I have two Christmas arrangements that will be published very soon!
One is an early advanced arrangement of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and the other is an easy two-part ladies’ arrangement of “What Child is This?”
Also working on other Christmas arrangements of various sorts that I hope to publish in time for this year.
I’ve been writing ALOT lately..getting ready for our church’s Christmas program.
Our church choir is presenting the “Christmas Story”. Several choir members have been chosen as narrators to present the Luke 2 passage. Christmas carols have been inserted at appropriate times to support the scripture. We also have the younger kids singing a couple songs and using them for the manger scene characters.
Even simple programs require ample practice in order to present an effective message on the birth of Christ. I’m SO excited about this year’s program! Since the program is rather easy..we’re adding a few touches to make it extra special.
I have always loved the Christmas carol entitled, “What Child is This”. The music and words seem to go hand in hand…making for an unforgettable hymn.
Here’s Letha, my student that passed away this past spring…playing my arrangement of “What Child is This”. She played it at one of our local nursing homes last December.
This particular arrangement is now owned by Lorenz Corporation. who recently bought out Soundforth.
As most of you may remember… I lost one of my voice/piano students this past March to a very tragic accident. I was training her to be a church pianist. She was doing very well…at the age of sixteen.
God had truly blessed Letha with musical talent. In earlier years…Letha’s vocal range was very limited to about a five or six notes. In the past several years, she had begun to strengthen her high voice and was doing quite well.
This particular song soars up to a high “G” which you will hear toward the end.
I”m sharing an audio of her last solo she sang at church. The song is entitled “Jesus Lover of My Soul” by Dave Mincy. Dave has given me permission to share this song with you.
When and if available…I will provide a link to this song for purchase as soon as I get the information.
If you are a church pianist or play specials in the church service…you know what it’s like to turn pages while playing an offertory or choir special.
You (maybe) can get by with page turns for a choir special… but not for an offertory.
How to turn pages without disrupting the flow of music? Two solutions come to mind that I have used: Find someone to turn pages or turn your own pages using the following tips:
1. Memorize a few measures before and after the page turns (very helpful!) Tip: Try highlighting the measure where you pick up reading after a page turn to avoid disorientation 🙂 Depending on the note content…it may be too tricky to turn a page a few measures before. In that case, I memorize a little more so I can turn the page at a more convenient spot.
2. Turn the page(s) with the hand that’s not playing the melody to maintain a logical flow
Face it…you may just have to miss a few notes with the non-melody hand to make this happen.
3. I also turn back the corner of each page…making the page easier to grab
*I have copied pages to avoid page turns but ONLY with special permission from the publisher; so as not to infringe on copyright laws. (I should probably devote an article on copyright laws).
If I have someone turn pages…I have them stand on my left side if at all possible…. so as not to block the congregation’s view of the person playing.
For those of us who’ve ever had “page turn” issues…I recommend the following video. I’m just glad the girls knew their parts real well…especially the girl on the left.
I couldn’t resist sharing the next gadget that would be heavenly for any pianist!
I honestly had to think REALLY hard to come up with some FRESH ideas…considering this particular hymn uses only three different chords…G, C, and D. (I wrote this in mind for congregational singing).
The following free pdf of “Wonderful Words of Life” contains ideas for one verse. The vocal score (melody only) is included as a guide for the church pianist.
Our church sings this hymn at a fairly peppy tempo…making for a simple, straightforward accompaniment. Adding too many notes to a fast tempo… would tend to drag the speed.
I will provide an audio below for the suggested speed of this piano accompaniment…when my computer and I can get along.
Special note: A slower tempo of this hymn would allow the pianist to add even more fill-ins! (another lesson)
How many other church pianists besides myself, find it a challenge to dress-up the hymn, “Wonderful Words of Life”? A piano friend of mine recently asked me to show her improvising ideas for this hymn.
To be honest, it took some thought to come up with some REALLY fresh ideas. I hope to post a free pdf tomorrow of an improvised verse for “Wonderful Words of Life”. It’s been fun coming up with some different moves to liven up this simple but well-written hymn.
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus…a hymn with a great message and simple chording. I decided to spice up this hymn by adding different chords and came up with the elementary level piano arrangement below.
My student, Noah, really enjoyed playing this arrangement of Nothing but the Blood of Jesus for offertory. Of course I had fun making up a second piano part to accompany him. I hope to publish the teacher’s part for “free” when I get a chance to write it out.
An arpeggio is a broken chord. I like to use fast arpeggios in my hymn arrangements. So…how do I determine where to place a fast broken arpeggio? Anywhere a word can be stretched (broadened) or held if you were singing the hymn.
One of my free piano hymn arrangements entitled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” contains a fast arpeggio on the second page. (Shown below)
This fast arpeggio consists of 12 notes. If you look closely, you’ll notice that I played 3 groups of one-octave arpeggios within the 12 note passage. Each group has four notes beginning and ending with note “G”.
I’m basically using a g minor one-octave arpeggio made up of the notes: G-Bflat-D-G
How to finger this? Use right hand thumb (of course) to start each group. For each group use the following fingering: 1 2 3 5
To properly blend this run into the arrangement…emphasize the right thumb at the beginning of the first group only; allowing the hand to relax and glide across the fast arpeggios in an even rhythmic flow. How to do this? Practice s-l-o-w 🙂
Careful not to play SO fast that it sounds “thrown in” …causing an interruption in the flow of thought.
Slow Motion Demo
Now…for the complete arrangement at regular tempo…
