I have a student who is a committed Christian, and she has decided that she is now only interested in religious music.
She brought me a CD to listen to, with some ghastly pop Christian music saying this is what she wants to play from now on. I was horrified at the prospect of having to listen to this drivel,
Ack. Tell your student to switch to voice.
I have a student who is a committed Christian, and she has decided that she is now only interested in religious music. She brought me a CD to listen to, with some ghastly pop Christian music saying this is what she wants to play from now on. I was horrified at the prospect of having to listen to this drivel, so I suggested to her instead that she should dedicate her musical studies to some of the greatest sacred music ever written – and gave her a number of CDs to listen to by Bach (St Matthew Passion, Mass in B-minor, cantatas, etc.) Mozart (Requiem), Beethoven (Mass in B minor) and Arvo Part, plus Gregorian chant and the like. She was suitably impressed and wants to have a go.So here is the problem: Does anyone have any suggestions for “sacred” pieces? Preferably originally written for piano solo, that are not too forbidding (around grade 5 – 8 )? Although there seems to be plenty of “sacred” pieces for voice or choir, the only ones I could come up with for piano solo were:1. The Bach Chorales (not exactly for piano solo, but feasible)2. Myra Hess’s transcription of “Jesus, Joy of men”3. Schumann’s “Ein Chorale” from the album for the young.4. Sgambatti transcription of Gluck - Dance of the blessed spirits5. Tchaikovsky “In Church” from the album for the young6. Alan Hovhaness – “The mystic Flute” (this one may be pushing it a bit…)7. Liszt – The shepherds at the manger; Sancta Dorothea and Ave Maris Stella are the three easiest ones – everything else is more difficult. Transcription of Schubert’s Ave Maria.8. Bach – Gounod – Ave Maria.9. Granados – “The Evening Bell” (from Bocetos).10. Messiaen – Vingt regards (but this is far too difficult for her level – and I doubt she will like it)Anything else?Best wishes,Bernhard
Wow, you've got a problem...
Tchaikovsky's “Morning Prayer” from the album for the youngterribly bad with sacred music...
Didn't Hess transcribe Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" and "Sleepers Awake" (among others)? Or are those too difficult? Basically everything of Bach's can be considered "Sacred" I think. I mean it doesn't have to have a Christian title too have been written for Christ.Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from "The Messaiah"would probably float her boat as well (if you can find a transcription.)
Someone who can't find God in music by herself will not get any deeper into essence of God by playing pieces that were "spiritually" titled. If she lacks understanding (spirituality), that's it, by being handed "sacred" pieces she'll just keep searching for God in all the wrong places. Also, "decided that she's only interested in religious music" sounds as retarded as suddenly deciding that the Bible is all the literature that I'll allow myself to read.I didn't have anything to contribute, just amused again at the indirectional proportionality of spirituality and religiousness.
LOL, Bernhard, I love your use of the word "drivel" - my sister is actually in one of these Christian pop groups, and it's only for her sake that I'll listen to their CDs, otherwise it's pretty horrid stuff.Perhaps your student can play hymns from church? That's how I learnt to read chords efficiently, and the traditional hymns are quite nice, unlike the modern Christian pop.
Leos Janacek has a small piece called "Lord Jesus Christ is born" (Translated from Czech), which is a short piece, and is very easy. I don't know if that's what you're looking for, but well.
Yes, I tried playing for her some hymns and the Bach Chorales. She was not impressed. She thought they were boring. In fact she claimed they could not possibly be Christian! She is Chinese, and converted to Christianity a few years ago – so all the exposure she has had to “Christian” music is this awful pop stuff which she thinks it is the greatest religious music ever. My mission as I see it is to improve her taste . It may well be an impossible mission – and I am the Tom Cruise of piano teaching ).
Uh, well, I guess you will just have to transcribe those Hillsong and Integrity songs for piano, I know how you feel, the contemporary musicians in my previous church swear that contemporary Christian music are the only good music being produced nowadays.
Another thought... why don't you steer into some chamber music and accompaning? She may progress more quickly by having to play for/with other musicians, she would learn much more about musicianship, presence, and cooperation than she would sitting around playing by herself, plus there's plenty of sacred music in that arena.
