Simply Sacred Piano Solos Arranged by Marshall McDonald

Following are sample videos of pieces from Marshall McDonald's Simply Sacred Series or you can view my Simple Sacred Playlist which includes a few other arrangments I created of favorite Sacred Songs.

Simple Piano Improvisation and Arranging Tutorial Videos: Count Your Blessings

Follow the steps below to create your own arrangement or improvisation of a hymn in the "Hymns Made Easy" book.  The sample videos demonstrate the steps using the hymn "Count Your Blessings."

Melody Only

Begin by playing the melody line, right hand only. 

Instead of playing the notated bass clef, try following the steps below to create your own variation. 

Add an Accompaniment with Chord Roots

The "Hymns Made Easy" book already has chord symbols identified for you. If no chord root is indicated above the measure, play the chord root from the previous measure. 

Learning to Play Hymns - Piano Practice Steps for Success

Learning to play hymns is a goal for most of my piano students who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), or at least that's the aim their parents are hoping they will achieve. 

Before jumping into the regular hymn book, I first have students play hymn lead sheet style in the simplified hymn book.

From Piano Teaching Imposter to Improv and Arranger??

I have a confession.

For many years I had a case of "piano teacher imposter syndrome." I loved playing the piano from the start of lessons at age 8. I quickly progressed and had teachers who poured on the praise because of my speedy progress and diligence. My parents never had to nag me to practice. I loved competing in the Sonatina Festival and feeling the dopamine rush during practice when I mastered a tricky spot.

No Practicing

I was a little heartbroken when I couldn't practice regularly for a couple of years. In my teen years, we relocated and left our old clunker piano behind with plans to buy a better piano in our new home after a move. But then we had some economic challenges when my dad's new company discovered an employee was doing fraudulent crimes and my dad was soon after diagnosed with a rare muscle disease, polymyositis, so buying a piano was put on hold for a while. 

My gracious grandma provided us with some funds to buy another "clunker" and I resumed lessons with a kind neighbor who taught me in exchange for some light housecleaning. I especially loved to play calm sacred music and spent a lot of Sunday afternoons "catching up" on my orchestra practice record by playing hymns on the violin for two or three hours at a time.

I was super studious in school and was thrilled to get a full academic scholarship to the college of my dreams, Brigham Young University, where I planned to studio Piano Pedagogy.  I eagerly enrolled in all the music major classes. I headed to my piano major audition with high hopes.  But I felt a bit frazzled when they only asked me to jump between short excerpts of my pieces and soon got the devastating news that I was not accepted into the major and therefore could not take any of the music classes I had enrolled in.  

College Piano Dropout

I was able to take private piano lessons with the possibility of applying to the program the following year. My confidence had definitely taken a blow and comments from my stern teacher like "No! No! No! You're doing it all wrong" seared into my memory the feeling of being inadequate.  The tears didn't flow until after that lesson when I left the lesson feeling a bit dejected walking through the parking lot. I was intimidated by all the performances required for music majors. I really just wanted to focus on learning to be a private piano teacher, with less emphasis on performing. At the time with my fixed mindset, I also felt like financially I couldn't wait a year and add on a year's worth of college tuition that I couldn't pay for. So I changed my major to Family Science with a Music Minor.

I was grateful to switch to a graduate student instructor for my private piano lessons the next semester. She was so much more encouraging than the Ph.D. professor I started with and a better fit for my personality. She renewed my hopes that I could still teach piano someday and provided me with some excellent pedagogy resources. I still regret not having the courage to take a college "Songwriting" class for non-music majors. I had intentions to sign up, but when I attended the recital of the students who had taken the class I was blown away by their skills and felt like I could never create something that amazing.

Starting Improv and Piano Teaching

After serving a mission, meeting the man of my dreams, and graduating from college, my husband and I worked at a home for troubled teen boys.  We had a piano in the home and I loved hearing one of our boys improvise music based on a few tips about chords he had learned from a friend. He inspired me to start "playing around" on the piano a little more instead of just reading music. 

Four years later we finally bought our very own piano! My neighbor asked if I could start teaching her 4-year-old to play.  I devoured all of Martha Beth Lewis's online tips. My Child Development classes came in handy when I started teaching my first student and I incorporated plenty of play and piano games into lessons.

Later I taught teens in exchange for babysitting services and eventually, I started this blog when I began my preschool piano for a couple of my young children and their friends. 

Now my "preschoolers" are grown up an pursuing their own passions instead of piano.

Piano Teacher Connections

When I moved to Idaho I was thrilled to discover that one of my favorite high school friends, Angela had moved to the same city just a month before! She also taught piano and her ideas transformed the way I ran my studio. I incorporated piano lab activities as part of longer lessons and we began our own festival when the local festival didn't work well with our child-bearing schedule😉.

