Piano for Church

Description

We can’t offer piano lessons, but we can gather up resources to share! Are you or your child interested in playing piano for church? Maybe you just want to play Lutheran hymns at home. This is what we can tell you:

Here are free general resources:

• Piano Lessons 4 Children (Grades K-3) (22 introductory lessons plus lessons about famous composers)

Here are free churchly resources:

• Simplified piano student arrangements of Lutheran hymnody.
• Hymns for Small Lutheran Hands: FIVE FREE BOOKS of simplified, liturgically-ordered hymns. Mostly melody spread across two hands.

Here are purchases you can consider:

• CPH
  • My First Hymnal and its student accompaniment version
• David’s Harp (Associated with St. Paul’s Music Conservatory)
  • Hymns of the Season, Volume 1: Jesus, Ground of Faith, hymn settings graded for piano students
  • Hymns of the Season, Volume 2: Jesus, Priceless Treasure

Another great place to look is Floeter Music, Publisher of Hymntune Based Music. A lot of the hymn arrangements correspond to the Lutheran Service Book, so you can play piano for church and have the congregations sing along. Floeter music also offers “Hands Helpers” and books for children  at early elementary, elementary, and late elementary stages.

And, if you’re really eager but need progressive, graded material, you can consider something like Sight-Reading & Harmony: Progressive Pieces for Keyboard, Grades 1-10, Selected from Four-Part Chorales by JS Bach or search for “easy Bach.”

Do you want a neat introduction to organ?

Here you go! 🙂 Organ Playing 101 (Videos below are 8-10 minutes each)

• Organ Registration — What do all these names mean and how do I know which stops to use?
• Hymn Introductions — How to add variety and interest.
• Hymn Playing — How to lead the singing of the congregation with appropriate tempo, pulse, and phrasing.
• Liturgy Playing — Ideas for leading Divine Service, Setting One.
• Liturgy Playing — Ideas for leading Divine Service, Setting Three.
• Leading New Hymns and Liturgical Settings — How to help yourself and your congregation.

Copyright Issues

Lastly, let’s talk about copyright. You can certainly play music you have purchased at home, but if someone wants to perform a piece in public (and church counts as public), it’s best to check copyright. (Streaming adds an extra layer of complication, but it isn’t too bad). For piano at church, congregations typically handle copyright licenses rather than the player(s). If music is in the public domain, feel free to perform (live or streamed). If it’s owned by CPH, you can read their policies here. Floeter Music always gives permission to churches to use their music without an additional license, though it’s still probably best to ask. Just so you know, LCMS churches often already have a license with CPH. Other common licenses are CCLI or One License. Those two are umbrellas that cover a lot of publishers, even of children’s books.

Anything else we ought to suggest? Let us know!

Feel free to bookmark or print this page. Otherwise, you can download a PDF of exactly this information as the product.