Dear Prof. Bernhard:Please be aware of the christian denomination of your student. Suggestions as Masses, Requiem, Ave Maria (Gounod, Bach or Schubert), no matter how beautiful musically, have their place mainly under catholic faith. On the other hand, for Evangelical, Protestant, and Baptist church, the praise music should be devoted strictly for the Lord. If she is Lutheran, as was J.S. Bach, I’m not sure, better ask her about it. She surely have a pastor who is going to guide her in this area.About her interest only for christian music, take into account that is due to a deep love for the Lord in her heart, and it seems to me admirable. She wants to devote her musical talents only to the Lord. All her motivation, her gifts, her sacrifice in piano playing are to honour Him. To grasp this is beyond the scope of anybody who doesn’t share her faith. So I think that your approach is wise: To guide her efforts towards the best music that the human being has created for praising the Lord. I don’t like christian pop music either.Bach’s Chorales are fine. Piano transcriptions of Erwarte Dich, Jesus Joy of Men and Sleepers Awake are also suitable. Bach is the main composer for this kind of music, I think.Best regards.
She wants to devote her musical talents only to the Lord. All her motivation, her gifts, her sacrifice in piano playing are to honour Him. To grasp this is beyond the scope of anybody who doesn’t share her faith.
Ah, a favorite topic of mine. There is a huge mine of material out there. The trick will be to convince your student that indeed this is religious or spiritual. I think you have taken the right tack by adopting a positive attitude and by steering her towards the great choral and orchestral classics by Bach and others. And indeed if she’s convinced that this is the way to go, then you’ve not got a problem but a fantastic opportunity because she’ll work on the pieces you suggest with much more persistence, having a clear goal ahead.I’d suggest you persist further by referring her to the great pianistic classics which were developed with explicit religious motivations:1. Franck, Prelude, chorale and fugue. Both Aguettant and Cortot commented at length on its religious meaning in his famous book.2. Franck, Prelude, aria and final. Cortot and Aguettant, similarly. 3. Liszt's Variations on Weinen, klagen, sorgen, zagen. 4. Busoni’s Fantasia nach J.S. Bach. Uses 4 chorales/hymns by Bach. Composed in 4 days, in memory of his father. Busoni wrote that when he performed it for the first time, people in the audience were weeping. 5. Liszt’s Funerailles.6. Alkan’s variations on Luther’s hymn Ein feste Burg. I don’t know if this is any good musically – it’s not in print or on CD.7. Mendelssohn’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor which ends with a glorious chorale, practically identical to Ein feste Burg.8. Bach-Bauer, transcription of organ prelude Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.9. Liszt's Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude.Several of these are on the two CDs Awadagin Pratt.She won’t be able to do these right away. But you can draw up a road-map of pieces – which I know is your strategy – so that she can get there. The road-map could include some easier ones, which also have a clear religious motivation:10. Franck-Bauer, Prelude, fugue and variation. Grade 8 level or so.11. Bach-Friedman’s Mein glaeubiges Herze, frohlocke. About Grade 8, maybe only 7. Out of print. Get it on internet from the Australia National Library, $15 or so. Super piece, lively, massive drama at end. Played well by Petronel Malan in her CD Transfigured Bach.12. Paert’s Zur Genesung von Arinuschka. Grade 1, but performance requires Grade 6 ability, I’d say. 13. Amy Beach’s Out of the Depths, Op. 130.14. Amy Beach’s By the still waters, Op. 114.15. There are several more pieces, some quite accessible for someone with Grade 5 to Grade 8 ability, in the CD by Elena Riu, Piano Icons for the 21st century. Includes Tavener’s Ypakoe (which means “obedience” in Greek).16. I also agree with Belgedin who says that much of Bach is sacred in a sense. Think of the symbolism in intervals common in that time – the tritone as the cross, etc. The Sinfonia #9 in Fm would have been heard in Baroque times as having a strong religious sense. The bad guys are the minor 9ths halfway through, which are finally overcome by good. 17. Hinson has put out 3 compendiums of works suitable for playing at church. His famous book lists most of the pieces. 18. There are more in Hinson which I’d noted when browsing. If there is popular demand I can list those too.Good luck.
