Publishing a Mother’s day song tonight! I wasn’t sure if I would have it ready in time…barely though!
A sampling of the first page is listed above.
My dad wrote this song years ago and now it will finally be available in print! The song is sung from an adult or kid’s perspective of their Mother and how she faithfully prays for their salvation and how thankful they are for their Mother’s love.
A mixed adult ensemble and children’s group from our church will be singing this on Mother’s day.
I’m excited to have my grandchildren singing for the first time in this special!
I will try to provide a video of our church group singing this arrangement asap.
My heart is full…had to share an experience that just happened today…
Just returned from playing for a funeral. It was the funeral of a former piano student’s grandmother.
The Lord’s presence was unmistakable! I played about a half hour prelude and it was as though God was moving my hands…you could have heard a pin drop….everyone else must have sensed God’s presence too. Nothing to do with me.
God’s presence was felt upon meeting Nathan’s warm and caring grandfather sitting by his wife’s casket prior to the service. You could tell he walked with God and God’s peace surrounded him and his sweet family. I would love to have known his wife. How he will miss her…married for 67 years. What a testimony!
I taught Nathan years ago when he was first learning piano. He took so well to the old hymns… which he enjoyed playing for his now deceased grandmother. He’s now in his second year of college. At the beginning of the service, Nathan came up and played one of my arrangements I taught him many years ago….”It is Well”. What I didn’t know until the end of the service..was that he played this very arrangement for his grandmother as she entered heaven’s gates.
Sorry…getting a little emotional as tears run down my face while typing.
All I can say is, “God…thank you for allowing me to have a small part in your training of young people for your service and for using my music as a balm for dying saints.” God is good!
I discreetly videoed Nathan while he played “It is Well”. You can tell he was giving all he could for his grandmother. But now…she was hearing Nathan from heaven above 🙂
I recently published fill-in ideas for The Old Rugged Cross.
One of my readers asked me today if I could include the fill-ins on the printed hymnal version for ease of use.
I had to cut and paste and resize the fill-ins to fit the printed copy of the hymnal version so it’s kind of rough looking but it’s the best I could do with time allowed in my schedule.
Thanks for the suggestion Becky! 🙂
Click on following titles to download your free copies of the following:
How many church pianists have ever heard of the hymn “Ready”? One of my readers recently requested an offertory arrangement for this hymn.(actually just yesterday) Thanks Nancy!
I googled the hymn because I didn’t recognize the title right away. Once I saw the music score, I realized it was one I grew up with… but rarely heard.
One main idea comes to my mind after skimming through the words of each verse…Total Commitment to Christ No Matter What. How convicting when I insert the words “Am I…” before each phrase.
After reading the words to each verse I thought, “This is a hymn worth reviving!” The writer of this hymn, Charles Tillman, was the son of an evangelist. He painted houses and was also a traveling salesman for a music company out of Raleigha, NC in the late 1800’s. Charles began his career as a singing evangelist in 1887. He died at the age of 82 in 1943.
Lyrics to “Ready”
Ready to suffer grief or pain,
Ready to stand the test,
Ready to stay at home and send
Others if He sees best.
Ready to go, ready to bear,
Ready to watch and pray,
Ready to stand aside and give,
Till He shall clear the way.
Ready to speak, ready to think,
Ready with heart and mind,
Ready to stand where He sees fit,
Ready His will to find.
Ready to speak, ready to warn,
Ready o’er souls to yearn,
Ready in life or ready in death,
Ready for His return.
Refrain:
Ready to go, ready to stay,
Ready my place to fill,
Ready for service, lowly or great,
Ready to do His will.
I hope other church pianists can use this old but wonderful hymn to enrich their music ministry at church.
Family coming into town any minute and just finished a quickie for church pianists to use for Easter…fill-in ideas for The Old Rugged Cross when playing for congregational singing.
Sorry I didn’t have time to share more!
Happy Easter!
Click on title to download your free copy of fill-in ideas for: THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
Just published a new sacred vocal solo by Mina Oglesby that’s never been recorded until now..called “Rest Will Come in the Morning”.
I first discovered this piece in a songbook collection by Mina called “I Would See Jesus” published in the 1980’s. After playing through the piece, I immediately called Mina and said, “This song needs to be shared! It’s beautiful!” She allowed me to create an arrangement of this comforting song. I can’t wait to look through her books and share more of her wonderful songs filled with her love for Christ.
Appropriate song for any time of the year and would also make a nice funeral vocal solo too.
Thanks to Casie Schmidt for the wonderful recording of Mina’s song. I played in E flat for the recording. In case that’s too low for some people…I also included the arrangement in F Major but didn’t charge extra for having both arrangements.
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!
