Using the Hymnal to Sing Like the Choir and Not Like the Congregation

Not everyone can arrange on the spot for choir but with a little advance planning, a simple yet beautiful choir arrangement can be created!

This post will cover how to create a two-part  choir arrangement for ladies and men.

Materials needed:

Several minutes

Pencil or pen

Slightly enlarged copy of a hymn from the hymnal.  (the enlarged copy allows room for the arranging marks; or you can can type them in)

Directions:

1. Look for a hymn with close harmony (3rds) in the treble clef…like this:

2.  Harmony possibilities:

Men on melody (top note)  Ladies on alto (bottom note)

Ladies 2 parts on line one and Men 2 parts for line two

Unison line one then 2 parts line two

Children’s choir sing melody and adult choir sings alto for verse & chorus

Flute plays alto (octave higher)  while children or ladies sing unison for

a verse.

As you can see….SO many ways to dress up a simple hymn without it sounding like a regular congregational hymn!

Since we only have a half hour choir practice…we prefer to pre-arrange these simple hymns ahead of time instead of having the choir pencil in the layout in their hymnals.  So…I’m sharing this simple hymn arrangement with you for “Jesus Loves Me” below for free 🙂  (Sorry it doesn’t include piano accompaniment…not enough minutes in the day for that)  🙂

Oh!  But wait a minute!  Go on a hunt in your hymnal to find more hymns with close harmony (3rds) in either the verse or chorus and start arranging!

Couple suggestions:  When I See the Blood, Standing on the Promises

*Click on the title below this picture of music… for free PDF download of  Jesus Loves Me

⇒JESUS LOVES ME (FREE DOWNLOAD)⇐

*I want to thank Mac & Beth Lynch for their wonderful, practical workshop entitled “On the Spot Arranging” for choir.  They are also working with a small church choir of their own and the information was very relative for me as well as others.   (Majesty MusiCarolina Conference occured July 30-31, 2015 in Raleigha, NC)

Being transparent here…. Ever have those days as a church pianist where you wondered, “What was I thinking?!” Got back late Friday from a conference and was just extra tired on Sunday and boy did it show!

Got to choir practice 15 minutes early to copy a two sided arrangement for a ladies’ ensemble rehearsal… and wound up copying the same page on both sides…ever done that? Don’t ask me WHY I didn’t notice BEFORE singing it in practice….(laughs for everyone) Just one of the many crazy things I did that day 🙂

After ensemble practice, one of the ladies approached me and I just KNEW she was going to give me a lashing (lol…just kidding) She handed me a homemade loaf of pound cake and said she just wanted to express her gratitude for my time spent working in the music ministry.

That act of encouragement could not have come at a better time. Isn’t God good how he works through people?!

Just thought I’d share a video clip of the sacred piano duet “Come Thou Fount” performed by myself and my student, Hannah Myers.

We played it this past Wednesday for offertory before heading out to the MusiCollege 2015 event.

We thoroughly enjoyed playing this peppy arrangement on a cloudy day 🙂

Heading to the annual MusiCarolina conference this week!  This will be my first time to attend a conference by Majesty Music.

I’m looking forward to the church pianist related workshops on Friday.

Here are the workshops I plan to attend

• On the Spot Arranging  (Mac & Beth Lynch)

• Congregational Leading & Accompanying (Ron & Shelley)

• Accompanying Made Simple (Shelley Hamilton)

I will take good notes and share some highlights when able!

Looking forward to publishing “We Have a Saviour Who Cares” by Mina Oglesby.

I’m working on the written arrangement of this duet.

Here’s a video clip of myself with a friend singing it at our church this past Sunday.  (The alto part will have a higher harmony in several spots for the final written version; just had to keep a low harmony throughout for my limited vocal range)

Periodically I have customers say they can’t find the downloadable link(s) to their purchased music.  Hopefully this information will be a help.

