled “Famous Hymns and Their Writers” by Michael Daves.
Edward Perronet, an Englishman, wrote the words to this uplifting hymn in 1779.
Edward was a survivor of religious persecution and was known for his deep piety and religious enthusiasm. His last words before death in 1792:
Glory to God in the height of His divinity!
Glory to God in the depth of His humanity!
Glory to God in His all-sufficiency!
Into His hands I commend my spirit.
Oliver Holden, a carpenter in the United States, wrote the coronation tune to Edwards’s words of “All Hail the Power”. Interesting…Oliver & Edward joined hands across the ocean to share this regal hymn of praise to the world.
Now to the touching part of the story. Missionary E.P. Scott to India took a daring hike through the mountains, in spite of friend’s warnings, to a blood thirsty tribe. Along the way, this hostile tribe confronted E.P. with spears in hand. Scott believing to be near death, took out his violin, closed his eyes, and began to sing these words with all his heart:
All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all;
Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all!
The natives lowered their spears and wanted to be friends! God’s power was evident!
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus uses only two chords through the entire song! (The I and V)
This hymn is crying out for “dress-ups” from the church pianist.
Here’s several ideas I use to dress up the verse of “Nothing but the Blood”.
Notice the melody of the verse contains a lot of repeated notes. A great time to add some spice! 🙂 You can even hold a right chord through repeated notes here and there. You’ll notice I kept the left hand moving during the right hand chords to maintain forward motion/rhythmic drive. The following example can be used for an entire verse if repeated.