If you’re a beginning church pianist and learning to play from the hymnal…this lesson is for you 🙂

There are always exceptions to the rules as we’ll see in this lesson dealing with five part playing style from the church hymnal.

The thumb cannot always comfortably plug the tenor note into the right hand as we’ll see in the last video below.

Watch this video first if you need a more involved description of the five part playing style and then proceed to the latest video below which describes the exception to the five part playing style.

Spending the morning browsing Lorenz’ Fall Piano 2018 Piano Solo Books for Christmas and beyond 🙂

Lorenz Publishing has a youtube channel dedicated to providing church pianists with visual and audio samples from most of their sacred piano books.  It’s a great resource!

Some of my favorites so far… from the Fall piano 2018 series are: Click on each image for details. (See video below)

Enjoy browsing below to find your favorite piano books!

Does your hymn playing sound cloudy or too choppy and you just can’t figure out how to fix these issues?

I’ll share several tips that will hopefully help the beginning church pianist to  sound smoother.

Prep list for correct pedaling:

1.  Sit on the front half of the bench
2.  Knees barely under the keyboard
3.  Right leg will be at an angle (heel remains on the floor when pressing pedal)

When to pedal? Pedal once  per chord change

To avoid choppy sound in playing: NEVER lift pedal and hands at the same time during a hymn that needs to sound smooth.

Lift the pedal while the hand is going down on the new chord

I’m preparing a video tutorial on pedal suggestions for the church pianist who would appreciate some helpful tips on how to sound smooth when playing hymns.

Get ready with these prep tips!

1. Sit elbow length from the keys (knees should be slightly under keyboard.)
2.  Sit on front half of bench

More pedaling tips coming soon!

I’ve written two new Christmas piano solo arrangements this week at the early intermediate level.

What Child is This was patterned after my advanced arrangement of What Child is This.

Infant Hoy Medley is the second piece…written today 🙂 (It consists of “Infant Holy & Away in a Manger”

What Child is This?

Early intermediate Christmas piano solo, 4 pgs. Enjoy playing this very flowing arrangement loaded with lush chording. *This arrangement is patterned after the advanced piano solo version.

Price: $3.95

Infant Holy Medley

Early intermediate Christmas piano solo, 3 pgs. Enjoy playing this simple yet pleasing lullaby reminding the listener of Christ's birth. This medley consists of "Infant Holy & Away in a Manger"

Price: $3.00

Just to let my readers know…I’m working on “Infant Holy” right now to hopefully publish by today!

I already published “What Child is This?” (early intermediate piano solo) just yesterday.

Both of these can be free (for limited time)… when ordering my book from Lorenz entitled: “My Redeemer and Friend”.

See promo details for this book at the following link: PROMO DETAILS

See sampling of “What Child is This?” below:

What Child is This

I’ve entered the Holiday Arranging Contest once again with Sheet Music Plus.  My arrangement submission is “Manger Medley”…a moderately advanced piece.The contest selling period is October 30th through December 14th, 2018. The arranger who sells the most copies during October 30th through December 14th…receives $300 and advertisement exposure. When I won first place with my last entry…I used the money to attend the Atlanta Composer’s Symposium where I go each year for composer’s rejuvenation 🙂   (My book with Lorenz was a direct result from attending this Symposium) Thanks to my readers who made that possible!  🙂

Now to offer a special promotional offer for this new piece! Details below:

Those who purchase the sheet music for this piece from Sheet Music Plus during October 30 thru December 14, 2018….will receive two free piano solo arrangements of your choice from my online website store.

Anyone purchasing this arrangement on Sheet Music Plus site AFTER the above promotional period…can choose one free piano solo arrangement from my site up through December 30, 2018

*Must provide proof of purchase & email it to jenifer@thechurchpianist.com

Click on following link to visit my online store: Piano solo arrangements

click on following title to purchase “Manger Medley”

*Reminder: Promotional period is Oct 30th thru December 14th, 2018

*Special note: I  have two different promotionals going on soon. 1st promotional is for this Christmas arrangement of “Manger Medley” and the second one is for my Lorenz book “My Redeemer & Friend” Click HERE to see book promotional details.

Over time…I plan to publish a series of booklets dealing with various “Fill-ins for the Church Pianist.”

Here is a sample page demonstrating a five-note span fill-in. Written instructions will be added…suggesting how to use this particular fill-in.

Scenario for this fill-in: When a half note + quarter note have same melody note…followed by an ascending 3rd.

Special note: Start fill-in a 3rd below starting note.

#1 is the hymnal version and #2 is the improvised version showing the fill-in  (Same for “It is Well” below)

Example #1:  E is the starting note for the word “that” …start the fill-in a 3rd below E which is C as shown in example #2

Further application:  Try finding the same scenario in the following hymns and add this five-note span fill-in:

1. Just As I Am (more spots not covered below in the example)
2. I Love to Tell the Story (one spot in chorus)
3. Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (one spot in chorus)

I truly am alive but just super busy writing! Entering a Christmas piano solo writing contest with SMPress in addition to other writing for my piano students.

I just need to find time to publish what I’m writing!  🙂

My Lorenz book is still on track for publication this November 2018.

Hope to publish a practical article soon on fill-ins. I’m also trying to finish my first booklet on Fill-ins to be published on my site asap!

The improvising material I have been developing is on the early intermediate to intermediate level.

I’ll show you a sample asap.

Generally on Sunday nights…Pastor has the church sing two choruses or hymns from the hymnal right before his sermon. (We don’t have a special every Sunday night).

This particular Sunday night he started talking about something else and so I thought maybe he wasn’t going to do the extra songs.

So…I began to prep my orchestra for a last minute offertory because the person lined up for offertory wasn’t able to play. (I had forgotten to check my texts or I would have seen the offertory cancellation. I had told the person they could just text me yes or no and I would fill-in if needed)

The orchestra sits right beside me so it was easy to be discreet.

All of a sudden it grew quiet…I looked up to see all eyes looking my way. “Uh oh,” I humbly replied. “What song?”

I had missed hearing Pastor call out the song for the church to sing and they were waiting on an introduction.

Needless to say, everyone laughed! How embarrassing!  My husband who does the sound…thought it was hilarious!

He later told me, “Oh well…maybe everyone needed a good laugh!”

I’ll try to do better! 😉 I’m sure other church pianists have humorous stories to tell!  Please feel free to share your stories below!