Glory to God on High 3rd Verse

For our stake Easter Musical Fireside, I wanted to have those in attendance sing the final verse of Glory to God on High in unison.  I would have loved to play a free harmonization during that verse, but my lack of time prevented it.  Instead, I made just a few simple modifications to the hymn and it worked very well on that final verse. 

I wanted to share it with you.


Here it is!

Enjoy!

That Easter Morn Introduction

PLEASE NOTE: The first version posted was missing a "D" in the last measure. Please ensure you have three D's in the last measure. Thanks!

I have a treat for you today! Here is a free introduction to That Easter Morn:

Here is the arrangement, free to you over at Google Docs.

Enjoy!

Joy to the World Introduction

Look what I have to share with you, today! Just in time for Christmas, I'm sharing a slightly different introduction for Joy to the World:

Here is the arrangement, free to you over at Google Docs.

Enjoy!

Hymn 72: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty introduction

When I attended the BYU Organ Workshop, graduate student Yevgeniya Tyltina played an introduction for hymn 72, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty that really excited me. When I came home, I attempted to recreate the feeling behind that introduction, and came up with this, which I used for the adult session of stake conference in my stake:

I wanted to make this piece available to my readers as well. Here is my arrangement, free to you over at Google Docs.
I hope you get the same joy out of this introduction that I did. If you use it with your congregation, please let me know how it goes.

Hymn 119: A Call to Worship

In a recent article I shared some new insights of mine regarding a "Call to Worship."

Here is my arrangement, free to you.



For verse 2 instead of using my version with the pedal point, I instead chose to use the first verse of Douglas Lemmon's arrangement in his book Preludes SAC.

How Did It Go?

I began prelude 20 minutes early, but the chapel was already getting "chatty" as the choir had finished 10 minutes earlier. I began with Larry Beebee's "Father, I Will Reverent Be," but it didn't help much. I wasn't too worried, as a louder congregation would really put my new technique to the test.

Halfway through the chimes introduction of my "Call to Worship" piece, the chapel and cultural hall quieted almost completely. I played through the hymn and second verse before my time was up, and the chapel was completely silent for that entire prelude piece. The music and reverence really invited the Spirit. Then the Stake Presidency member stood to begin the meeting, and commented on how wonderful it was to have time to reflect before the meeting. The meeting began on a spiritual note--it began with reverence.

After writing the previous article, I was unsure of how it this technique would be received, but I felt completely at peace, so I went ahead and tried it. Now that I've used it, I have no hesitation in recommending it--sporadically, of course, or it will lose its effectiveness. It really set the right mood for this meeting and I'm very glad I went ahead with it.

If you decide to use this "Call to Worship," let me know how it goes!