Why I Love being the Pianist for a Small Congregation

Last night, our church took our mid-week service to combine with another church 45 minutes away. This church is like a sister church to us, and just in the last couple months had a new pastor and his family move to the area. Being still in the throes of adjustment and change, we decided to be an encouragement to them and combine services, offering some added fellowship for an evening.

I can't begin to tell you what a blessing this was to all involved! Our church people went away feeling refreshed, and I believe that church family did as well. There is something so reassuring in talking to fellow Christians and knowing that there are others out there that stand for the same things as you. As good Baptists, we had a time of physical refreshment as well, ending the evening with sweets and coffee. :)

But what I got on here to tell you about was the fantastic time I had playing for the service. I am the pianist for our church, but the sister church does not currently have a pianist. It was a joy to sit down at their old upright (which was in surprisingly good tune, I might add) and bring out a few songs...something those walls have not heard in a while! It was a great feeling.

I have played for services of all sizes, from merely a dozen people to several hundred, and there is something to be said for them all. But here are a few reasons why I love playing for small crowds:

1. You don't have to be a fantastic piano player. 
I think those people last night thought that I was the best thing since sliced bread...which is simply not true! I enjoy playing, but I lack in so many areas. They were just so excited to have anyone play their piano! I could have been terrible and they might not have noticed. :) This doesn't give me any excuse for playing poorly, don't get me wrong...but it is nice to know that even my limited ability can be used in a mighty way.

2. Where numbers are lacking, you get to bridge the gap.
We took a couple dozen people from our church and joined about the same number at their church, so compared to some, this was an extremely small crowd.  We filled that church building, however, almost to capacity...and everyone sang heartily! The sound was awesome! I think they raised the roof a few times. ;) So even though the numbers were few, the simple strains of a piano really round out the music...and IMO, we sounded better than a 100-voice choir! Almost....

3. There isn't as much "pressure."
As I said before, these people wouldn't have cared if I played standing on my head, so long as there was music coming out of that piano. I didn't, of course. :) But it does take some of the pressure off. In a large church with an impressive orchestra or several other pianos following your lead, the tendency is to feel the need to "perform" instead of play from your heart! With a small crowd that is appreciative of your efforts, that mindset is taken off, and I could just enjoy playing and hearing them lift their voices in praise to God!

Although some would view such a small crowd, simple building and traditional hymns as a waste of time, I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to be a blessing, honor my God, and have loads of fun!

I would love to hear your thoughts on playing for large or small congregations: which do you prefer? What is your normal playing atmosphere? How do you handle the "pressure?"

Hymn History: The Love of God

Frederick M. Lehman was a California businessman that lost everything through business reverses. He was forced to spend his working hours in manual labor, working in a Pasadena packing house packing oranges and lemons into wooden crates. Not an ideal environment for writing love songs, but this was the environment the Lord chose to use.

Mr. Lehman was a Christian who rejoiced in his salvation. He was so moved by a Sunday evening sermon on the love of God that he could hardly sleep. The next morning, the thrill of the previous evening had not left him. As he drove to the packing house, the makings of a song began to come together in his head, with God’s love as the theme.

Throughout the day, as he packed oranges and lemons, the words continued to flow. Perhaps he jotted down words on various pieces of broken crate as he went along. He could hardly wait to get home and commit these words to paper.

Upon arriving home, he hurried to his old upright piano and began arranging the words and composing a melody to fit them. He soon had finished two stanzas and the melody to go along with them, but now what was he to do? In those days, a song had to have at least three stanzas to be considered complete. (A far cry from the songs of our day that only need have three words!) He tried and tried to come up with a third stanza, but to no avail. The words just would not fall into place.

It was then that he remembered a poem someone had given him some time before. Hunting around, he found the poem printed on a card, which he had used as a bookmark. As Mr. Lehman read the words, his heart was thrilled by the adequate picture of God’s love they pictured. He then noticed this writing on the bottom of the card:

“These words were found written on a cell wall in a prison some 200 years ago. It is not known why the prisoner was incarcerated; neither is it known if the words were original or if he had heard them somewhere and had decided to put them in a place where he could be reminded of the greatness of God’s love - whatever the circumstances, he wrote them on the wall of his prison cell. In due time, he died and the men who had the job of repainting his cell were impressed by the words. Before their paint brushes had obliterated them, one of the men jotted them down and thus they were preserved.”

