Who has TIME  to memorize music?! 

Memorizing music requires planning ahead doesn’t it? A challenge for all church pianists. 

Many pianists like myself, serve as a volunteer pianist for their church. I enjoy every minute of it…but…it does takes time to adequately prepare for offertories and other special music.

One of my goals this coming year is to spend more time planning/preparing my offertories.  I always know at least one month in advance when I’ll be playing my next offertory. I want to be as effective as I can for the Lord by being prepared. There are times I just have to play an offertory on the spot but for the most part…I know ahead of time.

Memorization should be a natural outcome of consistent practice on a particular piece over a long period of time.  Yeah…like a year!  No 🙂   Memorizing a piece can easily happen in a month to two months time with daily practice.

Choosing an offertory arrangement within your capability is of upmost importance.  Choose an arrangement well within your level so you can focus on the message and not struggle through it. It’s ok to choose a challenging piece…but be realistic 🙂  I like to find arrangements that clearly communicate the message of the hymn without too much frill.  Occasionally, I’ll play a more involved piece such as: “Saviour Like a Shepherd Leads Us’ arranged by Roger House, “Onward Christian Soldiers” arranged by Duane Ream or maybe “Blessed Assurance” arranged by Marilyn Ham.  I really enjoy these particular arrangements because each one of them conveys the meaning of the text with little deviation from the main melody of the song; allowing the listeners to follow along in their minds or in some cases (out loud)  🙂  Personally, I like hearing those in the congregation singing along with me. It means they are focusing on the message instead of me.

I”m getting off track. (Sorry about that). Back to memorizing…one of my piano teachers from high school days gave me the following memorization tip that has really helped me. He told me to “find several escape hatches” (easy places in the arrangement) that I could return to in case I got disoriented when playing from memory. To this day,  I still use this tip when playing from memory.

Joy Morin, of Color in My Piano website, offers practical memorization tips (including my favorite tip mentioned above) in the following article:

12 Tips for Memorizing Music

Are you constantly searching for piano offertory music?  It’ nice to be able to find a piano offertory book where you can use more than one or two songs.

As a church pianist, I’m always looking for offertory music.  Over time, I have created my own favorite  list of piano offertory books that I have purchased through the years.

Take a look at the list in progress under Offertory Resources at the top of my website. Hopefully, this page will be a great help to other church pianists too!

Some hymns, such as Angels We Have Heard on High, contain busy inner voice movement.

I’m referring to the weaving alto part under the melody of the chorus.

It makes it tough on the piano fingers!  There’s no need to play every note during this kind of passage.

I simply play more blocked chords that include the moving voice parts to support the singers (congregation).

Stepping bass octaves in the left hand add movement needed to maintain a peppy tone.

Just remember to simplify busy inner voice movement by using blocked chords that agree
with the voice parts.

 Angels We Have Heard on High (inner voice movement)

 Hmmm…accompaning vocalists…what a responsiblilty we have as church pianists to support the singer; allowing them to take the lead. 

Our job as a pianist is to provide a nice backdrop of sound to enhance the singer’s message. This is an area I would like to expound upon…at a later time:)

Until then….the following tips for accompanying the vocalist makes a nice start.

I came across this practical, informative article today on Sheryl Welles’ Notable Music Studio blog. The article addresses the importance of learning to accompany the vocalist.  Laura Lowe of  The Piano Studio, authored this practical advice on accompanying.

Article: Teaching Well-Rounded Musicians

Improving Ideas for Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne (part two)

The improvising ideas in this hymn are simplistic but are meant to add warmth to enhance the beautiful words of this old melody.

Improvising ideas for Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne: part one

*Keep in mind…the chords in the piano score will not match the four parts from the hymnal version.

“Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” is a beautiful hymn to use at Christmas time.  This particular hymn contains a lot of accidentals…creating awkward moves for the church pianist.  I will attempt to create smoother harmonic changes making it more user-friendly for the average church pianist.

Editor notes for Part One of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”

Download the free pdf  example here to view as you read the information below.

1. I like to use a ‘G’ natural in place of the ‘G’ sharp on the last word of line one. I just think it sounds better.

2. Notice the chord number labels in line two. Whenever a I chord is lasting more than one beat and moving to a V chord…you can substitute a vi chord in place of the I chord before moving into the V chord.   The vi chord creates a warmer tone.

In plain English…a I chord in the key of D = DF#A and the V chord in the key of D = AC#E

I look forward to sharing more improvising ideas with the rest of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” in part two.

*Keep in mind…the chords in the piano score will not match the four parts from the hymnal version.

I have compiled several of my free Christmas piano arrangements under the ” Free Hymns Pdf” page for easier access. 

 Most church pianists are gearing up for Christmas; searching out Christmas piano arrangements. Hope these free arrangements are a help to your music ministry.

Communication between the sound man and the church pianist or music director is vital.

Every church pianist may not be in the same situation as myself.  We have two young men  that help out with our music ministry.  Our church seems to be the hub for training young musicians and then releasing them into various ministries. 

I try to take up the slack and keep open communication between myself and the sound man. Here are several ways I attempt to keep the sound man up-to-date.

Provide him with the following:

*Current Special Music Schedule (gives him advance notice for setting up extra microphones for group specials)

*Program Scripts (with sound cues)

*Periodic conversations with sound man to make sure things are running smoothly

*Practice in advance with sound man with various group specials (instrumental or vocal) to work out microphone settings. 

These are only a few suggestions that I thought may be helpful for church pianists; who like myself…are trying to work as a team with the sound crew 🙂

Once again…I understand that not all church pianists are in this type of situation.  But, it may make you more aware of the importance of proper sound; reminding you to thank the sound crew or person for their help with this ministry. 

It’s so important to keep open communication amongst ourselves in the various ministries of our church…especially the sound crew 🙂

With Thanksgiving  just around the corner…”Come Ye Thankful People Come“ has been on my mind.  Here’s a free piano arrangement of this old-time favorite.

Alot of times, our choir will sing a special from the church hymnal.  Sometimes I just want an introduction other than the regular last phrase of the song. 

 Congregational introductions do require introductions that are self-explanatory.  But…for the choir and other specials, it’s nice for the church pianist  to have a creative introduction as long as it fits the song. 

I”m sharing an introduction idea today that would work for offertory, choir or other vocal special. 

For example, if you’re giving an introduction for a song in C Major…start the introduction with an F chord…then to a C chord and finally end with a G (7) chord right before the first word of the song.  

Sound clear?   Check out the example below that illustrates this type of introduction.  In this particular case, I used the introduction idea in an offertory special entitled  “We Gather Together”.

Click on image to enlarge for clearer view.