Category Archives: News

Spring has Sprung

This past Sunday was my least favorite day of the year – Daylight Saving Time/Time Change Sunday. My body has a very difficult time adjusting, even though I try to go to bed early, etc.

I still don’t understand why they don’t have the time change Friday night/Saturday morning. But they didn’t ask me, right?

Anyway, I’m always paranoid that I’m going to set my clock in the wrong direction, or miss my alarm, or forget to set it altogether. In this day of “smart” technology, we can’t even set our phones ahead. They change automatically. Or, they are supposed to.

I knew someone whose phone didn’t update correctly and they were late for practice before Sunday service. Ever since then, I’ve set multiple alarms and even pulled out the old “manual” alarm clocks.

This year I set my alarm an hour earlier just in case something didn’t go right. The only clock I could set ahead was my oven clock, which I did. Then when my alarm went off at 5:15am, I got up and went out to the kitchen to see if my phone matched the oven clock. It did! Score! Then I went back to bed for another hour. šŸ™‚

We got to church on time and had a wonderful worship service. We sang/played one of my favorite packages – Crown Him King of Kings/Crown Him with Many Crowns. I love playing those songs!

The weather even cooperated and was absolutely gorgeous!

Perhaps Spring has (finally) sprung!

(We are supposed to get back down in the 50s tomorrow, but we won’t think about that right now.)

Do you have any stories from Time Change Sunday? I would love to hear them!

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Cyber Monday – Digital Music on Sale

Christmas pianoWelcome to Cyber Monday! The one day of the year when we can spend money as easy as pushing a button! Anyone up for going shopping?

I’m not usually one to get all excited about Black Friday or Cyber Monday, nor do I like to push deals too much. But today I’m making an exception.

Over at myĀ digital music store, Glorious Assurance Music, all music is 50% off! Now, the music is not overly expensive to begin with, so you can get choruses for $.75 and piano arrangements for $1.75. I’m just not sure how you can beat this price.

Unless it’s free, right?

Well, unfortunately, most of the music is not free (but still 50% off). But there are two piano arrangements that are free, all the time.

I Surrender All – free piano arrangement, intermediate level

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus – free piano arrangement, late intermediate level

If nothing else, be sure to download these free arrangements today! (Note: the site will say these arrangements are out of stock, but you just need to click on the title link under Free Download to get the PDF download.)

Other titles for sale include:

O Little Town of Bethlehem (intermediate)

Silent Night, Holy Night (advanced)

He is Born, the Divine Christ Child (advanced)

Amazing Grace (intermediate)

Christ the Lord is Risen Today (advanced)

Be Thou My Vision (early advanced)

Praise Him! Praise Him! (late intermediate)

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (intermediate)

…and many more. Don’t wait too long, the sale ends soon!

Final Thoughts

On-the-Go PianistSince this 31 Day Challenge really started the evening of September 30, I did my Day 31 yesterday.

But since today is October 31, I thought I should do a final post to recap the month.

Wow, thirty-one days of blogging. I really did it.

When my sister first suggested I do this with her, I wasn’t sure what I would blog about. Obviously music, but the specifics were a little harder to think of.

Now that’s it over and I look back on my experience, I had a really fun time. The challenge was just that, a challenge.

I loved communicating with all my readers about the different aspects of music.

I picked up some valuable resources along the way.

I made new friends.

I reconnected with old friends.

(I just said “I” a lot, sorry!)

I’m not planning on blogging every day from here on out, but I definitely will beĀ blogging more often. I even have some ideas for some series!

Thanks to all of you who followed and read my posts and commented on them.

Thanks to my sis and hubby for encouraging me in this challenge.

Goodbye, October!

Hello,Ā November and December – the busiest months for church musicians!

This post is part of a series I’m doing this month called ā€œOn-the-Go Pianist.ā€ Click here to see all the posts!

Piano Teacher Resources: Susan Paradis

Do you ever come across something online and the next thing you know, an hour has gone by?

That happened to me last night. And it wasn’t Facebook! šŸ™‚

I was looking for a handout to use for my kids explaining whole steps and half steps for their Five Finger Patterns, and I stumbled on this amazing website.

Susan Paradis has put together an extensive compilation of resources for the piano teacher. I was so excited!

Many of the resources are free to download, which is even more exciting!

Her resources include Worksheets, Teaching Aids, Games, Sheet Music for all seasons and holidays, and much more!