Lehman went to the piano and began to voice the words with the melody he had just written. They were a perfect fit. It was a miracle! The song was published - and remains today - with these words as the last stanza.

In later years, the origin of these words became known to Alfred B. Smith, which reveals an even greater miracle in the writing of this song. The original third stanza was written in Hebrew around the year 1000 by Meir Ben Issac Nehoria, a Jewish Rabbi. God, knowing that Lehman was going to write a song, also realized that Lehman would have trouble writing a third stanza and so He chose this Rabbi, who though not accepting Christ as the Messiah did possess the skills to graphically paint a picture of God’s love in words. He would preserve these words and then hundreds of years later He would have them translated by this prisoner into a language that did not as yet exist, namely English.

And to think, He did it in the exact meter to fit Lehman’s melody!

Adapted from  Al Smith’s Treasury of Hymn Histories

(My note: Because of this miraculous story and the vastness of God’s love that the words present, the third stanza is my favorite! Just listen to these words…)

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Tho stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angel’s song.

 

 

The Best Of: Food For Thought Edition

Welcome to a new weekly series of posts, "The Best Of:" where I am delighted to be able to share some of my favorite reads from around the web with you - all musically related, of course! Here's what I've enjoyed reading this week:


When Unwillingness in Practice is a Good Thing - What? Unwillingness is good? Read the post. :)

Piano Books as Gifts - Great thoughts!

Do You Have to Have a Degree to be a Good Piano Teacher? - Consequently, having a degree doesn't necessarily make you a good teacher, either. But I digress.

Teaching the Congregation a New Song - Especially for song leaders, but equally important for their pianists, too!

Joy-oh-joy! The traditional Wedding March is getting a makeover! Can't wait for that to come out!

And a free arrangement of It Is Well With My Soul - one of my favorite songs!

Happy Weekend Everyone! What have you enjoyed reading this week?

 

Hymn History: Just As I Am

The year was 1822. Charlotte Elliott was mad at herself, her family, and God. At thirty-three, when she should have been enjoying radiant health, she had become an invalid because of the strain of a musical and artistic education. “If God loved me,” she complained, “he would not have treated me this way.”

This rebellious spirit not only poisoned her heart but put a strain on the life of the entire family. It was to try and mellow the soul of his talented daughter that her father, Charles Elliot, invited Dr. Cesar Malan, noted Swiss minister and musician, to be a guest in their home in England. Dr. Malan, who was called “the greatest name in the history of French hymnology,” was seated at the dinner table with members of the Elliott family when Charlotte broke out in one of her typical emotional outbursts. She condemned God for His cruelty to her, and criticized her brother, sister and father for their lack of sympathy. Her father, embarrassed at her lack of respect for their distinguished guest, excused himself and left the room with his other children.

Dr. Malan watched Charlotte from across the table. After a few tense moments of silence, he said, “You are tired of yourself, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?” she asked angrily.

“You are holding to your hate and anger because you have nothing else in the world to cling to,” he replied. “consequently, you have become sour, bitter and resentful.”

“What is your cure?” she asked.

He said, “You need the faith you are trying to despise.”

Charlotte soon unburdened herself to the understanding heart, releasing the pent-up feelings she had been struggling to conceal for many years. Dr. Malan explained how God, as we know Him in Jesus, could help her find peace for her soul as well as her mind and body. Suddenly she saw herself as God knew her and was ashamed.

“Dr. Malan,” she said, “I want to apologize for my disrespectful behavior during dinner and I want to ask your forgiveness. Also I want your advice. If I wanted to become a Christian and to share the peace and joy you possess, what would I do? How would I go about it?”

“You would give yourself to God just as you are now,” he explained, “with your fightings and fears, hates and loves, jealousies and quick temper, pride and shame, and He would take them from you in proportion to faith, and put His great love in their place.”

“Just as you are now,” she repeated, and then added, “I would come to God just as I am. Is that right?”

“Exactly,” he replied, “Praying this prayer, ‘O God, I come to you just as I am, to be made over by you and to be used by you for your glory and your Kingdom.’”

