Reminder about Spanish Ward Choir Music

Just a reminder to all my Spanish Speaking Brothers and Sisters: arreglosgratisdehimnos.com has been combined with freewardchoirmusic.com. You no longer need to go to a separate site to find Spanish music for your Ward Choir.

Be sure to make a note of the change. The domain name, http://www.arreglosgratisdehimnos.com will no longer be in use as of January 31st, 2014.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

This Is the Christ SAB

I Have just finished with a simple SAB arrangement of This Is the Christ. The parts and accompaniment are very basic in a an effort to focus on the message of the song.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

With Wondering Awe reworked

My Choir had a little trouble with the rhythm in With Wondering Awe as it was written, so I have reworked it using a few ideas from the talented David Snedegar. Thanks David!

I realize it is too late to help anyone with their Christmas music programs this year, but if there is another Christmas next year, it might be useful. Smirk.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

New Ward Choir Director!

Our Ward had to be divided last week and I am now the new Ward Choir Director. I have two weeks to put together a Christmas program for Sacrament Meeting. We don't even have an accompanist yet. The woman who has agreed to play for us just for Christmas can only play hymns and simple accompaniments. Hmmm. Ok... My arrangement of With Wondering Awe is very simple. And we could sing Silent Night from the hymn book with the choir oohing while the sopranos sing the words for the first verse. The second verse in parts. The congregation joining in on the 3rd verse with the Sopranos singing a descant would be nice.

If anyone else is in the same boat, let me know and I'll post the descant!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

A New SATB

All Creatures of Our God and King is now ready for Download. This one is an SATB. I felt it needed four parts to give it a little extra power.

I'm sorry the playback is a little weird in the beginning.  I have not been able to get rid of the hesitation between the first two notes. Sigh. I will keep working on it. In the mean time, you can get an idea what it sounds like.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

New SAB Arrangement

I have just finished an SAB Ward Choir Arrangement of Be Still My Soul. This beautiful hymn flows with comforting messages. An MP3 file will be posted soon.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

I Believe in Christ updated

Thanks to my good friend, Martin Pracher, the MP3 of I Believe in Christ is now posted! Take a listen!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

I Believe in Christ

I Believe in Christ SAB is now ready for download. This arrangement should not be too difficult for the smallest Ward Choir. The accompaniment should be within the reach of most pianists as well.

There is no MP3 file for this arrangement yet, but I didn't want to wait till one is available to post this faith-stirring hymn. The MP3 will be posted soon.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

A Talented Family Shares

We sang "Families" as a family (my husband, I and our 4 children) for Saturday night session of Stake Conference. It was a beautiful arrangement! Thank you for sharing with us. We received so many lovely/positive comments about the arrangement. 

For those of you who are new to freewardchoirmusic.com, "Famlies" is a combination of "Families Can be Together Forever" and "Love at Home."

Thank you to all of you for sharing your wonderful experiences!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

I Believe in Christ

An SAB arrangement of I Believe in Christ coming soon! This hymn says it all. It is such a beautiful expression of faith put to music. The challenge is always how to make it sound full with only a few singers and an inexperienced accompanist. That is what many Ward Choir directors face each week!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Free Ward Choir Music

There may be some confusion on where to go to download free Ward Choir arrangements. Just go to www.freewardchoirmusic.com and click on "Downloads." It is free. Make as many copies as you need for your Choir.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

¡Regocijad! Jesús nació

The Spanish version of Joy to the World is now posted and ready for downloading! Feel free to download and copy and many as you need as long as you are using the music for non-commercial purposes.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Joy to the World

Joy to the World is now posted on www.freewardchoirmusic.com in time for Christmas Ward Choir Programs. I don't think it will be too difficult, but if your accompanist has trouble with the octaves, just have them play the top note only.

I will have it posted in Spanish in a few days in the arreglos de espanol section.

Good luck to everyone on their Ward Christmas Programs this year!

Joy to the World Coming Soon!

I am working on an arrangement of Joy to the World for our Christmas Program this year. I'm trying to make the accompaniment vibrant and the parts fun to sing without making it too difficult for inexperienced ward choirs and accompanists.

