Introduction 

Modulating during any type of prelude (church, funeral, wedding or other occasion)…creates a smooth transition between songs. Without a smooth transition between different keys, the music will sound interrupted or very abrupt.  The articles associated with this lesson and future lessons will deal with modulating to a higher key.  Modulating to a lower key can also be effective but such a topic belongs in a different set of lessons.

The modulation chord formula that works for most any key change uses the  ii7 to V7 chords of the new key.

(I personally like to use the V7 sus instead of a plain V7…but will will illustrate  at the appropriate time).

*Part two will provide a FREE pdf with several examples of modulating up a fifth. (C Major to G Major)

Keyboard visuals of the ii7 & V7 chords in the key of G Major are shown below. (The upcoming examples will cover C to G, G to D and F to C using this chord formula)

ii7 of G Major

V7 of G Major

Working on the examples now and hope to share this week!

Do modulation and transposition mean the same thing?  They ARE closely related but describe two different actions.

Modulation is the transition process (the key change itself)… that takes the pianist to the new key.

Transposition is playing a song in a different key than what’s written.

Next post will share a modulation chord that is commonly used for modulating from one key to another.

Thanks for the feedback on how to present Easy-2-Play Congregational Hymns!

How about this look for Easy-2-Play Congregational Hymns?

This post is in reference to yesterday’s article about Ready-Made-Hymns.

How do you like this look? The “x” marks indicate original notes to help the church pianist see what note changes were made.

Is this beneficial to you? Feedback would be appreciated! Thanks for all the comments yesterday!  Very helpful!  🙂

Just click on the following image to enlarge for easier viewing.

*Special note: THANKS for the feedback! After reading the comments here and on facebook….I will be putting these type of easy-to-play congregationals into print instead of by hand. I will do away with the original notes from the hymnbook and ONLY type in my (hopefully) easy-to-play congregational/piano solo arrangement. Thanks again for your helpful comments!

For the past couple of months…I’ve been creating “ready-made’ hymn arrangements for some of my church pianist students who are need of improvised hymns for congregational singing. (Can also be used as piano solo)

These hymn arrangements are nothing more than a copy of a hymn from the hymnal with my added improvised notes in red.

Just curious, would this meet the need for others as well? I’m considering adding them to our online music store if there’s enough interest.

The cost would be less than my regular “printed arrangements”.

Here’s a FREE copy of one of these ready-made hymn arrangements. (Also trying to decide what to call them….any suggestions?)

*Also…are you all ok with it being handwritten just as it appears in free arrangement below?  

*Special note: THANKS for the feedback! After reading the comments here and on facebook….I will be putting these type of easy-to-play congregationals into print instead of by hand. I will do away with the original notes from the hymnbook and ONLY type in my (hopefully) easy-to-play congregational/piano solo arrangement. Thanks again for your helpful comments!  I do have (more involved ) congregational piano arrangements for sale HERE.

Ready-Made Hymns for the Church Pianist

I spent this evening writing an intermediate piano solo of “Nothing Between” for one of my piano students….Shelley Roberts.

Shelley is a junior this year and trying to teach her all I can before she reaches college age!

This particular arrangement, written for the piano student in mind, is more structured and straightforward.  It’s nice to have pieces like this available  for students who play offertories more often.  Playing less involved offertories allows us time to focus on other repertoire during the lesson.

I do teach more involved arrangements but try to maintain a balance.

Hope this arrangement can be of use for piano students or church pianists needing an easy offertory!

Click on the following title for your free piano arrangement of “Nothing Between”.

More thots: I want to use this arrangement in an upcoming video dealing with interpretation…a VERY important factor…making for a more effective presentation.

Thought I’d share a brief book review on a book I’m currently reading entitled “Playing Beyond the Notes”.

The writer communicates the different musical concepts with ample illustrations.

It’s one of those kind of books you can pick up and randomly choose a chapter of interest without losing the overall flow of the book.

A great reference book for any piano teacher, piano student or church pianist wanting to sharpen their skills in the area of music interpretation!

Click HERE to purchase or preview “Playing Beyond the Notes” by Deborah Rambo Sinn

Ever wondered what makes a grand piano sound better than most uprights?  Robert Estrin with LivingPianoVideos does a wonderful job answering this question.

I’m in the market for a new piano and educating myself before making such a large investment. Here is what Robert has to say about the upright piano vs. a grand piano.

Just happened across a nice CD for church pianists while trying to find sheet music for Kenon Renfrow’s piano arrangement of “Fairest Lord Jesus”. The CD is called “I Will Praise Him“.

I’m not sure at this point if Kenon has sheet music for Fairest Lord Jesus but will find out asap. I heard this arrangement on Abiding Radio this morning while getting ready for church and just LOVED it!!  Ah…just found most of the arrangements to this CD on youtube!  Listen to Fairest Lord Jesus HERE 🙂

I bought Kenon’s CD entitled: “I Will Praise Him” which by the way is a beautiful sounding CD. I listened to sound samples HERE and discovered that Kenon’s site: Piano Music Now had the CD’s for a very reasonable price.

A great piano CD for any church pianist looking for fresh stylings to hymns.

So…I admit…I’m a church pianist in a rut! What to do?  Time to surround myself with different arrangers’ music….which means….sightread!

Do you have a collection of books that you use mainly for sightreading purposes? I do.  Most of the arrangements in these books are too long for our offertory time. I could shorten some of them but that’s not always the best option since the arrangement usually builds in intensity and I don’t want to interfere with a well-rounded presentation of an arrangement.

It seems like the longer offertories are a lot of times the more challenging ones. I NEED that extra challenge to keep my fingers limber.

Occasionally, I’ll play a longer arrangement because I REALLY like the arrangement and want to share it.

Have you heard of  Abiding Radio? I’m listening to it (online)… for musical inspiration 🙂

I’m curious….what do other church pianists or pianists in general do to get out of a rut?  Would love to hear your ideas!