I recently published fill-in ideas for The Old Rugged Cross.
One of my readers asked me today if I could include the fill-ins on the printed hymnal version for ease of use.
I had to cut and paste and resize the fill-ins to fit the printed copy of the hymnal version so it’s kind of rough looking but it’s the best I could do with time allowed in my schedule.
Thanks for the suggestion Becky! 🙂
Click on following titles to download your free copies of the following:
How many church pianists have ever heard of the hymn “Ready”? One of my readers recently requested an offertory arrangement for this hymn.(actually just yesterday) Thanks Nancy!
I googled the hymn because I didn’t recognize the title right away. Once I saw the music score, I realized it was one I grew up with… but rarely heard.
One main idea comes to my mind after skimming through the words of each verse…Total Commitment to Christ No Matter What. How convicting when I insert the words “Am I…” before each phrase.
After reading the words to each verse I thought, “This is a hymn worth reviving!” The writer of this hymn, Charles Tillman, was the son of an evangelist. He painted houses and was also a traveling salesman for a music company out of Raleigha, NC in the late 1800’s. Charles began his career as a singing evangelist in 1887. He died at the age of 82 in 1943.
Lyrics to “Ready”
Ready to suffer grief or pain,
Ready to stand the test,
Ready to stay at home and send
Others if He sees best.
Ready to go, ready to bear,
Ready to watch and pray,
Ready to stand aside and give,
Till He shall clear the way.
Ready to speak, ready to think,
Ready with heart and mind,
Ready to stand where He sees fit,
Ready His will to find.
Ready to speak, ready to warn,
Ready o’er souls to yearn,
Ready in life or ready in death,
Ready for His return.
Refrain:
Ready to go, ready to stay,
Ready my place to fill,
Ready for service, lowly or great,
Ready to do His will.
I hope other church pianists can use this old but wonderful hymn to enrich their music ministry at church.
Family coming into town any minute and just finished a quickie for church pianists to use for Easter…fill-in ideas for The Old Rugged Cross when playing for congregational singing.
Sorry I didn’t have time to share more!
Happy Easter!
Click on title to download your free copy of fill-in ideas for: THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
Sorry for the delay in publishing this free piano congregational arrangement of Saved, Saved, Saved!
The words of this hymn carry the message of joy a Christian has in having Christ as their personal Saviour 🙂
For that reason, the music should sound happy and upbeat to support the text.
Generally…the faster or more wordy a hymn goes, the lighter the note texture (in my opinion). 😉
Why a lighter texture? Playing frequent big; heavy right hand chords (chords with 3 to 4 notes) throughout… wouldn’t allow for easy mobility; thus causing the pianist to “drag” the tempo.
The occasional full chords can still occur with a fast tempo…especially on long held words such as in measure #8 (see dotted half note for right hand). Full chords also sound nice and feel comfortable toward the end as tempo gets slower (see measures #19 & 20…right hand).
I also use occasional rests to provide more ease of hand movement as in measure #8…allows right hand time to ease into the fill-in. Same idea applies in measures 10, 15 and 17-19.
The rests just seem to create a more balanced “feel” when entering busy fill-in passages.
You’ll notice I use a lot of eighth notes in groups of 3’s to drive the majority of the first verse and chorus. I would change fill-in rhythms on the remaining verses to give my hands a break! 😉 Well…actually it also sounds nicer to use a variety of fill-ins for a fresher sound.
I’m thinking of a couple interpretation tips to share as well.
Hmmm….sounds like another post in the works for Saved, Saved, Saved!
Click on song title below to download your FREE copy of Saved! Saved! Saved! (one verse and chorus)
Just curious…what seems to be one of the most awkward hymns for you as a church pianist to play for congregational singing?
As soon as I collect a sizable list (at least 10)…I will number them and draw a number out of the hat and write a free congregational piano arrangement of that particular hymn. *Please: One hymn suggestion per person
Special note: Please only choose hymns that are in the public domain.
Here’s how a public domain hymn may appear
Public domain hymn
*Sometimes a public domain hymn will have no credits at the bottom like this:
One of my readers requested fill-in ideas for the song But Until Then. I already shared fill-in ideas for the verse in a previous article HERE.
The chorus of But Until Then may be a challenge for church pianists who don’t feel comfortable improvising. The fill-in notes are what give the music a forward motion; adding life to the hymn…IF the fill-in notes are rhythmically correct 😉
Since this particular hymn is under copyright…I’m limited on what I can share according to the US Copyright Office.
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
The amount being considered “fair use” is up for debate but I try to stay on the conservative side of usage which explains why I presented a “cut and paste” layout of only the long held words.
As a church pianist, I’m always looking for offertories that don’t require alot of practice since I play quite often. I also attend a small church so shorter offertories work best.
While snowed in this week, I decided to write and finish a piano hymn arrangement in one day like I use to when I first started this website.
Grace Greater Than Our Sin has been on my mind a lot lately, so decided to try writing an arrangement and the thoughts just flowed for a change!
Hope you enjoy this early advanced arrangement of “Grace Greater Than Our Sin with Amazing Grace”.
I love to look through old hymnals for long forgotten hymns that I can try to revive.
But I stumbled across this forgotten hymn in one of my devotional books this week, entitled, “Amazing Grace 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions” written by Kenneth W. Osbeck
I absolutely LOVE this book and not sure how I acquired it.
“May the Mind of Christ My Savior” had two authors: Words by Kate Wilkinson and Music by A. Cyril Barham-Gould (what a long name!) I couldn’t find much information about either author but had to share this hymn loaded with rich meaning!
Here’s an excerpt from my devotional book which introduced this hymn…
“Each day our prayer life should include the request that the Holy Spirit reveal the mind of Christ to us. It is vitally important that we nourish our minds daily with quality materials_ things “that are just, pure and lovely.” Philippians 4:8
Time to escape to an island where it’s just me and my piano and all I have to do is write music!
Working on…
Advanced piano arrangement entitled “Assurance Medley”…an arrangement I worked up after getting saved in 1991…so it’s about time I put it in writing.
Also VERY excited about creating piano accompaniments for Mina Oglesby’s music!! The one I’m working on now is her song “Rest Will Come in the Morning”…here are some of the lyrics:
“Rest will come in the morning, When the battle is o’er;
When the saved and blest enter to their rest On that hallelujah shore…”
