Turn Your Testimony Into Song

Since I missed yesterday, we've got 2 of the 5 lessons coming in today... lessons 3 and 4 from writing 44 intermediate hymn arrangements. Lesson 3 I came across a challenge in the notation department. In trying to stuff in as much lushness and resonance in the harmonies without causing confusion or overwhelm for an intermediate pianist... ...the way I notated some of these harmonies caused some of my students to struggle quite a bit with the music. I think this is why... I'm used to studying...

What does "melodicizing your accompaniment" mean? Well, typically, when writers begin learning how to write accompaniments, they usually lean on blocked chords. This isn't a bad thing at all. You need harmony. And harmony's base form is blocked chords. However, if the whole thing stays blocked chords, it can become less interesting as your piece progresses. This is why I'm always on the lookout for ways to melodicize my accompaniments. This is not a new technique. But it's one I've grown a...

While writing 44 early intermediate piano arrangements this summer, I've had to work hard to overcome a natural tendency. That tendency is to write what my student Deb calls "man hands" chords. I admit, I have Rachmaninoff hands. And I love to use them to write big lush chords that give the piano a real resonant, rapturous quality. But that doesn't work for early intermediate pianists... many of whom have much, much smaller hands than I do. So, I had to go against my natural-man pianist...

Earlier this year, one of my students suggested I write some hymn arrangements for early intermediate piano. I'd been thinking about doing something like this. But her suggestion made me get serious about it. So, over the summer, I composed 44 hymn arrangements for early intermediate piano, and I'm now turning all of them into versions for beginners, as well as a duet version of each. I've had a ton of fun and have learned a LOT in the process... especially about writing for simplified piano....

Do you have a stack of songs, arrangements, or other pieces you've kept hiding in your desk drawer, or deep in a hidden folder on your computer? Have you ever looked through them and wondered... "Is this any good?" How can you really know? When I got to grad school, I was in this situation. I had a stack of pieces, but just didn't know if they were any good... ...or if they were worth going back to and revising/improving. There was no composition program at BYU-Idaho when I was there... I'm...

Due to various circumstances, this week I had one private composition lesson spot open up. If you'd like to take this spot, I'm keeping it open this week. But it's first come, first served. Here's how lessons work. You'll get 10 private lessons with me anytime between now and the end of December 2026. We'll plan to meet weekly, hopefully at a regular time (though stuff happens, and if needed, we can chat about schedule changes). There is a catch, however. Actually, 2 catches. Catch #1: These...

Wasn't it a wonderful conference? How many modulations did you count? Let me know, and we can compare notes (just hit reply and tell me). I particularly liked the alternate harmonization we heard yesterday during one of the congregational hymns (I forget which session, but Andrew Unsworth was playing). BTW, today is the last chance to grab any of the 3 General Conference deals I opened up over the last week. Here's what you'll miss. First, my 22 General Conference Modulation Formulas are on...

It's been quite a while since we did this. But it's a fun game to keep us paying attention to the music in General Conference. Let's count the number of modulations we hear during the sessions of conference. You get an added bonus point if you can spot the ever-present "Mack Wilberg Modulation." Here's how it works... This is an excerpt from his arrangement of "I Believe In Christ." I was going to share the Wilberg "warm fuzzy" from "Come, Come Ye Saints," since it's Pioneer Day, but I...

Few musical hooks suck me in as much as the opening of "Pure Imagination" from the old "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" film; the one with Gene Wilder (1971). That strange downward leap of a minor 9th (an octave plus a half-step) and back up to the lower octave. It immediately creates a sense of wonder and curiosity. Plus, there's a perfect amount of repetition in the tune... not too much... just enough. And it's rare that the contrasting section of the melody, the B section, is as...

This morning during family scripture, we reviewed some of my favorite scriptures of all time, which are in Isaiah 40 and 41. As we read verse 11 of Isaiah 40... "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd"... a powerful musical memory came back to me. It was one of those moments when your own music seems to heal you. I was having a particularly bad few weeks a few years ago. I had sort of a nervous breakdown (I think, I'm not exactly sure what that term means) and learned that I was bipolar....