Piano for Church

I’m trying to relearn piano for church. Ideally I’d like to work my way up to organ, but for now I’m re-educating my fingers and trying to whip the fog out of my bass-clef reading skills. 

In the past, I’ve shared some piano resources, like Hymns for Small Lutheran Hands available here. I have a few more listed resources here, on my free Lutheran resource page, and some more here, on my Free Lutheran Educational Resources on LutheranHomeschool.com. 

Today, then, I laugh to announce that I’ve successfully worked through the CPH accompaniment book for My First Hymnal and I’ll happily review it.

It doesn’t appear to be for sale on Amazon, but if you shop for it on cph.org, I recommend you go ahead and get “My First Hymnal Book Set,” which includes the accompaniment book, hymnal, and 3-CD set. All that for $50 when the accompaniment edition is $40. The CDs are great on car rides, no matter your age, and My First Hymnal makes a charming gift to any younger child or new parent.

My First Hymnal, Accompaniment Edition

I love this book. I belong to a small congregation and a time is coming when our organist will retire. Who will replace her? I don’t know, because there are not that many organists in town. But with the help of books like My First Hymnal, adult that I am, I’m a solid step closer to helping out as I can.

It’s obviously put together with young piano students in mind. Various techniques are used throughout the book, but the songs are all written in lovely two-handed parts. These are not childish, but child-friendly arrangements suitable for general use.

I was really impressed by how many hymns are included! Fifty or so! They are organized like you would expect a hymnal to be: beginning with Advent and other liturgical seasons and then with sections for Trinity, Jesus, the Church, and Baptismal Life following.

Some are easier than others, but if you just want to sit down and play a few hymns, and you’re not quite ready for the hymnal, this is the book for you. It’s visually appealing (although it’s black and white inside, which is different from My First Hymnal) and the spiral binding has held up great. Opens flat.

Five stars from me. I only wish it were a series! I’ll be sure that all my kids learn to play it, too!

Back to Me

I think the next CPH resources for me is probably Basic Hymn Accompaniments II. Thankfully that’s only $7.95. Unfortunately the first volume appears to be out of print, while volume three is print on demand for $34. I’ve emailed to ask. Also unfortunately for me it’s kind of a big step up. Still. I’ll see what I can do.

Anyone else taking piano for church? 🙂 I’m taking lessons and everything! My younger self never would have believed my current level of excitement! Ha ha haaaa

If anyone has any more elementary/intermediate church music books to suggest, let me know. I’m amassing a collection, apparently. Seems like this may be my greatest chance to learn until the kids go to college. And, um, that’s a long time from now!