The “Assurance Medley” has been one of my favorite sacred piano arrangements to play. I arranged this after asking the Lord to be my Savior at the age of 29.
The order of the hymns in this medley were meant to portray the feeling I had when accepting Christ as my Savior.
I hope this arrangement is an encouragement to you as it has been to me.
My piano teachers always stressed…not using the pedal as a crutch but to demand more out of my fingers by using a smoother touch as though crawling through the keys like a spider; creating a smooth touch even before adding the pedal.
Now to Robert’s clear presentation on playing the piano without the pedal…
Sorry for the delay in publishing this free piano congregational arrangement of Saved, Saved, Saved!
The words of this hymn carry the message of joy a Christian has in having Christ as their personal Saviour 🙂
For that reason, the music should sound happy and upbeat to support the text.
Generally…the faster or more wordy a hymn goes, the lighter the note texture (in my opinion). 😉
Why a lighter texture? Playing frequent big; heavy right hand chords (chords with 3 to 4 notes) throughout… wouldn’t allow for easy mobility; thus causing the pianist to “drag” the tempo.
The occasional full chords can still occur with a fast tempo…especially on long held words such as in measure #8 (see dotted half note for right hand). Full chords also sound nice and feel comfortable toward the end as tempo gets slower (see measures #19 & 20…right hand).
I also use occasional rests to provide more ease of hand movement as in measure #8…allows right hand time to ease into the fill-in. Same idea applies in measures 10, 15 and 17-19.
The rests just seem to create a more balanced “feel” when entering busy fill-in passages.
You’ll notice I use a lot of eighth notes in groups of 3’s to drive the majority of the first verse and chorus. I would change fill-in rhythms on the remaining verses to give my hands a break! 😉 Well…actually it also sounds nicer to use a variety of fill-ins for a fresher sound.
I’m thinking of a couple interpretation tips to share as well.
Hmmm….sounds like another post in the works for Saved, Saved, Saved!
Click on song title below to download your FREE copy of Saved! Saved! Saved! (one verse and chorus)
Remember I recently asked everyone to list an awkward hymn to play for congregational singing?
I received a good many responses here on my site as well as on facebook. I made a list and rolled a dice and the winning hymn for my free arrangement will be “Saved Saved (I Found a Friend).
I will provide a free arrangement of Saved Saved sometime next week 🙂
It’s always interesting to hear from other church pianists. Thanks for participating!
Some friends of ours just published their first sacred vocal CD this past summer entitled “His Name is Wonderful”. I absolutely love it!
Thanks to Faith Music Missions for doing an outstanding job on this CD! You can hear samples HERE (offsite link)
You may contact me at jenifer@thechurchpianist.com to order the CD. (I do have a limited number of these CDs for $12 each plus postage.)
I was suppose to accompany them for the recording but distance prevented me from doing so but their pianist, David Chamberlain, did a wonderful job!
Hunter and Morgan commuted to our church for at least four years while attending Bible college. They served in several areas of ministry while there.
We miss them! (Hunter was the inspiration behind the congregational booklets I’ve been publishing.)
Hunter now serves in a church located in New York City while Morgan is serving in a church out in Kansas.
Back to the CD…The songs are fresh! (some haven’t been published yet)
I plan to publish at least 6 out of the 10 from this sacred vocal CD. (“God Can” by Lynndale Hardeman) is already available in our online music store HERE.
Here is a sample of one of their songs “His Name is Wonderful” written by Reece Yandle (my Dad 🙂
(Information for CD drawing is below the video)
To enter this sacred vocal cd giveaway: (a max of 2 comments per person…details below)
1. First comment (like it, nice cd, etc.)
2. Second comment: Share this article link on facebook, twitter, or other social media and leave a 2nd comment providing your social media link.
3. Winner will be notified via email from jenifer@thechurchpianist.com
Just curious…what seems to be one of the most awkward hymns for you as a church pianist to play for congregational singing?
As soon as I collect a sizable list (at least 10)…I will number them and draw a number out of the hat and write a free congregational piano arrangement of that particular hymn. *Please: One hymn suggestion per person
Special note: Please only choose hymns that are in the public domain.
Here’s how a public domain hymn may appear
Public domain hymn
*Sometimes a public domain hymn will have no credits at the bottom like this:
One of my readers requested fill-in ideas for the song But Until Then. I already shared fill-in ideas for the verse in a previous article HERE.
The chorus of But Until Then may be a challenge for church pianists who don’t feel comfortable improvising. The fill-in notes are what give the music a forward motion; adding life to the hymn…IF the fill-in notes are rhythmically correct 😉
Since this particular hymn is under copyright…I’m limited on what I can share according to the US Copyright Office.
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
The amount being considered “fair use” is up for debate but I try to stay on the conservative side of usage which explains why I presented a “cut and paste” layout of only the long held words.
I’ve been in the writing mood ever since our recent snowstorm. (Guess I need more snowstorms to blow in) 😉
Just wrote this early intermediate sacred piano arrangement of Day by Day for one of my teenager lady students who plays in church quite often. I’ve been grooming her for church pianist material 🙂
She’s been needing an offertory requiring minimal practice… because she’s already trying to learn a new congregational song I gave her recently on top of reviewing all the ones she’s learned.
Remember the two congregational collections I published? Well, I’ve been writing early intermediate level for some of them along the way and Hannah (the student I’m speaking about) plays for congregational singing when I’m out of town.
She recently had to cover the whole service on a moment’s notice this past Sunday night. (I wasn’t able to make it due to road conditions with snow and ice.) She said it went well….great experience for her!
As a church pianist, I’m always looking for offertories that don’t require alot of practice since I play quite often. I also attend a small church so shorter offertories work best.
While snowed in this week, I decided to write and finish a piano hymn arrangement in one day like I use to when I first started this website.
Grace Greater Than Our Sin has been on my mind a lot lately, so decided to try writing an arrangement and the thoughts just flowed for a change!
Hope you enjoy this early advanced arrangement of “Grace Greater Than Our Sin with Amazing Grace”.
