Category: Church and Hymn Music

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All Sheet Music Christmas and Holiday Music Church and Hymn Music

Silent Night

Music by Franz Xaver Gruber, Lyrics by Joseph Mohr; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Silent Night Cover

Our family relocated to the South just before Christmas and I was sitting at the piano feeling homesick and missing snow! I love our new place, but it seems really strange to be seeing Christmas decorations going up in December and green everywhere!! I thought I would get in the mood for holiday celebrations by sitting down and playing old Christmas favourites.

Silent Night is one of those beautiful carols where the peace and spirit of the season just settle in your heart. As I sat and played, the arrangement formed itself in my mind and in my fingers. I worked backwards on this arrangement–normally I sit down with an outline of the music in mind and work from there.

This time, I let my fingers wander (luckily I was recording!) and then transcribed my own arrangement.

About the arrangement

This arrangement explores some different harmonies in the intro and the outro. The verse and chorus are repeated four times in this arrangement. The first verse sticks pretty close to the original, with some suspensions and interesting rhythms thrown in to keep it interesting.

The second verse introduces several countermelodies and different right hand harmonies. The third verse is a sweet melody in the treble register of the piano. The final verse is an improvisation based on the harmonic structure of the verse and chorus.

I hope you enjoy this arrangement and that playing and learning it brings you peace and joy during the holiday season.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. Silent Night is in the public domain, but this arrangement is under copyright by Elena Fortin Music.

Sheet Music Plus – Silent Night

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Silent Night Sheet Music Sample

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Categories
All Sheet Music Church and Hymn Music Inspirational and Uplifting

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Composed by John Wyeth; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Come Thou Fount Cover

Come Thou Fount is a beautiful Christian hymn, written by pastor Robert Robinson in 1758. The tune that I based this arrangement on comes from a John Wyeth melody called “Nettleton”.

Come Thou Fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,

Mount of God’s unchanging love.

In an interesting back story, (you can read the full story at enjoyingthejourney.org). I learned that Robert Robinson wrote the hymn, and years later when he wandered away from God, a young women (ironically not knowing who he was) quoted from the hymn and shared with him how much of an encouragement it had been to her.

About the arrangement

This arrangement is for the intermediate player and is written in the key of D major. The arrangement is simple, but should be played expressively. The first repetition of the hymn is written with a flowing left hand accompaniment with the right hand in chordal style. In the second repetition, the melody becomes more of a melodic line and flows along with the left hand accompaniment. The third repetition introduces an inner voice countermelody in the right hand. The final verse is more majestic in style.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This piece is in the public domain–this particular arrangement is under copyright by Elena Fortin Music.

Sheet Music Plus – Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

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Come Thou Fount Sample Sheet Music

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Categories
All Sheet Music Church and Hymn Music Inspirational and Uplifting

Amazing Grace

Traditional; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Amazing Grace Cover

Amazing Grace is a beautiful, traditional hymn with well-known lyrics penned by John Newton. The original hymn was published in 1779, with the words written in 1772!

This piece is one of those songs that can be used for many different reasons. I’ve heard it used in worship services, as a hymn of praise and faith, as celebration of life lived, and as a prayer of thanksgiving.

About the arrangement

This arrangement is for the intermediate player. The arrangement is simple, but should be played expressively. Make the melody sing! Each repetition of the hymn is slightly different: the second repetition uses the harmonic framework/structure but introduces a new invented melody by me. (You can hum the melodic line of Amazing Grace over the top of this second repetition and you’ll see what I mean).

The very last repetition of the verse should be played “allargando” which means slightly slower, and more broadly. Enjoy those left hand octave notes and full chords!

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This piece is in the public domain–this particular arrangement is under copyright by Elena Fortin Music.

Sheet Music Plus – Amazing Grace

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Amazing Grace Cover

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Categories
All Sheet Music Church and Hymn Music Rock and Pop Music

Hallelujah

Words and music by Leonard Cohen; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Hallelujah Cover

Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, and novelist. This beautiful song has been covered by many famous artists over the years–proving that it is a classic song that can be used in so many different ways. It has been used in TV shows, films, as a Christmas piece, for funerals, weddings, worship, and in the midst of tragedies.

This piece almost didn’t get arranged–I played with it for a month or two and set it aside in favour of other arrangements, but brought it out again and finally finished it. I hesitated to upload it–there were already a LOT of arrangements of this piece. But I am so glad that I did eventually share it–it won two awards at SMP Press: as a top seller in the Popular Music Category for 2020, and as runner-up in the Popular Solo Music Category also in 2020. It remains one of my best sellers on Sheet Music Plus.

About the arrangement

The arrangement is written in 6/8 time, with arpeggios in the bass for the most part, and a verse and chorus repeated three times, each time a little bit differently and with a little bit of melodic variation.

The arrangement is intended for intermediate to early advanced players–it has four-note chords, some octave work, and an area where there are challenging bass leaps in the left hand.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – Hallelujah

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Hallelujah sample sheet music

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Categories
All Sheet Music Christmas and Holiday Music Church and Hymn Music

The First Noël

Traditional; Arranged by Elena Fortin

The First Noël Cover

Musicians are always preparing music ahead of the season, so after our first snow, it is already time to get out the Christmas music! (Yes, in Canada, it sometimes snows for Hallowe’en–ugh!) I found an e-mail in my inbox, telling me about an arranging contest at Sheet Music Plus. Unfortunately, the contest deadline was in 12 hours. Fortunately, I made it. It’s always interesting to see what creativity can happen when you are under a tight deadline!

The traditional carol, The First Noël, is from the 13th or 14th Century and came out of Cornwall! A testament to its longevity, message, and melody, the carol was published in a collection of ancient Christmas carols, getting transcribed in 1823. This breathed new life into the song and I am doing my part to keep it alive!

About the arrangement

The arrangement is written for Intermediate pianists. The right hand plays in the upper treble register of the piano and begins with the main melody in the left hand. Most often, melodies are put in the right hand with harmony in the left, but flipping this around puts the melody in the “tenor” register of the piano and gives a depth to the melody.

Each repetition of the verse is altered slightly. The second verse returns the melody to the right hand, but written in chordal style. The last verse is slightly slower, and should be played with bell-like tone on the accents.

It is a very sweet, simple arrangement and will hopefully spread hope and joy as it did many years ago when the people of Cornwall would sing it in the streets to express their excitement and wonder at Christmas.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – The First Noël

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The First Noel Sheet Music Sample

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