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 Hymn Ideas: Arranging Ideas> ideas > home
by Don Chapman
Arranging music isn't brain surgery once
you get the hang of it.
No matter how creative
you are, how talented,
all it boils down to is
a bunch of formulas.
Basically, my HymnChart
arrangements [or
anyone's arrangements]
are just a bunch of
favorite formulas strung
together.
For instance, for my piano
scores, I have
several rhythmic patterns
I call my "bag
of tricks." Different
comping patterns
I've learned over the years.
I apply different
ones to different hymns
depending on the
feel I want.
I walked into college only
being able to
play classical music from
a page of sheet
music. I learned [pretty
late] how to play
by ear and how to play
with a drummer. One
feature about HymnCharts
is that it's a knowledge
database of what I've learned
over the years
about keyboard playing
- my piano parts are
a great first step for
showing classically-trained
pianists what they should
be playing with
a praise band.
If you're interested in arranging, give it
a try. Take your favorite hymn and experiment.
Are there different chords you can substitute
to give it a more modern sound? Maybe a new
rhythmic pattern?
My #1 trick for arranging
hymns is to streamline
the chord structure. I
mentioned this last
week - I've noticed as
time goes by, I'm
streamlining more and more
- instead of one
chord per measure, I'm
starting to do one
chord per two measures.
The longer the stretch,
the easier it is for guitarists
to groove
and come up with licks.
And keep those keys in
guitar-friendly D,
E, G and A!
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