The popularity of this new hymn is very clear as the melody and text are accessible, yet elegant in nature. This accompaniment grabs the activity from the occasional 16th-notes in the piano, and the long, shaped, lines in the instrumental overlay. The lay-out is easily grasped, as a 3-stanza, 3-chorus landscape, and ends with a quick repeat of the chorus. The repeat is written out with a few melodic and harmonic shifts to give variety and particular beauty. The trick here is for the pianist not to begin the tempo too fast, which could be a detriment to the entrance of the instruments and the voices, and thus the hymn’s deep, rich text. Includes a piano score and all individual instrumental parts: treble clef C instrument, treble clef B-flat instrument, horn, bass clef instrument, and guitar.
Real Responses from Congregations
Molly plays for the church my mother-in-law attends. The congregation becomes like a big choir with her arrangements. I’ve enjoyed the music when we’ve visited!
The beautiful accompaniment and the unison congregation could be used both congregationally and chorally (as we did)… For small to medium-sized choirs on low attendance Sundays these could be effective choral pieces or as a way to develop choir and orchestra when (as is our case) some choir members are also instrumentalists. We used three pieces as part of our Easter celebration. All were very well received. We were able to include our developing orchestra with all of it. So, thank you!
We love using these arrangements at Valley Community Baptist Church in our worship setting, regardless if we are using just piano and organ on a particular Sunday, or our full orchestra with choir and congregation. As the organist, the conductors score offers a great organ score option as an asset for churches using organ with these settings without revamping the piano score, making it quite easy… Thank you, Molly!
Molly’s congregational accompaniments add a freshness to treasured hymns of the past that enables a cross-generational congregation to join together in passionate worship of a great God.
