One of my readers recently asked some excellent questions and thought I’d share them with some answers that may help other church pianists in similar situations.
Question #1
Just wondering how often/how long your groups practice each week….
Answer:
The following answers are not intended to be the best answers for all churches. People and their abilities vary from church to church.
So many of our choir members are involved in various ministries which limits their availabity to practice.
The majority of our choir does not read music but are willing to sing for God’s glory:)
Our large ensembles (consisting of 6 or more people) practice at least five times before singing.
The practice sessions are usually no more than ten minutes each. Therefore, we learn easy arrangements (no more than two parts).
Question #2
Do you and the other pianists’ pick the music or the singers?
Answer:
Once again, every church has a different situation. At our church, we have not had a steady song leader for a great length of time.
It seems as though God has called our church to prepare young men going into full-time Christian service:) We are located a little over an hour from Ambassador Baptist College. Over the past several years, some of the college men have commuted to our church to help out in the various ministries.
But in time, each of them have been called into full time Christian service elsewhere. It’s hard to see them go but thankful we could play a part in preparing them for what lies ahead in their life.
The pastor is glad to have me and the other pianist work up small and large ensembles for specials. The pianists generally help choose the small and large ensemble music. Ocasionally, one of the ensemble members will suggest a song and we will use it… if it works well with the entire group.
Question #3
Does your church have a choir?
Answer:
Yes. Our choir meets for practice once a week on Sunday nights from 5 – 5:30pm. Presently, our Pastor, with the help of another college student, helps lead the choir.
I will share a video of our men’s large ensemble to give you an idea of what we do.
Here’s a free copy of the music schedule I use for scheduling special music.
We usually insert special music on a Wednesday at least once a month but I left it out of this free handout.
I wish we could have special music every Wed. but time limits adequate practice for that many entries per month.
To prevent excess schedule conflicts, I make a rough draft copy…using a pencil to fill in the slots. Then I email everyone to verify the date works for them. Several days later, I create the final schedule and email them a copy.The whole process takes at least three to four days.
If someone were to ask me if I practiced piano like I should…I would have to say, “Unfortunately…no.”
The older I get…the less motivated I am to practice. Anyone else have this problem or would admit to it? “smile”
I hear this confession quite often from other composers. We spend so much time writing that we don’t take time to just sit and play.
What really motivates me…is getting with other piano friends and playing duets and duos.
I find myself wanting to sharpen my sightreading and technique skills.
A piano friend of mine and I are planning to meet once a month starting in January. We plan to do alot of sightreading.
I’m also planning to play a concert in the spring with another one of my piano friends to keep me on my toes.
Playing for a smaller church requires shorter offertories. The majority of the challenging arrangements I’ve learned through the years are too long for our offerings. I find myself just playing something from the hymnal most of the time.
Playing simple offertories from the hymnal is fine but I need a challenge every now and then… so occasionally, I’ll play a longer arrangement.
Click each song title below to see the short offertories available on this site…
I just finished sharing chord substitutions for “Silent Night” with one of my piano students.
I was surprised at how fast she caught on to me just calling out the chord names and she just played that chord frame in the left hand while playing single note melody an octave higher with the right hand.
Special note: This student does play by ear but can also read music.
Click on the following link for “Silent Night’ lyrics with left hand chord substitutions:
Our choir is singing “What Child is This?” in unison. We’re singing it in a lower key. Since the choir is unison….I like to insert chord substitutions to dress it up a bit.
I wrote a simple piano arrangement of “What Child” just so our other pianist could follow my chording to avoid chord clashes between us 🙂
Feel free to use this as accompaniment for unison choir or a vocal solo.
It wouldn’t be appropriate for a piano solo because the melody is missing here and there. Although, most of you could probably insert the melody in those places 🙂
Hope all is going well with your church’s Christmas program practices.
Click the title below for the free Christmas piano arrangment:
