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Just to let my readers know that my arrangement of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was just published today.
The arrangement is available in our online music store at the following link:
Advanced Piano Solos: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Or…purchase it directly below:
Our church is presenting an easy Christmas program on Jesus’ birth this year. I have shared this program before but have since revised it. The revised copy is also color-coded for a more “user friendly” format.
I had hoped to offer all of the music to this program in my store this year but haven’t had time to finish them all. Hopefully…by the end of this week…several of the arrangements will be available in the music store.
Please click on the following title to download a free copy of this easy Christmas program entitled…
Available songs for this program:
O Little Town of Bethlehem (young girls & ladies’ SA) *FREE!
Angels We Have Heard on High (children’s choir & adult choir) *includes background music
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.
More details soon 🙂
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.
Jesus Lover of My Soul 03-18-2012 AM
In the next article, I will share a video of Letha playing my arrangement of “What Child is This?” which is now owned by Lorenz Publishing Co.
We interrupt the regularly scheduled posts…to bring you the news of our second grandchild…
Nathan Joel Cook!
Nathan was born on September 14th. We are very proud of him! Baby and parents are doing wonderful.
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 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)
Click here to download: Free Improvising Ideas for Wonderful Words of Life (one verse)
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.
I guess you can tell I’ve been very busy lately…hence…fewer posts.
I’m preparing to be GRANDMA for the second time and busy with music writing projects for my site.
So, I’m sharing a free SAB choir arrangement of Yes I Know that I recently finished.
Feel free to share this with your choir director and make as many copies as you like!
Click here to download: Yes I Know (Free SAB choir arrangement)
Click on complete audio below:
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