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Are you in search of intermediate or medium difficulty hymn arrangements for piano? As a church musician, pianist and composer with over 20 years of experience, I’d like to share ten of my own arrangements that would be perfect for use in sacred services, and really anywhere that you might find yourself playing hymn and folk tune arrangements. The best part about these is depending on your experience, you might find these to be just the right challenge, or even on the easy side, but either way your audience will love hearing them. The arrangements I’d like to share are from my piano at daybreak series. I created these easy new age arrangements to be accessible for all pianists, and while there are many on the easy side, there are also plenty of intermediate difficulty given that George Winston is one of the influences on my style. Let’s look at some of them now, and I’ll share videos and links to the sheet music along the way. But don't forget that you'll get a much better deal buying my collections than buying individual pieces on sheet music websites. First up is Brethren, We Have Met to Worship based on the American tune Holy Manna. It starts off simply with a repeating left hand pattern and the melody lightly embellished. Then at measure 30 the melody is broken up with syncopated rhythms. I usually need to brush up on this section before I perform it. Depending on how quickly you take the beginning, this section can let you show off your technical skill. For The Beauty of the Earth starts simply enough, though in a sprightly tempo. For the second statement of the melody, it is actually in a canon, which was an interesting find with this hymn. Then in the 3rd statement of the melody has a simpler left hand part but there are plenty of fun embellishments in the right hand. Holy God, We Praise Thy Name is one of the more challenging arrangements due to the syncopated rhythm in the left hand. Once you master that, the rest isn’t too hard, although it is at a faster tempo. This is a very fun arrangement and makes for a great postlude! I really like my arrangement of How Firm a Foundation and it is a good pick for intermediate pianists. There isn’t much here that is difficult other than the folksy embellishments that decorate the melody. The ending improvisation pleasantly coasts along, and almost wants to fade out... I was looking to keep this arrangement of How Great Thou Art relatively simple, but the left hand part is more widely spaced than that in many of my other arrangements, which is why I’m including it among the “intermediate” difficulty pieces. This is a little longer as well, and the overall mood is peaceful and serene. The Lone Wild Bird is based on the American melody Prospect, which is one of my favorite tunes of all time. It opens with an Alberti bass-style minor progression and a folksy treatment of the melody, then repeats an octave lower with fuller chords. The improvisatory section at measure 50 is influenced by George Winston and will be sure to dazzle your audience. My arrangement of Nearer, My God to Thee doesn’t have much that is technically challenge, but it does go on a bit of a journey, being 5 pages long, and the interlude explores different modes and key changes not found elsewhere in the collection. I think of this one as more of a gentle fantasy. If you are looking for one in a minor key, check out Once to Every Man and Nation. This is modeled somewhat after Christofori’s Dream by David Lanz with the compound meter arpeggiated left hand. This piece sparkles magically, especially the interlude at measure 23. To God Be the Glory is a delightful arrangement and really the perfect sendoff for piano at daybreak, vol. 1. It goes from Db to Gb which aren’t the most common keys in piano, but if you are of intermediate ability they won’t be a problem. You can decide to take it at a slightly faster tempo if you want more of a challenge, but either way this is a sure crowd-pleaser. I included 9 arrangements in this article, and then I thought, why don't we just make it an even 10? So here's one more: All Creatures of Our God and King (Lass Uns Erfreuen). What makes this arrangement a little challenging is the register jumps for the call and response at a moderately fast tempo. I love the transparency that comes from placing the melody higher than what you typically find in a hymn arrangement. That’s all for today's post on hymns for the intermediate pianist, but I will follow up with more recommendations in another post since in this post I only pulled from Volume 1 of piano at daybreak. For recommendations from my second volume of Piano at Daybreak, check out my blog post on 10 more intermediate hymn arrangements for pianists. You may also be interested in my blog posts on preludes and postludes for piano. Comments are closed.
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AuthorIan Good is a published composer and arranger. |