In addition to all these free items, she also has a store with even more stuff!

If you’re looking for easy church music for your piano students, she has several seasonal and hymn arrangements you can download.

I downloaded several worksheets that I plan to use for my kids, and I’ll definitely be going back!

Be sure to check it out. Who knows…you might even find something for yourself!

This post is part of a series I’m doing this month called ā€œOn-the-Go Pianist.ā€ Click here to see all the posts!

Thanksgiving Music – We Gather Together

treble clefIt’s Thursday and Thanksgiving is five weeks away.

Does your church do a Thanksgiving service? We do a special service on Tuesday night of Thanksgiving week, complete with a chili supper afterwards. Yum.

Anyway, if you’re like me, you might be scrambling to find a piano arrangement to use at the last minute. Let me suggest this arrangement of “We Gather Together.”

No, I can’t take credit for this arrangement. But I can give all the credit to my sister, Christie.

Now, I did have the privilege of editing this arrangement, and I absolutely love it!

The arrangement is just advanced enough to keep you on your toes (and you will need to practice it at least once), but there is no reason why you couldn’t have it ready in 4-5 weeks.

Plus, Christie incorporates fresh chords and fun rhythms to make this traditional Thanksgiving hymn more interesting.

You can view sample pages, plus listen to sample audio of the arrangement. If you want to purchase the song, you will need to create an account at Glorious Assurance Music. Then you will have three attempts to download the song as a PDF.

Let me know what you think!

This post is part of a series I’m doing this month called ā€œOn-the-Go Pianist.ā€ Click here to see all the posts!

On-the-Go Pianist: 31 Day Challenge

As the title suggests, I’m trying something for the next 31 days (October). I’m participating in a link-up party with bloggers from all over. The Nester is hosting this little blog-get-together on her site. Anyone who blogs can post their articles about any topic.

Sounds fun, right? Right. And scary.

My sister has her own blog over at Small Steps, Big Picture. She follows lots of blogs where people post about DIY projects, house stuff, marriage, mothering, etc. Then she shares them with me!

She told me about this 31 Days of Blogging and suggested we should both do it. At first I was very hesitant, but I’m not one to back down from a challenge. Plus, when I shared the idea with my husband, he was like “I think you should do it.”

So here we go.

Now, obviously, this blog is about music. So in thinking about what topic I would blog about, the obvious answer was “music.” But…music is a very broad topic. If I was going to blog about something for 31 days in a row, I wanted it to be a little more specific.

Then, it hit me. I could blog about how music/piano affects my everyday life. Let me explain.

I’m a very busy person. (Not saying that other people aren’t busy.) I work a full-time job 40 hours a week. And I love my job. But it has nothing to do with music.

Starting in October, I am going to start giving piano lessons again, after taking a year off after I got married. I will be teaching 3 days a week.

Also, in October, our main pianist at church will be out of town on vacation. Therefore, I get the fun job to fill inĀ – choir, offertory specials, hymns, etc.

Then, to top it all off, I am a wife to my husband and “mother” to 3 fun-loving, attention-hogging dogs. (Even as I’m writing this, my dog is begging for me to pet him.)

Please understand, I’m not complaining. I love what I get to do and be. But, you can seeĀ how IĀ figuredĀ with all that I have going on, I might as well do a 31 day blog challenge! It’s hard for me to back down from a challenge!

Badge/Button I made for the Link-up Party

Badge/Button I made for the Link-up Party

For the next 31 days, I will be writing about how I experience music, prepare for church music services, teach piano –Ā all from the perspective of “on-the-go”!

If you don’t think my little series will interest you, then that’s fine. But if you do, I think it would be fun to hear your comments and what you experience with music everyday.

If you are joining us from The Nester link-up party, thanks for stopping by! I’m looking forward to this challenge, if nothing more than for the fact of telling my sister everyday, “I did it!”

Here’s to the next 31 days!

National Day of Prayer – May 2, 2013

Today is the National Day of Prayer. Since 1952, Americans have been encouraged to pray on the first Thursday of May.

Many churches hold services on this day. Some churches have an open-door policy where people can come and pray throughout the day.

Whether you are attending a service or not, please take a minute to pray for our nation today. God promises to answer our prayers (II Chronicles 7:14).

GOD BLESS AMERICA

(words and music by Irving Berlin)

“While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegianceĀ  to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. “

God Bless America,
Land that IĀ  love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.