Meet Maddie the church pianist who loves learning to play!

Maddie started out in Level 1A (Faber books) and reached level 5 in two years!

Watch this video to hear Maddie share her journey thus far… Please feel free to share by copying this link to your social platform  Maddie the Church Pianist

A nice hymn that focuses on praising God for His saving grace!

Here are the lyrics to the chorus…

“I will praise Him, I will praise Him! Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;

Give Him glory, all ye people, For His blood can wash away each stain!”

I Will Praise Him

Advanced sacred piano solo, 4 & 1/2 pages. Uses keys: F, G and A flat A nice piece for thanksgiving or any time of the year. *Special note: Jenifer composed the melody for the second verse. There are three verses total in this arrangement.

Price: $4.50

 I’m pleased to announce that Maddie, the one-hand inspiring church pianist, has agreed to an interview.

Maddie hopes to encourage others by sharing her life as a pianist in general.  She is also the pianist at her church!

I look forward to sharing her interview sometime during the month of November.

You will also get to meet Maddie’s teacher as we get to know Maddie.

Thank you Maddie for being willing to encourage pianists around the world!

I will be announcing the date of the video publication asap!

In the picture:  Maddie’s teacher on the left (Mrs. Brubaker)

Wow!  How surprised I was to see Loren & Louise Lustig at my church this past Sunday!

Loren & Louise are a husband and wife team who volunteer of their time to  minister through music to various churches in their area as needed for Sunday services, weddings and funerals. I’ve gotten to know them over the years via email correspondence.

They have encouraged me over the years through their playing, emails and now a visit!  I also enjoy how Loren & Louise weave hymn lyrics throughout their encouraging notes.

Thanks Loren & Louise for the visit and for the gift of piano CDs!  You both are an inspiration to me and keep me writing.

Hear Loren & Louise play and hear their encouraging note via video. Click HERE

Awhile ago, one of my readers asked if I had a congregational arrangement for “A Might Fortress is Our God.”

I didn’t at the time but decided to tackle it this week.  This particular arrangement is for the late intermediate church pianist.

What a challenge to stay within the written chords from the hymnal! Maybe I need to come up with a piano solo for this hymn too.

Important Notice!

This arrangement was created for congregational style only.  If  you insert the melody in measures #16 and #20…it can be used for a piano solo.

Print your own copy for free and then listen to the audio while you’re holding the music!

A Mighty Fortress is Our God (FREE PDF)

 A Mighty Fortress is Our God (audio)

Be on the look out for a free sacred congregational piano arrangement!

I’ll give you a couple  hints:

1. I’ve NEVER arranged this hymn before.

2. It’s a very stately old hymn that speaks of God’s protection

Here’s a visual aid for measure #34 in my advanced version of “Holy Holy Holy”.

I used eighth notes instead of sixteenth notes to give a clearer presentation of the RH run layout.

I created this for a reader that was asking if some of the notes were wrong in the right hand run of this measure.

I’m not surprised. It’s a tricky measure!  I had to practice and practice this page!

Download this visual aid HERE

Just throwing a quickie your way!  Here are a couple left hand improvising tips for the hymn…Praise Him! Praise Him!

The tips can be applied to hymns in different time signatures.

I have a student who is late intermediate level and she wants to learn congregational style so bad! So…I’ll be walking her through different hymns and giving her improvising tips along the way.

Let me know if you all want more of these quickies along the way.  Click on this title to download your free copy of this page.  PRAISE HIM! PRAISE!

Jenifer…need help in determining what songs are appropriate to use for preludes. I like grand, powerful songs reflecting God’s greatness but not sure it would be necessary to always play these types of songs. Can you help? Thanks.   Nell

Excellent question!

I was always taught to play peppy and loud with an upbeat tempo!

However, I have changed somewhat.

You may think I’m weird, but for most preludes I play the prelude according to the spiritual temperature of any given service.

For example, on Sunday mornings, most of the congregation is already in their seats sitting quietly waiting for the service to begin.

We have a brief choir rehearsal right after Sunday School in a room behind the auditorium. We usually get to the auditorium when it’s about time to start!

So, I will play hymns around a medium level of volume  such as:  (Our grand piano easily overpowers our medium sized sanctuary)

O Worship the King

Blessed be the Name

Praise Him! Praise Him

Grace Greater Than Our Sin

Amazing Grace

There are some mornings that it feels more appropriate to play more subdued/prayerful hymns such as:  In the Garden, The Old Rugged Cross, I Must Tell Jesus, Jesus is the Sweetest Name I Know. (Especially for times when the congregation has been touched by a recent death(s) or other trials)

Our congregation seems more sociable before Sunday and Wednesday night services 🙂  So, I’ll play hymns like Victory in Jesus, When the Roll, Blessed Assurance, Love Lifted Me, etc.

I try to keep my volume under tow so as not to overpower those that are visiting before the service.

I think my piano preludes are starting to evolve into more of  a background type of music vs. the loud; intrusive style that can crowd out conversations or  meditative moods.  I have been on the receiving end of preludes many times at different churches over the years and always enjoyed the preludes that drew you into a worshipful mood without being too loud.  We were recently at a funeral of a relative and the organ was SO loud that it hurt our ears and drowned out the congregational singing.

On a side note…ever notice how the prelude is more like the alarm clock for everyone to get in place?   😉

Please understand these tips are coming from personal opinion. We all have our own styles and ideas. This is just what works for me.