As promised, I’m offering a free hymn piano arrangement today for church pianists.  The title of the hymn is “Like a River Glorious”.

This free piano arrangement can be used for prelude, congregational singing or as an offertory.

As a church pianist, I would find this arrangement most suitable for congregational singing.

Like a River Glorious (free piano hymn arrangement)

Hi!  This week I’m working on several new arrangements to offer in the music store.

I recently posted “America Medley” piano duo in the piano ensemble section of the store. It’s actually more of a late-intermediate level.

I’ve also added a patriotic advanced piano  solo of “The Star Spangled Banner”.

Audio excerpt of America Medley

I’ll be posting  a free piano arrangement of “Like a River  Glorious” sometime this week. This free arrangement will  be written in a prelude/congregational style for the church pianist. 

“Like a River Glorious” is a beautiful hymn….speaking of God’s wonderful, everlasting peace that He gives to those who have trusted in Him.

To start with…I will show you a page of hymn arrangement samples containing scales.  Scales are used to embellish a melody or simply as a fill-in.  In the following examples…both functions are utlizied.

Editor notes for Scale Variations in Hymns

Count Your Blessings  (the opening scale is added as extra filler to  an introduction)

Jesus Loves Me (the scale creates a nice dress-up for the melody)

Let the Lower Lights Be Burning (this scale creates a nice filler on the syllable “more” and blends into the next two words “But to”)

Editor Notes for final page “Practical Scale Exercises”

When trying to master technical passages in hymn arrangements…I will isolate the passage and master it.  Sometimes I create or embellish upon the passage making it more fun to practice.  Hope the following scale exercises will stimulate other church pianist’s creativity.

Practical Scale Exercises

I hope the previous articles on scales in hymns has been a help to many church pianists.  Scales add so much life to hymns, don’t they?

Tomorrow’s final article on scales will feature some different ways to play scales…preparing the church pianist for real-life application of scales to hymns.  You may  find it interesting to know where I get my ideas for scale drills.    🙂

Scales add life to hymns! 

I’ll show you one way to insert a scale in the first measure of a hymn or in some cases…adding an extra measure to make the scale fit at the beginning.

Editor notes for today’s… Scale Examples in Hymns

1. The  scale in each example  equals two counts.

2. This type of scale entry works well when the first note of the song begins on the 5th note of the present key.

     It is Well is in the key of C and the first note is “G” which is the 5th note of the C scale

3. Notice…the scale in each example begins one octave (8 notes) lower than the first note of the song.

4. When the first word of the song occurs in an incomplete measure…(as in “It is Well” and “He Hideth My Soul”)…the first word will be understood during the scale.  Reminds me of English…when “you” is understood in the sentence even though it may not be written 🙂

 Application:

Try this scale idea in other hymns of similar design!

This free piano hymn arrangement of “I Feel Like Travelling On” is geared for the beginning church pianist at an early elementary level.

My piano student featured in this video, is a church pianist who plays by ear but is learning to read music. She’s doing quite well! I’m writing arrangements with her level in mind.

Maybe some of you church pianists can share this with your students or use this free piano hymn arrangement for yourself. 

I Feel Like Travelling On

I haven’t forgotten  part three of Scales in Hymns 🙂   I will post it tomorrow.

I plan to post part three of scales in hymns by the end of this week.

Some church pianists may not understand where to insert a scale in a hymn.

Scales can be placed in several different places in a hymn.  The upcoming article will show the church pianist how to add a scale to the very first measure of a hymn!

Looking forward to sharing the examples with you!

For the past several months, I have been training one of my students to be a church pianist.  Letha will get her first opportunity to play for congregational singing this Sunday.  (Our church has two pianos in the auditorium.)

I’m excited for her!  I thought I would share us practicing one of the congregational piano arrangements entitled “Higher Ground“.

 

Believe it or not…scales are very important to the church pianist!

Click on the following titles to see examples of scale passages in hymn arrangements:

Blessed Assurance  (two octave scale)   arr. by Marilynn Ham

A Child of the King  (one octave scale) arr. by Marilynn Ham

Count Your Blessings (mainly one octave scale)  arr. by Faye Lopez

There is a Fountain   (one octave scale) arr. by Jenifer Cook

Wonderful Peace    (1 and 1/2 octave scale) arr. by Jenifer Cook

Where to insert scales when improvising hymns:

(not an exhaustive list)

1. End of a phrase or held word elsewhere (Wonderful Peace, A Child of the King, Count Your Blessings) *Notice how these  runs cover the held word plus glide through the next word without really playing the true note…it’s just kind of understood.

2. To dress up the melody (There is a Fountain)

3. Key changes (Blessed Assurance)  adds zest!

Application!

Now…it’s time for you as a church pianist to try inserting scales into your hymn playing.  It works best to add scales to your solo offertories or when accompanying a vocalist or instrumentalist. Why? Because the tempo is more flexible when working as a soloist or when accompanying another soloist.

Start with a slow hymn; allowing you time to work a scale in at a comfortable speed.