Fourteen years later, on the anniversary of that conversation, Charlotte, soon to be lovingly called “The Sunbeam of Brighton,” received her annual letter from Dr. Malan. Reminiscing over the events of that meeting, and the wonderful change that had come over her life, she recalled his words, “Come just as you are,” and her reply, “Just as I am, I come.” Now forty-seven, Charlotte penned her spiritual autobiography in a seven-stanza poem which began:
Just as I am, without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidd’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.

Her brother later remarked, “In all my preaching I have not done so much good as my sister has been permitted to accomplish by her one hymn ‘Just as I Am.’”

She passed away in her eighty-second year, in 1871, “in the full hope and triumph of the Gospel she had sung so long.”

Adapted from Living Stories of Famous Hymns, Ernest K. Emurian

Guest Posters

I am making my list, and checking it twice....

The app list is taking shape, and it sure is nice. Ok, cue the corniness....

Seriously, I am finding that there are a lot of great music apps out there!

One of my favorite sayings came from one of my college professors, "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid!" Debatable, I know, but whenever I have a brilliant idea, I like to say that. It does happen once in a while. The brilliant idea thing.

Here is my newest brilliant idea: It came to me one day that there may be piano teachers out there who are using some great apps to teach piano, but don't have a blog to tell us about them. Sadness, right? That is where my brilliant idea comes in! If this description fits you, I would love to invite you to guest post right here on the 'ol blog. I think we could help each other out, seeming how I have a blog, but no iPad. Double, double sadness.

If you would be interested in being hosted as a guest blogger on Nickel Notes, please contact me by shooting an email to nickelnotes(at)gmail(dot)com. I would love to consider hosting YOU!

Photo Credit

Neat Resource I Can't Wait to Try!

I recently was looking over the assignment book, The Right Notes, available through Alberti Publishing. Jen recently reviewed it, if you want to take a look at her post. This looks like such a fun resource! It looks like not only a fun, colorful assignment book, but also a great outline for talking about some of the details that tend to get left on the shelf. It has composer biographies, definitions and explanations of other musical terms, descriptions of eras, etc. Some of these things are certainly on my list of not-very-strong points! Just because they aren't my strong points doesn't mean that they won't me my student's, however. This assignment book will allow you to help you student learn about many different details from many angles.

The possibilities are endless with this book. If you use a practice incentive, you could use the topics on each week's page to earn your student some more points. You could give a younger student one oral question to answer from what he learned, or you could give an older student an extra-credit assignment to find out more about that certain subject. How fun! And who doesn't want a chance for some more points toward their ultimate goal?

The other great thing I see about this book is that even if you order the hard copy, it is surprising inexpensive for such a color-packed book. Making it super affordable for every parent! And what parent doesn't like that??

Enough rambling. Short story is, I am super excited to give this book a try. Try it and let me know what you think.

An App Giveaway

It seems like most piano teachers I read about these days are getting iPads for their studios. They sound like so much fun! I can't wait for the day that I can add one to my "teaching materials." (Solely for teaching, I assure you....ok, maybe not!) Actually my brother is entered to win one, and he is VERY sure he is going to win...and when he does he is going to give it to me, because he has no need for it, right? RIGHT?

Anyway, I enjoy reading about all the great apps that are out there in relation to teaching, and I can't wait for the day that I get to try them out. I have wondered, though...how on earth will I remember all these great apps? I can just see myself doing searches for "apps" on all of your blogs to see the ones you use. I will probably post a question on my blog, "What great apps are out there for teaching? What apps do you use in your studio?" I will search high and low for the best apps, comparing all those metronomes, and finally settling on what I think I will use the most.

OR,

I could compile all of your "app" posts into one convenient list so that not only me, but other piano teachers who add an iPad to their studios will have a place to go read the reviews about teaching apps.

Bingo!

Much like I did with the recital posts, I can keep updating this list with apps that you all think are great. I am going to begin putting this list together, so if you have blogged about an app that you would recommend, please leave a comment and let me know!

And in the meantime, Natalie from Music Matters Blog is hosting an app giveaway as we speak! Not just one, but TWO great apps, with three copies of each being given away. So you have six chances to win! So head on over to her review to leave your comment to enter and (hopefully) win!