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So many times I have wanted to play “A Passion for Souls” for the invitation but not many people know this song…at least not in our church. The melody is ok but felt like it needed a face-lift.
I like to play familiar songs during invitation…hymns that the people know since I play background music during invitation. (I miss the days of hearing the congregation sing during invitation).
Back to topic! I thought…if I could re-work the melody on this song…maybe it would revive a long lost hymn…at least for our church 🙂
So…a new melody to “A Passion for Souls” flowed out of my mind during a recent spurt of inspiration last week. Hope the song is a blessing to you.
I’m singing it as a duet with a friend this Sunday morning. (The arrangement can either be a duet or solo) I’ll share a video of the duet asap.
Here’s a sampling of sheet music for “A Passion for Souls” which I will publish next week. (Click on image below for larger view)
Every now and then I have a splurge of music ideas run through my head. Last week was one of those times. The results: an early intermediate piano arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus” and a new melody for an old hymn “A Passion for Souls”. (Here’s a sample of the new tune)
At the time of my overwhelming inspiration, I was in final editing stage on “Jesus Paid it All” ladies two-part arrangement, “Nearer My God to Thee” adding violin bow marks….thanks to help from one one of my violin friends… Abby Phillips AND an updated version of my advanced piano arrangement of “Abide With Me” written as I performed for the recent Composer’s Symposium.
Just so you know…silence doesn’t mean I’m not writing 🙂
Modulating between hymns during a prelude or other background music event can create a seamless presentation.
The absence of this art makes for a disjointed sound when going from hymn to hymn. (unless of course the songs are in the same key) 🙂
Ah….but just because the songs are in identical keys doesn’t mean the songs will always sound seamless without some type of transition. (another lesson!)
Every church pianist should try and learn the art of modulation to the best of his or her ability…in small bits at at time. For starters, learn to modulate between songs with same time signature as I have provided below. (The modulations will feel/flow a little different in 3/4 time versus 4/4 time.)
Below is a free pdf showing how to modulate up a fifth using the chord formula: ii7 to V7 of the new key. I’ve also shared a list of these two chords in the keys found on the free pdf of modulations.
Key of C
ii7 = D-F-A-C
V7 = G-B-D-F
Key of G *see visual of these 2 chords HERE
ii7=A-C-E-G
V7= D-F sharp-A-C
Key of D
ii7= E-G-B-D
V7= A-C sharp-E-G
One of my former piano students approached me at church a couple months ago and asked if I would write her an offertory arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus”.
Well…I finally got around to it! 🙂 But what a surprise! This arrangement just flowed out of my little brain this week and I quickly penned it to paper. It’s not always that easy for me to arrange a hymn!
I tried to arrange this piano solo well within her early intermediate level…hoping she could learn it soon. Even though I’m an advanced pianist…I wouldn’t mind playing this for offertory.
Modulating during any type of prelude (church, funeral, wedding or other occasion)…creates a smooth transition between songs. Without a smooth transition between different keys, the music will sound interrupted or very abrupt. The articles associated with this lesson and future lessons will deal with modulating to a higher key. Modulating to a lower key can also be effective but such a topic belongs in a different set of lessons.
The modulation chord formula that works for most any key change uses the ii7 to V7 chords of the new key.
(I personally like to use the V7 sus instead of a plain V7…but will will illustrate at the appropriate time).
*Part two will provide a FREE pdf with several examples of modulating up a fifth. (C Major to G Major)
Keyboard visuals of the ii7 & V7 chords in the key of G Major are shown below. (The upcoming examples will cover C to G, G to D and F to C using this chord formula)
ii7 of G Major
V7 of G Major
Working on the examples now and hope to share this week!
Do modulation and transposition mean the same thing? They ARE closely related but describe two different actions.
Modulation is the transition process (the key change itself)… that takes the pianist to the new key.
Transposition is playing a song in a different key than what’s written.
Next post will share a modulation chord that is commonly used for modulating from one key to another.
