What a blooper I made today in the Sunday morning service!

I prefer (congregation included) to play short and sweet arrangements which don’t last much longer than the offering.  Occasionally I’ll play a longer offertory for extra special events.

I had a longer than normal offertory special  this morning and decided at last minute (like right before offertory prayer)…to play a different arrangement…something shorter… since the preliminaries had lasted longer than usual.

So…right before prayer I  dreamed up a home-spun offertory which worked out great since it was the same length as the offering 🙂

But….one major problem!  I forgot all about accompanying my son and his wife to sing after the offertory.  I was SO wrapped in the change of plans that I totally forgot them!  After playing the offertory, I went out back to the restroom like normal and then to slip in quietly for the preaching portion.

As I came out of the restroom my husband was waiting for me in the foyer with a concerned look on his face.  “Are you ok?” he said.   “Weird!” I thought, “he’s never done this before.”   “Well….yeah…why?”

He quickly replied, “David and Jenny were up on the platform waiting for you to play for them.”   “Oh my goodness! I forgot all about them!”  I quickly tried to explain myself away to him and one of the deacons who had come out back too.   Both of them got this funny smirk on their face but also relieved at the same time that I was “Ok”.

 

 

Several years ago, I published a piano solo (elementary level) of “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus“.   Later on, I came up with a simple accompaniment on a second piano while my student played the solo arrangement on another piano.  We played it in church and I shared the video on my youtube channel.

Since that time, several church pianists have asked for the teacher accompaniment part which was in my head until now 😉

The teacher’s part may not sound identical to the youtube version…. but it’s close!

Hope you enjoy using this free accompaniment version for “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus.” (elementary piano solo)

“Nothing But the Blood of Jesus” FREE piano accompaniment

 

Just started revival meetings with Alton Beal this week to last through Wednesday.

My daughter-in-law will be helping me with accompanying this week so I wrote this arrangement (I Shall Know Him)… for her to accompany the vocal solo for tonight.

The vocal soloist happens to take a lot of freedom with the text …lots of ebb and flow. So I freed the pianist from the melody to allow more freedom for the pianist and soloist.

Wanted to share this free piano/vocal solo arrangement  for “I Shall Know Him” before running errands!

Click on title to download free arrangement: I Shall Know Him

You need to have the Audio Player Plugin installed to use this shortcode

 

 

I’m re-organizing my growing collection of music and am parting with some Christmas books I used when I worked with the children’s music ministry at various churches.

So…am posting the following Christmas music for sale on our “Used Music for Sale” page.

Also posting an intermediate piano solo Christmas book 🙂

Several of my church pianist readers have requested an easier alternate ending for the piano arrangement of Holy Holy Holy.

So…I’m offering it for FREE below as a pdf printable version.  This will replace page 3 & 4 of the Advanced version of Holy Holy Holy making it accessible for early advanced pianists!

HOLY HOLY HOLY_Page_3_FREE

*Link for full arrangement below:

Music Store  Advanced Piano Solos

I recently attended a couple piano workshops by Shelly Hamilton.

“Accompanying Made Simple” was a very practical workshop providing the church pianists with simple yet practical ideas for accompanying special music.

Shelly brought her accompaniment suggestions to life by offering a free arrangement of Day by Day which includes three different accompaniment styles.  Thanks Shelly!

I attended Shelly’s workshops so that I could share accompaniment ideas with my church pianist readers.  Click on the following links to download the handouts for this workshop.

Accompanying Made Simple (outline)

Day by Day page one

Day by Day page two

Here are some great ideas for easy choir arrangements! Please keep in mind…these are my personal notes taken from a recent workshop entitled, “On the Spot Arranging” by Mac & Beth Lynch.

Mac and Beth are working with a small church choir of their own and shared a lot of excellent; practical ideas for using the hymnal to sing like a choir and not like the congregation 🙂

I know of more than one church pianist who fills the role of pianist and choir leader….or assists the choir leader with choosing choir specials.  I hope these few arranging ideas will get your own creative juices going.

Refer to a hymnal for the following arranging suggestions:

“When I See the Blood” 

Have men sing the echos in unison (melody only) during the chorus for a change! Why? Gives less of a “chuncky”  or “monotone” sound.  Singing the melody for the echos gives a more shapely tone.  (singing the echos in parts as written is fine…but the unison just provides a nice; refreshing change for an easy-to-sing arrangement).

