Chord substitutions add color to hymnplaying! Here’s an easy chord substitution for church pianists to use.

Scenario: When a I chord is leading into a IV chord…add a minor 7th to the I chord. The minor 7th note is located a 7th above the root (bottom) note of the chord.  See the following explanation of the chords before viewing the free pdf sheet of this chord substitution.

Editor’s notes for free pdf sheet on this chord substitution:

Key of F:  I chord = F,A,C       IV chord =  Bflat,D,F    I chord with added minor 7th = F,A,C,E flat

Key of G: I chord =  G,B,D       IV chord =  C,E,G        I chord with added minor 7th = G,B,D,F natural

*Special note: The substituted chord ( I 7) does not have to contain all 4 notes as you’ll discover in the examples.

Click here to download free sheet for Chord-Substitution-adding-minor-7th-to-I-chord

Challenge yourself to look for the I (minor 7th)  chord already in use throughout the church hymnal.  Try applying the above chord substitution in other hymns during I – IV chord progressions. Tip: Use hymns with easy keys at first until you gain confidence with the concept.

 I recently composed a congregational piano arrangement of Away in a Manger for one of my upcoming church pianists to play for church while I’m away.

So..I’ll share it with other church pianists that may be able to put it to use this Christmas.

Click here to download Away in a Manger (free congregational piano arrangement)

I asked my readers to provide the name of an ‘awkward to play’ Christmas carol.  I would then create an article concerning that carol. “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” was the most mentioned piece.

Last year, I did an article on this very song but it was for ‘piano solo’ style. Today’s free piano arrangement of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” will be congregational style.

As I was arranging this carol, I had to force myself to stay within the chords “as written”.  I could have added a lot of minor chords to “warm up” the piece but I stayed true to the voice parts 🙂

Due to frequent chord changes, the church pianist will have to play in a more ‘chorale’ (solid chord) style in order to support the ever-changing voice parts.  There is still time to throw in ocasional dress-ups to create a more interesting sound as you will see in today’s free piano arrangement of “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”.

Click here to download “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne” before viewing editor notes below.

Editor notes for “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne”

General information:

I tried to create smooth harmonic (chord) changes throughout… in spite of the frequent chord changes in this beautiful Christmas carol.

Here and there you’ll see where I deviated from the melody line to create a smoother move for the hands.

Notice how the right hand at the beginning…started with three notes and gradually worked into an octave format.  One of my former piano teachers always taught me to write in a more “user friendly” style for pianists in general…to avoid awkward moves/leaps.  Hopefully, this arrangement will be comfortable and beneficial for other church pianists.  I did keep the early advanced to advanced pianist in mind when creating this arrangement.

Measure #4:

Beat 2 and 3 of right hand is an echo fill-in during the held word “me”

Measure #5:

A sixteenth note improvised pattern on beat 2 is added… to dress-up the melody line and continues through measure 6.

Tip!

Church pianist tip: Learn to analyze other people’s arrangements; applying ‘learned ideas’ to your own playing. Over time, you will develop your own style but you must learn to apply learned ideas as a  springboard to developing your own style.

 Over the past ten years, I’ve learned ALOT of theory amidst many hours of  composing hymn arrangements.  There’s so much more I need to learn but I just pick up tips here and there and put them to use.  Now…I’ll share one of those tips with you.

The following improvising tip has made a difference in my hymnplaying; creating a more open, balanced sound.  I apply this tip to my congregational and solo playing.

The following hymn example contains “Come Thou Fount” in D major and the improvising tip.

Click here to download “Come Thou Fount” with improvising tip.

Just for fun: After playing  the above improvised example…add the 3rd of the chord in the right hand too…just to hear the difference.

Since believing on Jesus Christ at the age of 29…I can truly say: “Blessed Assurance Jesus is Mine”.  This became one of my favorite hymns after becoming a Christian.

Shortly after being saved I arranged an offertory that included: “Blessed Assurance, Saved by the Blood and Since Jesus Came Into My Heart”.  I will have to write it out in my (ha ha) spare time.

This free sacred piano arrangement of “Blessed Assurance”  is a result of preparing several of our own soon-to-be church pianists to play for congregational singing.  We now have a rotational schedule for our intermediate to advanced pianists to allow them to play for our congregational singing.  It’s exciting to see them gain experience to better equip them for serving the Lord.

Click here for the free sacred piano arrangment of “Blessed Assurance” page one.

I’ll share the rest of this free arrangement in the next article.

Just discovered a practical instructional book on  improvising hymns found on Alfred Publishing’s site.

This book is a great starter for the intermediate pianist who wants to improvise from the church hymnal.  The pianist will learn how to do the following:

*Add tenor to the right hand

*Double the bass note

*A couple of easy-to-learn  left hand fill-in ideas

*PLUS…a collection of hymns already arranged for the intermediate church pianist using the improvising ideas that are taught in the book.

Click on the following book title to view the book and sample pages!

“How to Play Hymns & Gospel Songs in an Evangelistic Style”

Click here to download worksheet before watching video for “Improvising Hymns” Lesson Two 

Have a pencil handy!

The following short video tutorial on improvising hymns is geared to the beginning church pianist.  Playing straight from the church hymnal can sound rather plain. Learning how to dress up the hymns adds a new dimension of sound! This lesson gives some simple left hand fill in ideas for the first line of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”.

Special clarification about the theory rule mentioned in this lesson concerning omitting the 3rd of the chord…The 3rd can be omitted from either hand.   Wait until you see the video below to understand this explanation 🙂

The next video tutorial will reveal more improvising ideas for “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”.

Click here to see My First Improvising Lesson

The hymn “Count Your Blessings” carries a great message in song but contains frequent repetitive notes providing a rather plain accompaniment for the average church pianist

Free Improvising Ideas for Count Your Blessings (congregational style)

Key of D Major

1. Use alternate bass movement (see measure #2) LH beat one…I played an ‘A’ rather than ‘D’

2. Measure #1 and #5, beat one ( no need to play every word) when playing congregational style; allows more ease of movement for the pianist.

3. The four note RH chords provide support to the singers.

4. Measure #6, notice the contrary octave movement between the hands for variety.

    *Contrary movement between both hands always adds a nice touch of spice 🙂

Click here to download Free Improvising Ideas for Count Your Blessings (congregational style)

Click here for audio of “All Hail the Power”

As I’ve mentioned before…the church pianist can deviate from the melody as long as the congregation knows the song real well.  You’ll notice the “missing melody” here and there in the free congregational piano arrangement of “All Hail the Power”.  The audio contains the piano accompaniment and the melody line.

We like to change keys to add extra life to the congregational singing 🙂  The key change in this arrangement does add an extra measure so it would require a quick practice with pianist and song leader before trying it with the congregation.

Most of the key changes we use in congregational singing move right into the last verse without hesitation.

Church Pianist Tip:

*This free congregational piano arrangement may also be used to accompany a trumpet solo.

 Click here to download “All Hail the Power” congregational accompaniment

Due to a hectic but wonderful weekend…I’m sharing a free piano arrangement of “At the Cross”. I wrote this particular arrangement for one of my students who is preparing to be a church pianist. Our congregation usually sings unison…so the piano accompaniment contains chords that would not support the four-part style from most church hymnals.

You’ll notice it’s also in a different key…C Major.  She only had two weeks to learn the song before playing it in church. (She  filled in for me while I was out of town)

Hopefully some of you church pianists can make use of this arrangement.  You could also use it as accompaniment for a vocal solo or ensemble singing unison.

Click here to download your free piano arrangement of “At the Cross”