Spanish Hymn Arrangements

It is good to know that some people are finding the Spainish version of several hymn arrangements useful. Here are few words from a Ward Choir Director in Georgia:

I just found your site and am thrilled! I'm the ward choir director (not a very good one, it's just my first time conducting anything at all and I have zero experience, but we have had some really beautiful songs so far) and I'm also in charge of the musical numbers ( I accompany almost all the time). Your site has opened up a new world to me and I'm thankful that you are sharing your talents for free. What a blessing! I've picked out your Spanish version of "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" to be sung soon by a few Spanish saints in our ward. I love your arrangement. I hope you get lots and lots of blessings for this, I'm sure you must! :)

Comment from a Ward Choir Director

My son served as the choir director in our ward for about 8 months before he left on his mission. He found your website and as a choir we sang your arrangement of "Lead Kindly Light" We moved a few months ago and I was delighted when they called me as the choir director in our new ward and next Sunday I will be introducing the Lead, Kindly Light arrangement to my choir. :) Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful talent with us!!!!

Finished!

Finally I have switched over all the Spanish Music frm arregloshimnosgratis to freewardchoirmusic.com. I even had to renotate a couple that I could not find the file for. Whew.

To all my Spanish Speaking Friends!

My website, http://www.arreglosgratisdehimnos.com/ will be discontinued in six months. Rather than continue to maintain two websites, I have decided to combine them into one. That means that directly following the English versions of my Ward Choir Arrangements, you will find a section that says, "Arreglos de espanol."

It will take me some time to transfer all the music over, so in the mean time, the Spanish site will still be up and running para mis amigos simpatios!

I hope this makes accessing the arrangements faster and easier for everyone.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Some Kind Words

Comment or Question: Thank you Linda for the use of "Love One Another" I needed something simple but beautiful for the young women to sing and this was perfect accompaniment. Thank you for making this piece available, you have a great talent. Sincerely, Julie 

Sabbath Day

This beautiful hymn is often overlooked in our worship services. It is actually a prayer sung in rich melodies and harmonies. I have tried to keep the simple prayer style in this arrangement. It should be sung in a sincere, pleading style either accapella or with accompaniment.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Sharing

I love hearing about all of your musical experiences! Here is another one:

Linda, Thank you for your gift of creating wonderful music. I Am A Child Of God has a very powerful message. I was able to sing the solo arrangement with piano and flute accompaniment for our church. Thank you for sharing your gift and allowing me to share my gift with our congregation. Julia

New SAB Arrangement Completed

I decided to tweak my arrangement of Love One Another SATB. In the end I changed it into a completely different SAB arrangement. The last six measures are meant to be played much slower and softer than my playback feature can make them. So be sure to consider that during rehearsals. There are some juicy harmonies I think everyone will enjoy!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Thank you!

Some kind words from a Primary Chorister:

   Thank you so much for the piano solo of i am a child of God. I am having our primary children sing it and when they hear the accompaniment, I wish you could see their faces and hear them sing. It really helps that is is beautiful and not monotonous as singing 4 verses to the same music. Thank you.

New Hosting Company

We are changing to a new hosting company, so there may be a few clitches with the files for the next few days. Thank you for your patience!

From a Ward in California:

My kids are singing the song "My Daddy's Shoes" this Sunday for their dad's in Sacrament and I really wanted to thank you for making the music available for us. It's an adorable song and the kids are having a great time learning it. They can't wait to sing it for their dad's. Thank you very much for giving them the opportunity to give this wonderful gift to all the great dad's in our ward.

Some kind words from a New Ward Choir Director

I came upon this website and I am thrilled! I am the new choir director in our ward and this music is just the thing to get us started. Your arrangements are beautiful. I am also excited to use the piano solo music for myself and my daughter. The children's music is great too. I am also in the Primary Presidency. So lots of uses for this great website. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!! Jenny

YouTube Too Time Consuming

OK. The YouTube experiment took waaaay too much time! I spent half the day practicing, recording and posting the video clip. I have decided it isn't worth it for me. I would rather spend my time composing. Everyone is just going to have to make do with the MP3 files. Sorry people!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

A YouTube Link

The first arrangement posted with a YouTube link in the SAB arrangement of Abide With Me 'Tis Eventide. Remember, we are all amateurs just trying to give everyone an idea of the what the arrangement should should like.  Aren't my friends good sports to do this for me?

