Several years ago, I recorded a song on Portraits of Hope called “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.” I don’t know what I was thinking when I arranged it. Basically if I am being honest, it is a virtually unplayable, complicated mess. I could not even play it in the studio that day with […]
There is not much that I can add to the national discussion of Billy Graham this past week and I am not going to try. However, as I read an article about his funeral service, I saw a name of a person that has influenced me a lot. The pianist for the service was John […]
Read Part 1 here Remember this line from that last post? You can substitute a half diminished chord for a minor chord of the same spelling if it is functioning as a ii chord for a target that is also minor. That is one confusing bit of writing so let me do my best to […]
Someone recently mentioned to me that I have never really discussed the half diminished chord and how to use it –and I realized they are right. I want to remedy that over a short series of two posts. As a quick reminder, a half diminished chord is a stack of 4 notes that are separated […]
I am a bit backed up on things that I want to discuss here. I am going to discuss last month’s “All Hail the Power” arrangement and I want to discuss Finale. I also want to talk about “Soul Rest” and I suppose I will do that first since it is fresh on my mind. […]
Here are links to this entire series: Part 1: My story of abuse (Introduction) Part 2: Seven things you need to know about abusers Part 3: Dealing with victims of abuse Part 4: It started with a crossword puzzle Part 5: Getting help for an abuse victim Part 6: Taking the next step Part 7: My […]
Read Part 1 and Part 2 if you need to. Last time, I introduced the hook that I am using to tie this arrangement together. You might ask how I describe this hook and I am not sure that I know how to answer that question. I would probably say that it is a gentle […]
I really think that if I ever quit doing what I do, I would want to do something in the field of history. I love history. I am also a fan of Dan Carlin, the online history podcast guy (Hardcore History). I just finished listening to his 25-hour podcast series on WWI and I found […]
Last week, I discussed a simple idea behind arranging and today, we are going to start taking a look at it in action. Our example is last month’s arrangement, “Just As I Am,” for the arrangement club. To start, let’s talk about the song itself. When I was young, this song was what we called an “invitation” […]
Here is a dirty secret about arranging: it usually happens fast. One of the biggest surprises I found as I got into the world of professional music is just how fast arranging happens. In the world of jazz, believe it or not, it often happens on the fly as if by magic. In the studio, […]
Thanks for all the kind comments on my MasterBuilder video. I transcribed what I played over the weekend and you can now purchase the sheet music with the performance track on my sheet music page. Assuming you learn the sheet music, your performance should sound pretty much the same as the one on the video. […]
Merry Christmas! Big savings on albums, sheet music and instructional courses.