 

“Nearer Still Nearer”   (A lot of hymns can be utilized as SAB by deleting the bass)

Use as SAB (men on tenor)

 

“I Surrender All” 

Verses: SAB

Chorus: Men on melody; Ladies on alto (1st line of chorus)
SATB on 4th line (final line of song)

 

“Burdens Are Lifted”

Nice SAB! As written (men sing tenor line throughout)

*Extra information:

Close harmony on: line one and last phrase of line two thru four)
Open harmony on first half of lines 2 through 4
Close harmony means less than an octave between soprano and tenor
Open harmony is more than an octave between soprano and tenor

 

“When I See the Blood Medley”

Verses: Men on melody; Ladies on alto
Chorus: Men on melody; Ladies on alto (no echos)
*At end of chorus…go into “The Cleansing Wave”
SAB throughout (men on tenor) Could go to 4 parts on chorus.

 

“I Know Whom I Have Believed” Nice  SB Arrangement!

1st half of line one: men on tenor, ladies on soprano (parallel 6ths)
2nd half of line one: men on alto, ladies on soprano (parallel 3rds)
1st half of line two: men on tenor, ladies on soprano (parallel 6ths)
2nd half of line two: unison (written harmony not as feasible for two-parts)

Chorus:

Men on melody, Ladies on alto throughout or go to unison on last phrase of
chorus on word “Unto” then split into 4 parts on “…Him against that day.”

My thoughts:  Input these simple hymn arrangements in finale (vocal score only) to have for quickie choir arrangements…instead of having choir members mark up their hymnals and to save on choir practice time since we only practice for half an hour.

Which reminds me….I need to make copies for our choir of “Jesus Loves Me” quickie arrangement which I shared in a recent post.  We’re never too old to sing this hymn.

Being transparent here…. Ever have those days as a church pianist where you wondered, “What was I thinking?!” Got back late Friday from a conference and was just extra tired on Sunday and boy did it show!

Got to choir practice 15 minutes early to copy a two sided arrangement for a ladies’ ensemble rehearsal… and wound up copying the same page on both sides…ever done that? Don’t ask me WHY I didn’t notice BEFORE singing it in practice….(laughs for everyone) Just one of the many crazy things I did that day 🙂

After ensemble practice, one of the ladies approached me and I just KNEW she was going to give me a lashing (lol…just kidding) She handed me a homemade loaf of pound cake and said she just wanted to express her gratitude for my time spent working in the music ministry.

That act of encouragement could not have come at a better time. Isn’t God good how he works through people?!

Are you a church pianist that doesn’t know how to transpose?  Do you choose hymns for prelude that are in the same key for this very reason?  I have good news for you!

It is not always necessary to transpose from one song to the next if you go up a perfect fourth between each hymn.  I’m providing a free prelude below but read the important info below before you hurry to print the free prelude.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Going Up a Perfect 4th Interval From One Hymn to the Next Hymn:

What You Need to Know:

1. An interval is the distance between two notes

Example:

C to D is a 2nd interval because you count from 1 t0 2 to go from    C to D.

C to E would be a 3rd interval and C to F a fourth.

2. Within every key/scale… the fourth interval is called a perfect fourth which consists of five half steps.  So… from C to F is a perfect fourth.  Why is it called a perfect fourth?  Just accept it and go on or if you’re curious…check out the following links 🙂

Music Practice & Theory

Music Reading Savant

Quick quiz in Creating Perfect Fourths:

What is 5 half steps (a perfect 4th) above F? Answer is:  B flat (see picture below)

(Are you noticing that we’re going in order of the flat keys as we go up a 4th?)

The key of F Major has one flat, the key of B Flat Major has two flats.  Cool!

Ok….so what is 5 half steps (a perfect fourth)… above B flat?  You got it!  E flat and the key of E flat has three flats.

Now…let’s apply this “no transposing” concept using the following  hymns which are a perfect fourth apart for a nice topical prelude!

Click on each song title to download for FREE!

Free Prelude for Church Pianists:

At Calvary –  C Major

Since I Have Been Redeemed – F Major

Power in the Blood – B Flat Major

Saved by the Blood – E Flat Major

*All of these arrangements are from our free arrangement page(s)

Another nice sacred piano book from Lorenz for the church pianist!  This book is listed as an intermediate level but some of the pieces may lean more towards early advanced.  A total of fourteen arrangements makes this a nice investment!

My ultimate favorites in this book?

God of the Ages (God of Our Fathers) nice patriotic one!

I Hear Thy Welcome Voice

He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word

I’ve shared audio samples below of my preferred ten out of the fourteen.

Ah Holy Jesus  Ah Holy Jesus

God of the Ages  God of the Ages

He Leadeth Me   He Leadeth Me

He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word  He Never Said a Mumbalin Word

I Hear Thy Welcome Voice   I Hear Thy Welcome Voice

In the Cross of Christ    In the Cross of Christ

More Love to Thee    More Love to Thee

O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus   O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus

Rejoice the Lord is King   Rejoice the Lord is King

Trusting Jesus   Trusting Jesus

As a church pianist, I always get excited when discovering a book that can be well utilized for offertories.  He Leadeth Me is one such book!

*For  more information or to purchase… click Lorenz Publishing Corporation