Only got a piano.

[Nick Baty]

Took me a few goes to get the joke.

I've just got it – three days later!

[Peter]

Phil's suggested transposition actually has wider applicability than Uganda: our Orthodox brethren use it as their affirmation at the end of a prayer.

To get back to the topic, piano music needn't have secular connotations. Myra Hess made a famous piano transcription of Jesu, joy of man's desiring; it might offend the purists* but there are many other fine pianists who play Bach on a piano. The first prelude of the 48 has acquired sacred associations through the Ave Maria melody that Gounod added to it.

Nobody could object on stylistic grounds to Schubert on a piano: he wrote a famous Ave Maria as well (though not to the text we use) and what could be more appropriate for a funeral than his Litany for the feast of All Souls? Even without the vocal line the piano parts for these songs would work as voluntaries just as Bach works without Gounod. Mozart, too, works on a piano and excerpts from the C minor Mass or Solemn Vespers (or Exsultate, jubilate, though not at a funeral ) could easily be adapted as voluntaries. Even Rossini wrote a Preludio religioso for piano or harmonium as part of his Petite Messe Solennelle.

* not to mention the politically-correct inclusive-language brigade!

[dmu3tem]

Further to discussion about the nature of piano music in church readers might be interested to look at this.

It was originally written for use at a Crib service last year, specifically to cover Mary and Joseph's attempts to find accomodation in Bethlehem; so it is not general purpose background music but is designed to add something to the 'action'. For this reason I selected a 'plodding' bass line within a Pasacaglia type form. This is a very old-fashioned style (at least C17th/C16th) but, interestingly enough, when I later adapted it for a conventional Pipe Organ with a Pedal Board, I found I had to make a lot of alterations, suggesting that it really is Pianistic in tone. Note, for instance, how the articulations work most effectively on a touch sensitive keyboard. Otherwise I drew no distinction between a 'real' piano and an electronic equivalent. Indeed I found when I used it on the Clavinova in church that it worked best on the piano stop and attempts to use other effects like the Vibraphone detracted from the music.

Note that this was written in a hurry, so there might be the odd technical and notational 'loose end'. If - despite this - you want to use it - feel free to make copies (assuming I have succesfully uploaded the attachment!)

[dmu3tem]

Two days ago the Organ in the Anglican church where I play broke down; so I had to do all the hymns on the Clavinova. The experience was quite enlightening; as they were all block four part harmony settings. In two out of the three cases I found it easy enough just to play the music as it stood with the usual minor adjustments; but with the third - 'We Plough The Fields and Scatter' - I decided to re-write it to suit the piano better, and partly with an eye to avoid the 'school assembly' type sound Alan mentioned above. Immediately I found myself reaching for some very 'nineteenth-century' pianistic devices that I vaguely recalled from editions of Victorian hymns written partly with the Piano in mind. e.g. I doubled up some of the octaves in the Bass to give greater depth; and as a result I then had to use triads more in the right hand. This, of course, accentuated the percussive quality of the piano; so the problem was then how to 'water this down'; so it became necessary to go for more flowing arpeggiated effects at certain points. In turn this pushed me in the direction of leaner textures, partly because the inner harmonies were being covered by the more rapidly moving lines, partly to make the music more 'playable'.

When I got home I repeated the experiment with some other hymns I am scheduled to play next week, with similar - but more developed - results. If, for example, you are faced with a hymn arrangement designed for a full Organ with Pedal Board you have to thin out the textures and sometimes even alter the harmonies. I also found myself violating the one-new chord-per-note principle characteristic of much Victorian hymnody.

The experience clarified two general suspicions I had had:

(1) That four part harmony hymn writing, because it is primarily designed for SATB singing is not necessarily the ideal arrangement for use with an Organ. Anyone who plays pieces like this on the Organ invariably makes alterations to such things as the distribution of parts across the hands and feet.
(2) The same points apply for the piano; indeed the problem is worse because people do not seem to have really thought about how to do such hymns on this instrument.

[alan29]

Thanks for that. Standard hymns on the piano/clavinova are quite a challenge, aren't they.
I find it useful to tie as much as possible once the singing is under way (that's what I was taught to do on the organ, also) to get a nice legato effect. But to keep separate chunky chords in reserve for "chivvying along."