In this article, I want to provide some tips and tools for those looking to learn how to arrange, reharmonize, or expand on the hymns. For classical pianists especially, it can be quite difficult to learn how to break free from the sheet music and start to add things "by ear". At first, learning to do this when playing hymns or chord charts was very daunting to me, but the things I lay out below really helped me in my journey to learn how to arrange. I hope they can be a help to you also!

 

Before we start... the links in this article are not affiliate links. I do not make anything off of sharing the products that I use or suggest. I just want to share these things with you in order to help you in your playing! Let's jump in!

 

I did not learn how to arrange in a "conventional" way such as through a specific course or book series on arranging, but learned a little more by experience. My first step was to start learning how to expand on what was written in the hymnal by taking the traditional four-part harmony and making the bass notes an octave with my left hand and playing the soprano, alto, and tenor all with my right hand. To play these three higher harmonies all with one hand will require some moving around of the notes, often with the tenor being played an octave higher (which sometimes causes it to be played between the soprano and alto). To do this, it is important to understand chord intervals so that you can arrange these three notes in the easiest way for playing.

 

This practice helped me learn how to recognize the chords in the hymnal quickly from the written notes without needing a lead sheet or chord chart, which is crucial if you want to play from the hymnal and quickly add extra notes, arpeggios, etc. to make the song sound more full. Playing from lead sheets or chord charts may also be helpful in their own way. If you are not super familiar with playing chord inversions and expanding on rhythm, these charts will force you to play the chords and experiment with chord inversions.

 

One thing that was very helpful for me in learning to understand chord structure, add color to chords, and create chord progressions was Trey Ivey's Piano Instructional DVD. Unfortunately, that DVD is no longer available, but there are other instructional series you could consider investing in. One of the series that I would suggest looking into would be the piano instructional courses from Greg Howlett. He has specific courses on reharmonization, chord substitutions, arranging, and more, making them perfectly tailored to whatever you are looking to learn. I have not used his courses before (though I have considered it), but from what I can see they seem like they would be very good and helpful.

 

Another way to learn more about chords and chord progressions is to work through a series about piano theory. It can be a little tedious, but getting into the theory was extremely helpful in providing the foundation I needed to expand on. The series I used was Fundamentals of Piano Theory by Keith Snell.

 

Learning the number system (sometimes known as the Nashville Number System, or NNS) for chords was especially helpful as well because it enabled me to think differently about how to use chords. It is a fairly simple system that numbers each note in any given key. It played a major part for me in understanding how chords relate to one another and to key signatures and helped me begin to create different chord progressions and think differently about music. I highly recommend learning that if you haven't already! The number system is like a language of its own, so it may take a while to become natural at thinking of chords in terms of numbers. However, it is a very helpful tool to have, especially if eventually you may be interested in going into a studio and recording with other instrumentalists.

 

Once I had a basic understanding of chords and theory, I started analyzing others' arrangements. I would listen to recordings of piano solos and pick out what I heard, trying to figure out what chord progressions, fills, or other techniques they used throughout the arrangement. I also would look at sheet music I had from various arrangers and analyze their structure and style. Above the staff you can even write out which chords were used so you can more easily see the unique chord progressions used by the arranger. Then you can start trying to add these techniques into your own hymns.

 

The thing that helped me probably the most was having someone else to work one-on-one with who already was an arranger. Besides getting help from my grandpa (who taught me piano), I worked with pianist and arranger Josh Singletary, who was a HUGE help. I would take him my basic idea for a song and he would help me come up with unique rhythms, reharmonization, chord progressions, etc. to add into my "shell" of a song and make it unique. Eventually, as I worked with him more and became more familiar with the process, I started to figure these things out myself, though I still occasionally work with him when I am stuck on an arrangement or am unsure of how to play the idea I am hearing in my head.

 

If you are interested in getting one-on-one help with your arranging, Josh Singletary still takes on students! He works with those who are just beginning to arrange and those who already have years of experience behind them. To contact Josh about lessons, you can visit his site at linktr.ee/joshsingletary. You can also learn more about Josh and listen to his music on his YouTube channel.

 

Ultimately for me, I had to learn mostly by experimenting with creating arrangements, playing from the hymnal, learning theory, and getting one-on-one help. I hope to write future articles going more in-depth on some of these suggestions. These suggestions may or may not all work for you, but I hope that you will find some of them helpful and that your journey in learning to arrange goes well!