Scriabin's Fifth sonata....perfect for the puritanical pianist Just curious, but roughly what level is your student at?
You could perhaps give her some basic piano transcriptions of famous religious music-I'm sure you could find a good one of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, for example.You could also find arrangements of famous hymns, like Amazing Grace, The Old Rugged Cross, etc. Actually, I often find hymns to be good sight reading practice.
I'm afraid that your choices of piano music are limited to mostly very simple stuff. With the exception of Messiaen and Bach, I haven't found much religious-type music to be very rewarding, and so am not terribly familiar with it.
I feel compelled to comment with respect to this. Certain Christians simply don't like or have any interest in music other than overtly Christian music, perhaps your student is like this. I agree with the above poster who suggested voice lessons if the student honestly loves Christian pop (which, IMO, is even worse than regular pop music). Your best bet is to ask for the hymn book from her church, and teach her lots and lots of hymns. They're fairly easy, so she should be able to learn many of them quickly. Then, she can play them for her church's services. This will give her lots of performing experience, let her "serve God," learn religious music, all at once. She may be invited to play with the choir at other area churches if she's good enough. Perhaps, she could move on and play as a pianist with a Christian ensemble. Usually, I think, the ensembles are mostly vocal, with piano serving more as an accompaniment, so she probably won't need the technical assurance necessary to tackle the most difficult classics.
I think one of the more popular Christian music pianists around today is a man called Anthony Burger: https://www.anthonyburger.com/home.htmMaybe you could visit his contact page and email him, asking for some suggestions about Christian music that he plays.
This thread set me thinking. Is the piano, and music idiomatic to the piano not particularly appropriate for eliciting emotions of the “sacred”, “spiritual” (whatever religion/denomination) or for “contemplative” music? Is the piano more appropriate for “secular” programmes, or when religious, more amenable to depict the devil?Any opinions/examples?
You know, this may sound harsh, but if you don't want to teach the child this kind of music, perhaps you could just drop her as a student.
Hey, just thought of a different angle. How would she like Johnson's "Carolina Shout" ? That's the most "Baptist" piano piece I could possibly think of and certainly religious, being a direct evocation of a Baptist service with its exhilarating call and response choruses.
Ah, Chinese Baptists... do you mean she likes music produced by the likes of groups such as this:https://www.frontline.org.hk/frontline.htmUnfortunately, they don't have any music on their site - I'll bug my sister about that... but I'll now stop ragging on her, or else she will stop giving me their CDs for free and I'll actually have to spend money on them (God forbid!)
What a good idea! I googled and lo and behold, Hallelujah! here is the stuff!https://www.sop.org/eng/products/SB.htmYes I want to steer clear (very clear) away from it. I want superior quality classical pieces by superior composers to replace it! Best wishes,Bernhard.
Now we are talking! Yes, Peter, thank you indeed for a most interesting list. I was beginning to wonder if the piano was more appropriate for “devilish” music (see the thread on “diabolus in music” started by EH Pianist). You are right, the first 9 pieces you suggested are too difficult for her, but if she likes them we can prepare the way for them. I wil check the rest.Could you give more details to the Hinson 3 compendiuns? (Title, publisher, etc.). I am not familiar with them.Again thank you very much (feel free to list more! )Best wishes,Bernhard.
Prof. Bernhard, here is one of the Peter_G_Moll's references in his excellent post:https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0739013866/qid=1.The autor, Prof Maurice Hinson, has a top job in a Baptist college and have an outstanding work about the piano repertory in many books.Peter did an excellent introduction to the christian music. I was worried because I didn't know that there was more than enough classical christian repertory, as alternative to Hymns, and was thinking in playing some soft pieces of the non-religious repertory in my church. But I see it's not necessary. Thanks a lot Peter, I can plan better my future musical contributions to my church's cult when the ocassion arises.
Prof. Bernhard, aren't you "afraid" that your student could access this forum and read this thread?
