Hymn Sheet music (with chords)

I'm in search of sheet music for organ that has chords. I know the big organ binder at my church has chords on the music and thats the way I can play. I just have no idea where to find it anywhere else. Any suggestions are welcomed!

Dan

There is a book called "The Easy Hymn Fake Book" published by Hal Leonard. It costs about $20.00. I guess that the title sounds a little odd for those who adhere to a rigorous old time religion but it should be easy enough since all of the 150 hymns are in the key of C. With HW you could probably transpose them given the time between hymns and hosannahs. Ed

Dan,

The organists at church say those chords are for a guitar and not for playing chords in the left hand!

I thought if I could figure out the chords, I could play hymns but alas it did not work for me.
Both of the ladies assure me that I need to learn bass clef and get an organ edition of the Hymnal (not Hymnbook) to learn from. I have the El Himnario (used in the Episcopal Church) which is mostly English Hymn tunes with Spanish words. It has a lot of Hymns with added chords and playing chords in the left and melody in the right just doesn't sound quite right.

If you develop a 'method' that sounds good I will take lessons from you. )

Pax,

Thomas

I use it as just a reference and a starting point. It's been a curse for my musical life to not be able to read the base clef and everything else at the same time. I'v grown up learning by ear too. Double curse haha.

Hi,
I was introduced to chords by a pub pianist and taught to vamp. Thereafter I learnt to us chord symbols at the organ.
I then went on to learn the bass clef. The Yamaha music school taught via chord symbols and yes its perfectly possible to play hymns providing that the choir are singing in unison. How thankful i was for the chord symbol route when it came to harmany and theory. Paid massive dividend at the Open University Diploma course in Uk. And finally, its a quick fix for sight reading. Chords sortof come instictively within a given key. Makes the left hand lazy though.

Cheers
Alan

An interesting discussion, and I can relate to several of the comments.

Although I have played the piano and organ for many decades now, my first encounters with reading and writing music were with the guitar at age 11. So you can imagine that any music that contains any more than one stave, and any stave which contains more than two or three chordal or harmonic notes have for years provided me with a challenge! And, as for the bass clef, well that's even worse. That's why is takes me a year to learn a few pages of organ music (and some would say I don't succeed even then), and is also why I truly admire those people who can sight read three staves! Just think of life as a saxophonist or violinist - oh for the simple life!

One thing my kind of background does do though, is gives you quite a skill at creating highly individual left hand and pedal line accompaniments - even instantaneously! I have been told by many a pianist "oh you remind me to go and do something - I must go and learn a few more chords!"

Ken.

It's been a curse for my musical life to not be able to read the base clef and everything else at the same time. I'v grown up learning by ear too. Double curse haha.

Oh, but being able to play by ear is good. It's just that being able to play from music, as well as by ear, is better than just playing by ear -- and it's also better than just being able to play from music.

I may be wrong, but I would imagine that anyone who can't play by ear would have difficulty improvising - because, surely, if you can play by ear the music that you hear other people play, you have a far better chance of being able to play music that you're hearing in your head(?).

Suppose some activity is going on in the church while you're accompanying the congregation singing a hymn. And suppose the hymn finishes a little early (eg 20 seconds), before that activity ends (eg a group of people walking somewhere). It's probably better if - rather than having silence while the activity finishes, you quieten the organ and play something based on the hymn tune. I expect that, as someone who can play by ear, you'd have a better chance of doing that than someone who usually needs music in front of them in order to play the hymns.

Dan, ... I thought if I could figure out the chords, I could play hymns but alas it did not work for me. ... playing chords in the left and melody in the right just doesn't sound quite right.

If you develop a 'method' that sounds good I will take lessons from you.

While this isn't something I'd recommend as an "end product", I think you'd find that, while your right hand plays the melody (soprano part), playing a bass part with your left hand (and no chords) would sound better than playing chords and no bass part.

On the piano (sorry, a step away from the organ), one very effective way of playing hymns is to play the bass in octaves (and little else) with your LH, whilst playing the melody in octaves with your RH, and filling in the chords (eg two extra notes) between the octave of the melody. You then have the option of playing the RH an octave up whilst still playing the bass octaves in your LH (perhaps with selected bass notes an octave down) - that can make the piano rather loud and very audible over (literally) hundreds of people singing in unison. (It requires a lot of use of the sustain pedal to make the big RH chords carry on while you move your hand to the next melody note.)

I suggest that - if you can get access to a piano, and to sheet music for the hymns, you practice by first playing just the bass (LH) and melody (RH), and once you're confident with that, find a way to fill in the chords with your RH - if your sheet music has chord symbols, you could use those to indicate what extra notes to play in the RH, otherwise you must either play what seems right to you by ear, or work out from the sheet music what the chords are and play selected notes from those chords in the RH beneath the melody. If you're able to split the chords between the LH and RH instead of just playing the bass in the LH, that's a good and useful skill, except that you then can't play the bass in octaves on the piano - but it could be useful when you mover over to the organ, because, there being no sustain pedal on the organ, you're reliant totally on where you place your fingers in order to join the notes without unwanted silences.

In fact, for people who can play the organ pedals, it's easier to play a hymn with the pedals (playing the bass) than without the pedals, because your LH is then a lot freer (eg with a typical SATB hymn, your LH can play just the tenor part - or, with a bit more practice, sometimes play the tenor and alto parts, enabling the soprano part to be played on another manual). But, I think you should forget about the pedals until you can get the hymns workin OK with just your hands.

So, perhaps you could use the piano as your practice instrument and then move over to the organ, either (a) playing just the bass part with your LH while the RH plays the melody and enough notes to indicate the harmony, or (b) taking some of the harmony notes in your LH.

At the same time, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to improve the reading skills so that you can play what's written in the sheet music.

However, I don't think you can expect to just walk up to the organ (even after preliminary practice on the piano) and play the hymns straight away. Playing the organ is a lot different from playing the piano - you have to get used to it, and that'll mean practicing.

I thoroughly concur but as one who does both , I often see chord symbols which dont describe the harmony as written.
Especially in "worship Hymns" (mission praise and the orange book). sometimes a vamp with a dotted pedal rythm peps them up nicely. Then of course, lots of organ transcriptions are only that. There are alternatives to every harmony (last verse). Most people wouldnt know unless of course you have an ARCO or LRAM in the audience. Keep pl;aying, and practisung of course.
Cheers
A

Most people wouldnt know unless of course you have an ARCO or LRAM in the audience. Keep pl;aying, and practisung of course.
Cheers
A

I wouldn't know an ARCO or an LRAM if they introduced themselves! And what is an SATB?

I think I will just learn bass clef and get an organists edition of the Hymnal. US Version.

Thanks for trying to help.

Pax,

Thomas

"Shoot low sherriff, they're ridin' Shetlands!" Bob Wills, King of Western Swing.