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Some Kind Words

Thanks for your arrangement of "Come Follow Me". We are singing it today in our Ward Conference. I really appreciate that it is written to be easily learned by an inexperienced Ward Choir.

Some Notation Changes

I have just finished re-notating some of the arrangements in order to make them easier to read. Rather than squeeze five or six measures onto one line, I spread the music out. So, now you will have one or two more pages of music, but you won't have to squint to read the words!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

An Error Found and Corrected.

I am embarrassed to admit that I have found a mistake in the on line copy of Abide With Me 'Tis Eventide. The last page, measure 72 should be an "F" for the bass. Not an "E." We are singing this in our ward so I caught the error. Sorry if this causes you problems. The on line copy has been corrected if you care to recopy it.

We are Working on the YouTube Posts.

The YouTube videos are coming! We plan to start recording this week. We will do one or two a week, so it may take some time to get them all up. Remember, these are actual Ward Choir members, not professionals. The idea is to give you a better idea how the arrangements should sound.

In the mean time, I have begun an arrangement of "Sabbath Day." It is a beautiful hymn with a great message.

Ward Choirs are not The Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

As we listened to the beautiful sounds of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir this past weekend, as Ward Choir directors, we may have thought, "I need to get that music for my choir!"

There are several reasons why I think this approach will bring disappointing results.

1. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is an audition choir. This means that the singers are experienced professionals or near professionals so they are able to site-read difficult music. In addition, their voice range is generally much greater than that of the average Ward Choir member, so they can sing those high notes without difficulty.

- Ward Choirs are made up of amateurs, many of whom do not even read music, so giving them such difficult music will only discourage them, and some singers will end up screeching in order to try to sing those high notes.

2. The Tabernacle Choir has 360 members! That means they can sing music that divides into Soprano, Second Soprano, Alto, Contralto, First, Second and Third tenors, Baratones and Basses.

- Ward Choirs generally sing with only ten to fifteen members. There are just not enough singers to divide into that many parts!

3. Having 360 members also gives the Tabernacle Choir the power to raise the rafters in the forte sections.

- Ward Choirs will only strain their voices and destroy the sound if they think they have to sing as loud or try to equal the power of the Tabernacle Choir. Singing with worshipful intent will invite the Spirit.

4. The Tabernacle Choir is accompanied by the organ or the Symphony on Temple Square almost exclusively. Even though many non-musicians think a piano is the same - it is NOT!

- Ward Choirs are usually accompanied by piano. A piano can not match the power of an organ or symphony, but supports the choir with a delicate, contemplative mood.

5. The Tabernacle Choir has access to hundreds of different pieces of music. They have an extensive budget, which is derived from the sale of their CDs around the world, to add to it on a consistent basis.

- Ward Choirs usually have a small library of arrangements, and many Ward Choirs do not have any ward budget money at all.

Ward Choirs do not have to imitate the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In fact, they shouldn't try to. Both choirs have their place in worshiping the Lord through music.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

It is Done!

A shout out to the amazing, talented Konrad Baron for writing code for www.freewardchoirmusic.com enabling me to embed YouTube videos of the Ward Choir arrangements on my site!!

Now to talk my friends into singing in front of the entire world.

Come, Come Ye Saints SATB posted

The SATB arrangement of Come, Come Ye Saints is now posted and ready to be downloaded and copied! Remember that the holds and ritard at the end are not included in the playback, so add them back in when practicing with your Ward Choir.

We hope to solve this problem when we add a link to YouTube with a performance by real people. 

Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord!

Soon to be Posted

Come, Come Ye Saints SATB is finished! Now to play through it a hundred or so times to check for misspelled or missing words, voicing problems, etc.

