Improvisation on Allelu, Allelu (Praise Ye The LORD)

Here’s an improvisation for you!

Last Sunday, as I was playing the organ at church, we did the chorus, “Alleu, Allelu”. On the second time around, one of our very capable pianists played this variation, and it worked well! It sounded really neat, so I asked what it was she played, and she sent me this and said I could share this with you. This is an arpeggiated improvisation in triplets.

(This improvisation is courtesy of Katelyn Osborne)

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Update on Book!

Update on The Congregational Accompanist’s Handbook, a Primer in Effective Improvisation:

Its a busy week, with Christmas coming up and all, but I needed to update before the end of the year, so for those of you who are wondering, and especially those of you who have taken one of my classes in which I provided you with the preliminary version of the first chapters of the book I’m working on, and told you I hoped to have it out by the end of this year (2015). If you are wondering if I’ve died or fallen off the face of the earth…sorry, I’m still here! Rest assured, I’m still working on it, and you will still receive your copy when it is finished. Sadly I did not meet my goal, and unfortunately, it won’t be done this year (2015). But look for another announcement before the end of the next quarter. You can stay up to date on the progress right here, on hymnprovisation.com, and from time to time I hope to post out of the contents of the book. There is one post up already here!

Current parts (subject to change) include:

1.Introduction-

The basis and background of congregational accompanists, as well as some other resources for honing the skill of improvisation.

2.Theme

This is where the book gets into some general concepts that a congregational accompanist needs to keep in mind while playing.

3.Development

This is the section that highlights over 20  techniques that we can use to to properly convey the message of the songs we play.

4.Recapitulation and Ending.

This is, well, exactly what it sounds like! Here the book wraps up and encourages the student to practice with purpose, being always ready to serve when called on.

Further information can be found on this page.

If there is a specific topic that you would like to learn more about, leave a comment and I’ll see if I can address it either here on this blog, or in the book or both places!