I am NOT a piano teacher. Never was. I tried it once, but quit after less than a month. But I have played in churches, in one capacity or another, for over 40 years. From the age of 8 to about the age of 30 I played for worship services as either the primary or backup musician. At one church in my late teens I was the pianist for Junior worship and Children’s worship and the backup pianist for Adult worship, so if the Adult pianist was out I would play the Junior service, the Adult hymn service, run to the Children’s area and play their music, then run back to the sanctuary (hopefully) in time for the invitation at the end of the service. For much of the next 20 years I worked as keyboardist for a couple of Southern Gospel groups that sang in churches, running sound for my home church and doing occasional fill-in duty for other pianists when we were not in concert. Now, after a brief hiatus, I am back playing for a local church.
In all those years, in all of those churches, probably the single hardest challenge I faced was during my first few years of playing. I would have to learn new hymns for the next service, and the only music I had for those hymns was the hymnal. Not that hard, you say – it’s just SATB. But that is exactly the problem. The arrangements in most hymnals are designed to be SUNG – not PLAYED! Finally, a few years ago, I sat down and worked out some simplified arrangements for 40 traditional hymns in simple arrangement that should work for students that have 1-2 years of playing experience. The end result was the book EZ-Play Hymnal for Young Players.
The arrangements in this book were planned for simplicity in three areas: (1)Key choice- C,F, or G, (2)timing – I simplified syncopations as much as feasible consistent with normal usage, and (3)layout- lyrics for only the first verse and chorus are inserted in the score (additional lyrics are include at the end). In the cases where I changed from the traditional key I would usually go for a lower key as (1)many hymns are written too high (in my opinion) to be sung comfortably, and (2)keep the melody notes as close as possible to the center of the piano should make it easier for these young students to learn them. The book is printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and spiral-bound for ease of reading. There are no fingering marks or pedal marks because I figured that a teacher could add them if needed for the individual student and they wouldn’t clutter the page if not necessary.
One of the objectives of this book is to enable young pianists to begin participating in the worship of God through music as early as possible. One example of this is where young pianists play for Bible studies or nursing home worship services. To facilitate this, I will soon be releasing a companion volume for the EZ-Play Hymnal that contains just the lyrics. Watch this blog for additional info.
You can see a listing of the hymns included by clicking here. You can see a sample page by clicking here. The book is available both in book and ebook (pdf) form. If you have a young pianist that is struggling with hymns, please order your own copy now by clicking the appropriate link below. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or send an email by clicking the “Send Us A Message” tab at the top of the page.
Buy the EZ-Play Hymnal for Young Players book now! ($15.99)
Buy the EZ-Play Hymnal for Young Players e-book now!($7.50)