Soon to appear on YouTube

  My neighbor suggested that I record some of our very own Ward Choir members singing the arrangements from freewardchoirmusic.com and then post them on YouTube. I have seen some acceptable singing on YouTube so I am willing to give it a try.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Come, Come Ye Saints

I am nearly finished with an SATB arrangement of Come, Come Ye Saints. Then I'll tweak it an make it into an SAB for those of you with really tiny choirs!

New Family Medley

   I just posted an SATB arrangement featuring Families Can Be Together Forever and Love at Home. I usually like to let an arrangement sit for a few days and play it several times through to catch missing rests or misspelled words or possibly tweak the ending etc, but this time I'm putting it right up there for those of you who are looking for something to sing for Mother's or Father's Day. Please let me know if you find errors. Thanks!

New Playback

     For some odd reason the fermatas in I Know That My Redeemer Lives were causing a huge slow down in the playback, so I recorded it without the holds. Just remember that the recording is just there to give you a general idea how the music should sound. Add those ritards and holds back in when practicing and performing!

    

Free Easy Piano Pieces

Just a reminder:

There are some simple piano pieces at the bottom of my Downloads page for all you piano teachers out there who want interesting but easy music for your beginning students.

I wrote these originally for my students to play over the years at my recitals so they have been tested in public!

Like the rest of my music on the site, the pieces are in alphabetical order and are FREE TO DOWNLOAD. I didn't label them as to ease or difficulty, since different methods use different standards for their piano grades, but you can click on the cute covers my son, Steve, designed for me to see if you think they will work for your student. Though I have retired as a piano teacher, I thought someone else might get some use out of these pieces.

Thank you for some kind words!

Comment or Question: Linda, I have to tell you this. Our family was asked to do quite a few things at a friends funeral. She was older and none of her family is religious. So, we did most of the funeral. We needed something fast and pretty basic, but different. I found your song online. Thank goodness. My two daughters sang your I am a Child of God arrangement and my son played it for them. I cannot describe how beautiful it was. The spirit was so strong. It was the most comforting part of that funeral. We had so many compliments on that song. One man came up with tears in his eyes and said, "that is the most beautiful arrangement I have ever heard of that song. Thank you." So, I too, thank YOU for sharing your music. It was a blessing in a time of need. We were all blessed and touched because of it. -Jodi Yates

A "note" about sound bites.

Just to clarify-

There are various sound bites of all the arrangements you can download and play so you can get an idea of how the arrangements should sound. Some are MP3 files created by Martin Pracher using different instrument sounds and are WONDERFUL! Although it takes hours for him to render each arrangement and is too labor intensive for him to continue this way.

Some are MP3 files created by my Personal Composer recording system. (Not as great, but serviceable.) For some reason the system occasionally speeds up in stead of slowing down when it reads a retard in the music, or it slows WAY down for the entire piece. So I usually eliminate the retardando marking when doing the recording. You just have to remember to add it back when practicing the music.

A few were recorded by me in an actual recording studio. (Clearly the best, but expensive and time consuming.) While I wish I could record every arrangement in a studio with actual people singing the parts, this is just not possible when I am offering the music free.

So now you know more about the music files than you wanted to know! Just remember that they are not meant to be used as performance sound tracks.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

New Duet Posted

I have written an arrangement of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" for my good friend, Martin Pracher and his wife. It is a duet for middle range voices. It could also be effective if sung by choir with the men singing in unison and the women singing unison.

Same Lyrics, Different Melody

Apparently there is some confusion about the MP3 file for the SATB hymn arrangement of "O My Father." The melody is that of "In Humility, Our Savior." This is not a mistake. I felt that the melody of "In Humility" fit nicely with the tone and message of  the "O My Father" lyrics. Try it and see what you think!

COPY COPY COPY!

A few people have recently found my Ward Choir website and have contacted me to ask if they need my permission to make copies of my Ward Choir Arrangements or my Piano Pieces. The answer is....NO! you DO NOT need my special permission!  That is the whole idea of freewardchoirmusic.com.  Just COPY COPY COPY!