1.  Customer making the payment for an order (can choose paypal, debit or credit card.  I chose paypal for this order.)

2.  This screen appears a few seconds after clicking “pay now” button above.

Wait several seconds for next screen to appear automatically!

3.  Third screen appears less than 10 seconds after the window above.

This screen contains the downloadable link(s) for purchased music.

 **I plan on adding pics or video describing how to download & save purchased music.

Are you a church pianist that doesn’t know how to transpose?  Do you choose hymns for prelude that are in the same key for this very reason?  I have good news for you!

It is not always necessary to transpose from one song to the next if you go up a perfect fourth between each hymn.  I’m providing a free prelude below but read the important info below before you hurry to print the free prelude.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Going Up a Perfect 4th Interval From One Hymn to the Next Hymn:

What You Need to Know:

1. An interval is the distance between two notes

Example:

C to D is a 2nd interval because you count from 1 t0 2 to go from    C to D.

C to E would be a 3rd interval and C to F a fourth.

2. Within every key/scale… the fourth interval is called a perfect fourth which consists of five half steps.  So… from C to F is a perfect fourth.  Why is it called a perfect fourth?  Just accept it and go on or if you’re curious…check out the following links 🙂

Music Practice & Theory

Music Reading Savant

Quick quiz in Creating Perfect Fourths:

What is 5 half steps (a perfect 4th) above F? Answer is:  B flat (see picture below)

(Are you noticing that we’re going in order of the flat keys as we go up a 4th?)

The key of F Major has one flat, the key of B Flat Major has two flats.  Cool!

Ok….so what is 5 half steps (a perfect fourth)… above B flat?  You got it!  E flat and the key of E flat has three flats.

Now…let’s apply this “no transposing” concept using the following  hymns which are a perfect fourth apart for a nice topical prelude!

Click on each song title to download for FREE!

Free Prelude for Church Pianists:

At Calvary –  C Major

Since I Have Been Redeemed – F Major

Power in the Blood – B Flat Major

Saved by the Blood – E Flat Major

*All of these arrangements are from our free arrangement page(s)

Another nice sacred piano book from Lorenz for the church pianist!  This book is listed as an intermediate level but some of the pieces may lean more towards early advanced.  A total of fourteen arrangements makes this a nice investment!

My ultimate favorites in this book?

God of the Ages (God of Our Fathers) nice patriotic one!

I Hear Thy Welcome Voice

He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word

I’ve shared audio samples below of my preferred ten out of the fourteen.

Ah Holy Jesus  Ah Holy Jesus

God of the Ages  God of the Ages

He Leadeth Me   He Leadeth Me

He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word  He Never Said a Mumbalin Word

I Hear Thy Welcome Voice   I Hear Thy Welcome Voice

In the Cross of Christ    In the Cross of Christ

More Love to Thee    More Love to Thee

O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus   O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus

Rejoice the Lord is King   Rejoice the Lord is King

Trusting Jesus   Trusting Jesus

As a church pianist, I always get excited when discovering a book that can be well utilized for offertories.  He Leadeth Me is one such book!

*For  more information or to purchase… click Lorenz Publishing Corporation

What am I doing now?  Inputting my congregational arrangements for the second booklet and creating sample audios for another great sacred piano solo book from Lorenz called He Leadeth Me. 

He Leadeth Me is a nice collection of sacred piano solo arrangements by various arrangers, some I’m not as familiar with… but enjoy their style.

I hope to share a book review on He Leadeth Me this coming week.

Just published a very advanced piano solo of “Holy, Holy, Holy” today!

Thanks to several of my piano friends for test driving the piece before publication!

Just sharing youtube recording of the arrangement:

(Buy sheet music listed below the video)

Holy Holy Holy (VERY ADV.)

Very advanced sacred piano solo, 3 & 1/2 pgs. A very moving rendition of a well-known hymn. Jenifer's fresh stylings bring this hymn to life as it communicates the thought of God's holiness.

Price: $3.95