Most people are familiar with Dicken's A Christmas Carol. I love this new book from Teach Piano Today that provides a musical backdrop to the story. I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present and have been thoroughly enjoying the pieces the past few weeks.
Andrea Dow's new Christmas book Streetlamp Solos provides a musical backdrop for the beloved story of "A Christmas Carol". It blends the familiar Christmas melodies together with some pop-infused chords and diversions from the regular tunes. The pieces are easily accessible for early intermediate pianists with many broken chord patterns in the left. The simplicity of playing in the keys of C Major and A minor allows students to peruse through a lot of music during the short Christmas season.
Thanksgiving is not here yet, but I've already pulled out his Simply Sacred Christmas book this season. It has some of my favorite arrangements that calm my soul and a few that energize me, too.
This lesson plan includes activities and tips for playing "Caspian Sea" in Piano Adventures 4 TECHNIQUE Book.
Listen to the melody sing over the soft left-hand patterns in Caspian Sea.
Use a paintbrush stroke for the left hand 1-5-10 patterns to avoid tension and release the left-hand eighth notes after the first beat of most measures instead of trying to hold out all 3 notes.
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.
I was delighted to discover the new 2024 Youth theme song for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now on the Sacred Music app. The vocal solo/piano sheet music is in a different key than the music on the app, but I love how it includes chord symbols so my piano students can play the melody over varying levels of left-hand accompaniments.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Introducing piano students to lead sheets and lyric sheets empowers them to play their favorite pop songs with greater ease.
Instead of playing complicated left-hand accompaniment patterns, lead sheets allow students to ease into a piece by starting with simpler root notes in the bass and gradually working up to more sophisticated rhythms or chords if desired.
I remember the frustration as a younger pianist trying to play accompanist versions of my favorite Christian songs but being frustrated because it's hard to play 3 parts with only 2 hands!
And without the melody line that is often omitted in the accompanist part, the song does not satisfy... unless you sing along!
I created this simplified excerpt of "I Can Do All Things With Christ" (the 2023 youth theme song from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Now my students can enjoy playing the piece while learning some basic skills for arranging and playing from a lead sheet. The original version is available for free download so students can compare the scores and spot the differences. It pairs perfectly with the Greensleeves lead sheet in Piano Adventures 3A, giving students extra practice reading a lead sheet.
The following steps can be applied to create lead sheets from other pieces.
Start with the melody only from a part of the song. You can play just the theme or chorus without having to arrange the whole piece.
Double the value of the rhythms if needed to make it simpler to read (quarter notes become half notes, half notes become whole notes).
Transpose to a different key if needed to make it easier to play. (For example to change a piece in B to C, move every note up a half step to avoid having to play a lot of sharps!)
Add chord symbols. If not included in the original song, analyze the bass notes to figure out which chord to use. You can also play I, IV or V chords and listen to which sounds best in each measure or phrase.
Experiment with different bass styles (root only, blocked chord, broken chord, syncopated rhythms, open intervals, etc.).
Lead sheets give you the flexibility to imitate the style of the original or create your version.
For example, by playing broken intervals in Forrest Gump style, the Piano Guys transformed this traditional classical piece into a more modern version.
I loved hearing the new primary song for children "I Will Walk With Jesus" and wanted to make it a bit more accessible for my children and piano students to play at home.
While this simplified version from The Friend is suitable for some intermediate-level students I wanted something accessible for my beginning piano students to play as well.
Part of my bedtime routine almost every night as a child was listening to a 30-minute cassette tape of music that we sang in church. The soothing music and encouraging words continue to bring a lot of peace to me as I play, sing and listen to varying arrangements. I love finding sources for free simplified arrangements that allow my students to start playing some of their favorite familiar church songs within the first few months of lessons.
While rounding up free Christmas themed resources and ideas that I have gathered over the years for my upcoming Christmas Piano Group Lesson and found some gems that I have used in the past but had forgotten about. I hope you enjoy using some of these fun activities with your students this Christmas season! The game links are organized by concept with links to free Christmas music and improv activities listed at the bottom. Update: Unfortunately some of the resources are no longer free since this post was created years ago, but I come back to them year after year for Christmas piano fun.
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