Hosanna Praise

Download Sheet Music 下載樂譜 version A

Download Sheet Music 下載樂譜 version B

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Today, we will switch our attention to piano accompaniment for choir.

The BBC’s Songs of Praise which started in 1961, is still airing on every Sunday, features hymns, Christian music and stories around different locations in the country. I one episode many years ago, I saw a group of men gathered by a grand piano relaxingly singing hymn 112 “Follow On”, the accompaniment is like this

Personally, I feel that we can incorporate this style for choir presentation, certain hymns that are joyous and relax can adopt this idea. Now, let us take a look into how to implement this to a hymn.

In previous videos, we have mentioned that majority of the hymns will use primary chords of I, IV and V. In Ab major, these will be

For this style in Ab major, chord I, Ab C Eb, the right-hand plays a three notes chord, left-hand plays an octave Ab and alternates with the fifth note Eb. Slot the right-hand chord between each of the left-hand notes.

Now, let’s try playing chord I, then the pattern. Chord IV, the pattern. Chord V, the pattern. Now the three together, chords, I , IV, V one after the other.

Now, if we simplify the harmonies of this hymn, the first half of each line always starts with chord I, then IV, then back to I. The harmonies of the 2^nd phrase in line 1 and line 3 are the same, chord V, I, and and V. Whereas the harmonies of the 2^nd phrase in line 2 and line 4 are identical, chords IV, I, IV, I, V, and back to I.

Incorporating this patterns, the first line will be like this

Second line like this

If We go a step further; we can have an upgraded version with a little more advance harmonies for the accompaniment. For example:

1^st bar > 4^th beat is still chord I but with C in the bass instead, C is the middle note of the chord, in music theory, usually we are only allowed to use C once within a chord, therefore we need to omit the C on the right and replace it with an E. The chord will blend better.

3^rd bar > the last quaver Db is the 7^th of the fifth chord (dominant seventh) which in this case helps to link the next three notes C Bb Ab to create a descending scale, so we can use the Db on the 4th beat.

4^th bar > C in the bass, as the example in bar 1, change the right-hand chord, omitting the C. Then on the 2^nd beat, Bb as a passing note follows by Ab. You can check on the attached file later for the remaining lines.

After going through what we can do for this hymn, let us hear how this will sound. I have generated a MP3 file. Starts off with the basic version, choir singing the chorus in, straight in with the upgraded version, with brothers singing the verse, concluding with traditional 4 parts chorus. See whether you can hear the difference (scroll the video forward to 6:28 to see the play along).