| The Church Pianist |
| A help ministry for church pianists all over the world! |
My husband told me this day would come 🙂
One of my website readers approached me in a parking lot this past weekend… and said,”Are you the church pianist!?”
I told her it was a first for me to have a total stranger recognize me out and about in the middle of nowhere!
I asked for a picture with her 🙂
Thanks to all of you like this lady…who encourage me to keep writing!
Update:Â Just to let you know:Â I’m working on a moderate advanced piano solo for “The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago”
You can still leave peppy hymn suggestions below 🙂 Thanks!
One of my readers requested more piano solo arrangements of the old traditional peppy hymns. A great suggestion!
So…I thought I would ask my readers for some peppy hymn suggestions.
Our niche is the traditional hymns in the public domain.
Examples: When I See the Blood, Showers of Blessing
The hymn is copyrighted if it has a copyright label at the bottom or top of the hymn similar to this:
The hymn is public domain if there isn’t a copyright label at the bottom or top of the hymn similar to this:
Just to alert my beginner church pianists…I published two beginner sacred piano solos this week.
The titles: Near the Cross and No Not One.  I wrote these pieces for my students. My younger students have really enjoyed playing No Not One. The older beginner students like Near the Cross.
Both pieces contain suggested fingering for the beginner to late beginner student.
I think we’ve all been guilty of rushing busy passages in piano arrangements. The brain computes…”lots of notes….I must go fast!”
When in reality, a lot of these passages are meant to be handled a bit slower than what appears on the page.
Take time to “feel” the music…breathing life into the piece!
One of my readers recently asked for ideas on left hand octave chord patterns. This is just one of many patterns possible!
I started with a fairly easy one and will share another pattern when able. Sorry for this quick-thrown-together video due to time restraints.
I’m preparing to help out my Mom after she has same day surgery on her knee. Much going on but I will try to at least share quick tips or such for at least the next month…then maybe the dust will settle by then ;).
I want to create a series of booklets on hymn improvising ideas for the church pianist.
The first booklet is going to deal with left hand patterns for devotional style hymns. (I’m working on it now)
The most challenging part for me is presenting everything in a well ordered approach.
I want to keep these books practical, short and concise. Each booklet will deal with one topic.
Another booklet will deal with right hand fill-ins and so on. Hopefully the church pianist can grasp the concept(s) from each booklet in order to make application on their own.
Each booklet will provide a sufficient amount of examples for ample reinforcement.
The booklets will be geared to the intermediate and beyond church pianist.
The church pianist will need to know their scales, chords and chord inversions. A prior knowledge of interval reading would also be helpful.
For the first booklet, the concepts and examples will be presented in the keys of C , F, and G Major for ease of application.
I’m considering naming the booklet series “Making Hymns Expressive”.
I loved writing this arrangement because I wrote how I felt like expressing it at the time. When I try to structure my pieces…it sometimes stifles my creativity.
But….structure is also good because it makes the piece more playable…without awkward leaps and such.
I have SO many favorite hymns and “There is a Fountain” is on that list!
I tried to depict an overflowing fountain in the beginning and ended with a different twist…still sounding as a fountain.
This piece is geared to the early to moderately advanced church pianist. The entire arrangement stays in the key of C but contains a lot of full chords.
Click title to hear sample: ” There is a Fountain”
Are there other church pianists besides myself who work with instrumental or vocal groups for special music at your church?
Over the years I’ve developed some guidelines to help us use our time wisely. I know every church has its own level of abilities. That being said, you may need more or less practice than what’s suggested below.
We stick with unison or two part arrangements for our ladies’ and two to three parts for our men’s groups. You would be amazed at how nice unison can sound… especially if the pianist can make up for lack of harmony by using chord substitutions…creating a colorful; rich sound.
I try to allow for a total of six rehearsals when the arrangement is new to them. The group just stands around the piano for all but the last practice. (Details below) In addition, I email practice audios for those wanting additional practice. With the group providing surround sound around the piano…I’m able to listen to their blend, balance of parts, etc. and better coach them as they sing. Once the group becomes familiar with the words…say…maybe after the first three practices…I’ll ask them a question about the approaching sentences in the song (while they’re singing and I’m playing)… forcing them to think about what they are singing. I LOVE doing this, because you can hear the difference in their voice expression…making for very effective communication!
For example, I’ll use the hymn “Amazing Grace” since everyone knows it 🙂  While the group is singing the first sentence..”Amazing grace how sweet the sound…”
I’ll ask the following question for the upcoming sentence…”What did God’s grace do for you?!” They’ll answer in singing response “That saved a wretch like me!” 🙂  The results: A more meaningful delivery!
If it’s an arrangement they have done before…we may only have four practice sessions.
Our practice sessions are generally no more than 10 minutes.
General checklist for carrying out the group rehearsals:
Most of the above suggested guidelines will also apply to instrumental ensembles….depending on the age of your members.
Hopefully the information above has been an encouragement to other church pianists who work with vocal and/or instrumental ensembles.
*Next article: What details I work on with ensembles during these brief rehearsals
During choir practice yesterday afternoon…our choir was practicing “Faith is the Victory” in unison.
I noticed it was just SO awkward trying to grab all the melody notes…especially during the verse!
Each sentence of the verse starts on a fast note (eighth note) making it almost impossible to keep up with the melody. I thought, “The choir KNOWS the melody…why not delete the first word of each sentence to alleviate the awkwardness!?! (Exception: I’ll play the first word of the song to allow for secure entry) 🙂
My mind devised a plan to ease up my old moving hands 😉 Time to have some fun! Just stay within the vicinity of the melody and you won’t get AS lost 😉
Let the singers do the work!
The result: (Download the free pdf version of “Faith is the Victory” below)