Attending countless piano teacher workshops, webinars, browsing piano teaching blogs and teaching for 20 years has mostly cured my "imposter syndrome" when it comes to piano teaching. I love the connections I make with other local music teachers in UVMTA and I learn from their strengths but also appreciate as I get to know them more personally that we all have weak or "imposter" areas in life. 

The Create First! and Puzzle Play Series by Forrest Kinney has helped me find more joy in improvising for fun and learning some basic tools for arranging. 

Making music energizes me. I don't record or write much, but here's a quick unpolished improvisation clip I recorded randomly.

Recently I've been dabbling in new territory as I've started arranging a few pieces for my students and my own enjoyment.

Perfection is a Process

Younger children seem to be less inhibited by fear of mistakes. I love how they can just jump into a new experience without fear of failure. Here's a quick clip that my husband filmed of me creating with my friend's daughter when she wanted to "learn piano" at our house. She's never had lessons, so I just invited her to make up music on the black keys while I played a duet, similar to the Create First! approach.

The imposter feeling is creeping back in. I'm probably breaking rules for composing or notation, but I'm finding so much joy in the creative process and sharing what I'm learning with my students. It was delightful to hear one of my students start the process of creating her own hymn arrangement lead sheet style.

Have you ever felt like a piano-teaching imposter? Or have you found the secret sauce to help you compose or arrange music? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

"Our Prayer to Thee" Free Sheet Music Arrangement -Hymn by President Russell M Nelson

"Our Prayer to Thee" Arrangement

When I first heard the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sing "Our Prayer to Thee"  in General Conference, I was so inspired by the peaceful message of the lyrics and beautiful melody borrowed from the lesser-known hymn  "Our Home Beloved", written for men's choir.

I decided to create my first hymn arrangement using the melody of this hymn in the style of other Simply Sacred arrangements that I love by Marshall MacDonald. I love the simplicity of a thin clear melody line with broken chord accompaniments instead of the heavier thick texture of a traditional hymn and wanted something easy enough for early intermediate piano students to play. 

Learn to Play Hymns on the Piano - Beginner to Intermediate Resources

Learning to play hymns is a goal that most of my piano students (or their parents😉) have. Although 4 part harmonies are usually out of reach for first-year students, I've found several stepping stones that allow students to have the satisfaction of playing familiar hymns and primary songs until they gradually build the skills needed to play from the "real" hymn book. 

Playing Simplified Hymns Lead Sheet Style

Simplified Hymn Lead Sheets

The Hymns Made Easy book although simpler than a 4 part hymn arrangement is actually not that easy for beginning piano students! But with a few tricks, students can play some hymns using their knowledge of primary chords and even create simple arrangements.

Simply Sacred Piano Solos by Marshall McDonald

 Playing the piano or organ for church worship is something I do on a regular basis, and while I can "fake it" on the organ I love piano arrangements of church hymns so much better! Sometimes I sneak in a little piano prelude music with my favorite arrangements of pieces from Marshall McDonald's Simply Sacred books like "More Holiness Give Me" or "As Now I Take the Sacrament" before heading over to the organ for prelude.

Free Simplified Piano Easter Arrangements

As I opened my inbox this morning to discover this powerful Easter message of inspiration from Russell M Nelson, I realized that I had missed the opportunity to send my piano students home with their favorite Easter music arrangements before spring break.😞 But they can click the links below and print from home if desired.  

Steps for Choosing Piano Fingering to Create Legato Lines

 Steps for Selecting Appropriate Piano Fingering

Choosing correct fingering can help you play legato phrases without awkward finger twists, leaps or tension. These steps are helpful in playing Simplified Hymns but can apply to other piano music as well.

1. Identify and mark the melodic phrases in the song. 

• Use the words and punctuation as your clues.
• Most phrases for hymns are 2-4 measures in length.

2. "Block" the Left Hand notes one phrase at a time.

3. Identify phrases including notes larger than a 5 finger span.

4. Write in the fingering at the beginning of each phrase.

• Remember, "Thou shalt not finger hop" (within the phrase).
• "Floating off" (a delicate hop) to a new position between phrases is okay.

5.  Decide which fingering technique works the best.

•  Expansion- open hand wider than 5 finger position
•  Contraction- close hand smaller than 5 finger position
•  Finger Crossing - tuck thumb under or cross fingers over as in scale playing
•  Finger Substitution- replace one finger with another while playing repeated notes

Listen carefully as you play with your selected fingering to make sure it doesn't have create awkward accented notes. Write in the fingering you have chosen and follow it consistently as you practice.

Teaching Chords with Hymns

 I created a chord-based activity for some of my students using the song

Free "Count Your Blessings" Piano Teaching Resource

With Thanksgiving around the corner I like to include a few seasonal songs in my student's piano assignments.
This year I'm using this free version of  Count Your Blessings (p. 64) and adapting it for multiple levels in my studio.  Following are instructions on how I introduce this piece to varying levels of students.