Antonin Dvorak composed his Opus 99 called "Biblical Songs". They are 10 pieces based on the Psalms. It sounds to me as very suitable for a student interested both in singing and playing.But I confess I don`t know the pieces, and I'm not aware of the level required to play them. A bigger problem could be the language of the lyrics, which I have no idea.They are available in midi format in classicalarchives.com.
Bernhard, your link is a classic! It made me think, perhaps since I dislike this music so much, I should write better music for the purposes of worship and thus stop my sister from propogating her "drivel".Then I realised, why doesn't your student do that herself? She should write some piano music to glorify Almighty God.
I've given the full references in my original post above. Good luck!Peter
Hi Bernhard. If you are interested, I did some of my own transcriptions of my favorite hymns. Some are hard and some are not too hard. There are some other arrangements that I made on my SibeliusMusic.com homepage. Take a look.https://members.sibeliusmusic.com/pskim
Hi BernhardI play keys for a contemporary Christian band as well as playing piano and organ in church. There is a great deal of disdain between performers in the pop/rock and classical styles, which is unfortunate. The most skilled keyboard/organ/piano players in the pop/rock styles have classical training.The suggestions thus far have been excellent ones, with regard to pre-1950s music that has a place in worship. As a practical matter, most of the best classical music written specifically for use in worship was written for organ. Some transfers well to piano while some does not. When I am asked to play a service on piano, I prefer to seek out good classical music and incorporate it into worship where instrumental music is called for rather than trying to repurpose organ music. Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, any of the masters from the classical and romantic periods.The Christian Board of Publication (www.cpb21.com) publishes a hymnal supplement called "Chalice praise" that has keyboard arrangements of many of the major contemporary worship songs. It is now somewhat out of date but covers much of the "canon" of praise music. Be sure to get the keyboard edition rather than the fakebook version.Word Music (www.wordmusic.com) is another publisher to remember. I have been very pleased with their arrangements in the sense that they appeal to listeners whose musical tastes may be limited to popular material but yet maintain a degree of artistic and musical integrety. Looking over the titles, "25 Top Praise and Worship Songs for Solo Piano" covers much of the same ground as "Chalice praise," though they have a "volume 2" that has more recent stuff (last 5-10 years).Word Music also have a series of graded piano solos for praise and worship that may be more suitable if your student needs simpler material, and they publish the "Celebration Hymnal" which is a combination of hymns and early '80s soft rock style praise songs.Even though this music may not speak to you personally, your student may find it fulfilling and it may ultimately lead her both to greater skill with the piano and to a deeper sense of musical taste.Kindest regardsBartolomeo
An interesting discussion - I would like to add some more suggestions. I think Hinson's book "Liszt: Selected Intermediate to Early Advanced Piano Solos" would be very useful. In it are seven chorales, Christmas Song S102, Ave Verum Corpus (from Mozart), and The Shepherds at the Manger S186:3. These could easily lead to the many other pieces written by Liszt that have a religious name and/or theme. Grieg's Lyric Pieces include a couple of Elegies, as well as "Bells", "Gratitude", "At Thy Feet" and "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen."MacDowell's Sea Pictures No.3 A.D. MDCXX is a tribute to the Pilgrims.Schumann's Op 68 includes the Chorale "Rejoice O My Soul."Mendelssohn's Op.72 is Six Christmas Pieces.Some of Burgmullers Op.100 Etudes have titles such as: Sincerity, Innocence, Sorrow, etc that could easily be incorporated into a Christian theme.Gurlitt Op.140 n12 is "In the Church"Rebikov wrote a colection of very easy pieces called The Christmas Gifts.Many well known carols and hymns were written by composers such as Haydn, Mendelssohn. CH Parry wrote many works that could be used. Any work titled Elegie could fit into a religious theme. In addition, several earlier composers were members of the 'church' - Scarlatti, Soler, Vivaldi for instance.I think it would be possible to use Spirituals and some Folk/National music quite effectively, e.g. Samuel Taylor-Coleridge's 'Deep River' and 'Steal Away'Regards,Elizabeth
Topic: "Sacred" music for piano solo 