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:
Programs, in general, require alot of practice if they are to be effective.
Just as a Pastor spends time preparing for a sermon, so must others… who share God’s message through music or speaking parts in a play.
Our ultimate goal must be to glorify God in all we say or do…decently and in order.
We must be careful to choose a program that fits the abilities of our church family.
Many of the smaller churches find themselves either simplifying a cantata to suit their abilities or…creating a simple program of their own.
Here are several tips when creating your own Christmas program:
1. Choose music in keys suitable for the adult or children’s choir
Adult Choir
Much can be said about this one point alone!
Lowering most hymns by one note puts most hymns in a more comfortable range…allowing the choir members to sing out even more.
Over half of our adult choir does not read music. Several of the choir members have a long commute to church (I happen to be one of them)… limiting us to shorter practices.
Therefore, two-part arrangements work best for us.
Children’s Choir
It also helps to lower hymns for the children’s choir. For example, see my free arrangement of “Away in a Manger”
I transposed this Christmas hymn to E flat Major…a whole step (one note name) lower than the original key. F Major is the original key in most hymnals.
I like to provide more melody support for a children’s choir. It helps them feel more secure.
2. Play filler music during transitions.
(to see filler music…refer to the free arrangement above…page two)
Filler music creates a smooth transition from one scene to another. Playing during transitions also covers excess noise and maintains the mood of the play.
The filler music should match the mood of the finishing scene or song and create a mood for the next scene or song.
Guessing the length of filler music is the challenge…right? 🙂
Whatever you do, end on the I chord of the key being used.
(See example of filler music on page 2 of Away in a Manger)
For a more interesting ending…you can end on the V 7 chord.
That’s another article in itself!
3. Sound check!
We always use the microphones during practice once we’re going through the entire program. But…be careful….just because the mics work for practice doesn’t mean they’re ready to go the night of the program.
Have someone do a sound check the night of the program; well before the service…to make sure everything is in working order.
Don’t forget to replace batteries or at least have spare batteries on hand for cordless mics.
There are other tips that I’ll have to share at another time. I’m sure you can think of a few as well. We all learn through experience don’t we? I hope practice is going well for your Christmas program.
1. Joy to the World (right hand bell tones)
Notice the intervals of the bell tones and try
in several different keys for reinforced learn-
ing and versatile application.
2. Joy to the World (right hand bell clusters)
I simply add a ‘D’ to a C chord to create
a dissonant sound for the bell effect.
3. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
This is one of my favorite chime sounds.
Notice how all the notes in the right hand
chords are a 4th apart. This is how to create
the chime sound!
4. O Little Town of Bethlehem (bell echo)
Bell echos add a sweet; dreamy texture to
lullaby-type melodies.
The bell echo occurs in the right hand (last measure).
It’s just a broken octave ending with a nice harmony note
occuring a 3rd under the broken octave.
Remember: 3rd and 6ths create beautiful touches of
harmony.
I just used the ‘Alberti bass’ pattern in the left hand.
Alberti bass means a broken chord in this order:
“Bottom~top~middle~top”
Hopefully, you can incorporate these Sounds of Christmas
The following free christmas piano arrangement of Away in a Manger is suitable for a children’s choir or can stand alone as a short offertory.
If you’re a church pianist of a small church like me…then you probably create or tweak a written Christmas program that best suits the number of people available for a program.
In the next article…I will deal with tips for Christmas programs. Some of the tips will refer to today’s free Christmas arrangement…so have it handy for my next post.