Another SAB posted

The SAB of "Know This That Every Soul is Free" is now posted.  Also, the lyrics of "Each Life That Touches ours for Good" fit well with the music for "Know This That Every Soul is Free," in case anyone wants to use it that way.

Know This That Every Soul is Free

OK, The SATB of Know This That Every Soul is Free is tweaked and reposted in letter size. I changed the ending a little bit as well. Hope you like it!

What the...?

   I just found out that the new SAB of Abide With Me Tis Eventide has been printing in legal size instead of letter. (Thanks Scott Cox for letting me know!) Also, the SATB of "Know This That Every Soul is Free" is printing in legal size.  Sigh. Sorry to all you Ward Choir members and directors who have been struggling with the size issue. I will work on this fix tomorrow.

SAB Arrangements

In addition to tweaking some of the SATB arrangements and making SAB versions of them, I will go through and mark the listings "SATB" or "SAB" in the title so you will be able to tell which is which before you open them.

Abide With Me Tis Eventide SAB

No. You are not seeing double. There are, indeed, two Ward Choir arrangements of "Abide With Me, Tis Eventide" on freewardchoirmusic.com. One is the SATB version. The other is an SAB arrangement requested by a trio singing in a music festival. I decided to post it in case anyone would like to use it.

Happy Singing!

From the Philippines

Comment or Question: I just want to thank you for this wonderful site. I had just been called as ward music director and I really don't know if I can do it. I have always loved singing in choirs but directing it is something that is really new to me. We are now practicing your arrangement of "Where Can I Turn For Peace" and we will sing it on the third Sunday of this month. I love your arrangements. Thank you so much from us here in the Philippines.

Thirty Years and Counting

For thirty years I took pictures of my husband, children, dogs, cats, etc, and for thirty years I didn't have time to put the pictures into albums. "No!" I hear you screaming. "You'll be sorry when you have to do it all at once." Yes. Sadly, I put it off until now. Now I have thirty years of pictures to preserve in some way. And, yes. I most definitely am sorry I didn't do it sooner.

I just kept thinking that someday - someday far in the future I would have hours and hours of uninterrupted time on my hands. But, no. That has never happened and I am beginning to see that it never will.

Home Made Bread is Best!

     For health reasons I make all of our bread. Yep. It actually grind the wheat in an old Magic Mill stone grinder and mix the bread myself. But I don't kneed it by hand. For that I use the biggest, baddest mixer I can find. Up till about a week before Christmas this year, that was a Kitchen Aid. It bravely kneeded the massive amounts of bread dough for two years before giving up. It had stripped its gears. The poor thing was brand new only two years ago. I guess it wasn't made for that kind of abuse. Yes - bread once in a while, but cakes and cookies mostly. 

   After several days of research I found a machine that is made for bread specifically. Ahhh. That sounds like what I need, I thought. It is called the Assistant DLX Magic Mill or the Electrolux. We found a used one on ebay. I wasn't too excited about it. Used? I wanted new! I would rather pay more and get a better machine. But my husband explained that if it is in working order, an older model may be better. "Things used to be made with stainless steel, not plastic like today," he explained.

   Happily, the older one was also half the price too. (About $400 compared to over $700.) Well, fine, I thought, He's the one who is going to have to buy me a new one if he is wrong. So today it came. It certainly looked industrial. Plenty of stainless steel but not exactly a beauty queen. OK, I thought, I'll give it a try.

   I admit I was skeptical. But I have to admit it worked beautifully! Right now the smell of bread is wafting through our house while 4 beautiful loaves of bread bake in our oven. Mmmmm.

   

In the Works

Hi Free Ward Choir Music Fans!

I am working on a couple of new arrangements. One is a medley of "Families Can Be Together Forever", "Love at Home"  Hopefully it will be up in time to practice for Mothers or Father's Day.

The other is an arrangement of "Come, Come Ye Saints." I have not heard one that I like yet that is easy enough for a small choir of non-professionals. The ones I have heard are either too hard for us amateurs, or they are, sigh, boring!

Wish me luck!