Archives for: 2008

Since I’ve started going back to school at BYU full time, I haven’t had time to work on my music site till I had a break between semesters. Our ward choir sang an arrangement I wrote of “Once in Royal David’s City” and I just had time to post it on the site. It is quite a departure from the solid hymn style and works more like a light lullaby.
While it wasn’t posted soon enough for Christmas this year, it could be an excellent addition to next year’s Ward Christmas program. I also made some changes in “Hark the Harold Angels Sing” and fixed a couple of small errors in “Now Thank We All Our God.” You might want to try out the new versions!
In addition to going to school full time, I have been released as our Ward Choir director and am now serving in our Young Women’s Presidency. I still plan to work on various arrangements in between semesters.
In the mean time, I’ll be conjugating Spanish verbs and studying the words of Isaiah!

Our ward Christmas party was last week, and just let me say that nothing says” Christmas like three ten-year-old boys in bathrobes with towels on their heads.

Hey everyone! I’ve started going back to school at BYU, so I have been bad about writing my blog. Can you say “forty page research papers?” I also have a new calling in our ward, so I’m no longer choir director. That means I haven’t had time to tweak my arrangements or work on new ones.
I do still sing with our ward choir, though, and have noticed a few more little changes I would like to make. One thing I want to change is to have the men sing the second verse of “Hark the Harold Angels Sing” in unison instead of splitting into parts. Maybe I’ll get a chance to do some tweaking during the Christmas break.
If I don’t, don’t expect anything to get done until Spring. Winter semester is going to be even more hectic than Fall semester was, plus I’m taking a class on the words of Isaiah! Pray for me!

Thanks for your question. There are some things you can do with a hymn so you don’t have to just sing it straight from the hymn book. (You might as well have the congregation sing it if you are going to do that.) First of all, there are a number of free arrangement sites you could check out. The links on the bottom of my home page has a few listed. One of them might have an arrangement that you like. If you have a women’s group singing, you could have the women sing the men’s parts an octave higher and then you would have a nice piano accompaniment to go with it. If you only have a few singers, you could leave out one or two of the parts, or even sing the whole thing unison with the different accompaniment.

If you don’t find anything you like, there are some things you can do with the hymn itself. You could have one or two women sing the first verse as a solo or duet. then you could have one part sing the words while the others oooh their part. Another fun thing to do is to have a couple of sopranos sing the tenor line an octave higher above the melody. The pianist can help too by changing the accompaniment just a little bit. For instance, he or she could play the notes of the chord one note at a time from bottom to top softly to give an arpeggio feel.

You could also have a flute or violin or someone at the organ play the alto line an octave higher as an obbligato. Or even a child could do that on a recorder.

Just performed Teach Me To Walk yesterday and it was a great experience. The Primary children (our future ward choir in about ten years although we already have 2 of them) really enjoyed themselves and the piece fit our theme for the meeting so well. It was easy to put together and everyone enjoyed it.

Just a little feed-back. I was able to download your baritone solo rendition of Abide With Me. I gave it to our new Elder’s Quorum President, and one of our accompanists. They accepted the challenge to present it. Well, today at Branch Conference, they did. It was the first time I heard it. It was beautiful. It touched me so wonderfully. I could picture myself pleading with the Savior to stay with me. The Stake President was so impressed that he told Steve that he WILL sing that same song at the next Stake Conference. Your part in that special music blessed all there with an increased awareness of the spirit and a love of the Savior.

Thank you sooo much! Please don’t stop this work! It is such a blessing to many.

Hey everyone! The response to the web site has been wonderful! Thanks for all your kind suggestions and great ideas. Just a heads up. I have started back to school full time, so my time is limited. Hopefully it will only take me a few months and then I will be able to devote more time to arrangements.

Remember, you don’t HAVE to put in the statistical information every time you come back to the site. Just click “submit” and you’re there.

I was desperately looking online for some music for our choir because we have very little budget. And I found you! Thank you more than you know for sharing your very wonderful talent!!! It’s nice to be able to sing the hymns with arrangements. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

On the second verse of “Hark the Harold, Angels Sing", I have decided I like it better with all the men singing the melody while the women sing the bell sounds. You might like that better too. Try different things. See what you like best. These arrangements are just the start. Go from there with your own creative ideas.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!! I’m a newly called choir director and I have no experience, other than singing in the choir myself.

Your web site is an answer to many prayers. Thank you very much!

Loved the first piece - came back for more!

One of the tenors in our Ward likes the Christmas hymn, “Once in Royal David’s City,” so I’m working on an arrangement for this years program. It isn’t sung very much but has a nice message. It should be ready to practice a week from this Sunday. I may even be done with it in time for this Sundays practice.

I’m not sure if I will post it on the site that soon, though. I struggled with the last arrangement I posted because it has been a while since I worked with all the various programs used, and I am a bit out of practice. It took quite a bit longer than it has in the past and I nearly gave up before I managed to wrestle the thing onto the site.

Writing the hymn arrangements is fun. Posting them is torture, so, if you don’t see a new Christmas hymn arrangement up soon, be patient - and pray for me!

Thanks for all the great feedback. Also, keep in mind that the submission form is for statistics only, and the music can be downloaded by just clicking on submit if you don’t want to take the time to fill it out.

I just posted a nice solo arrangement of “Abide With Me ‘Tis Eventide.” I wrote it for a baritone in our ward to sing, but it would also work well sung an octave higher by a second soprano or alto. I used it as a piano solo last week just playing the accompaniment. Let me know what you think.

Hello friends. It has been almost a year since the launch of freewardchoirmusic.com and it has been heartening to see all the dedicated choir directors looking for ways to spread the gospel through music. I have been contacted by many of you with wonderful ideas and words of encouragement, and I thank you. I have tried to make the music interesting, but not too difficult so that amateur musicians will be able to feel satisfied with their efforts.

If you get a chance, I would greatly appreciate hearing how the music is working for you. If you have found any mistakes that need to be fixed. Or if you feel a certain hymn arrangement doesn’t flow right. I am always looking for ways to improve the site and the music.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for this free choir music!! Great! We will use and enjoy!

I have recently been called as my ward’s Choir Director. I have played the flute for 18 years, but have never lead a choir. I am looking for any advice and good music for our hopefully growing choir!

I’m working on a baritone solo of “Abide With Me, Tis Eventide” for one of the men in our ward. He’s singing in two weeks so I hurried and wrote out the first and second verses tonight. I’m going for some close harmonies and a kind of pleading tone.

Thanks… This is my first time to your site. I’m excited to get my music and use it throughout the year for our Choir.

Yesterday, as our men’s choir came up to sing “I Need Thee Every Hour,” I realized I had left all the music in my car. I had only my music to accompany them. Luckily one of the eight men who were singing had taken his music home. So all the men ended up crowding around one pathetic piece of music to sing. (Note to self: when the choir is singing, bring the music to Sacrament meeting!)

Our ward choir is rehearsing “We Thank Thee, Oh God, For a Prophet” for September performance. This arrangement is not difficult, but I think the accompaniment adds some interest to this traditional LDS hymn.

Our men’s choir is singing “I Need Thee Every Hour” next week. It’s a two part arrangement that could work well for women’s voices also. Just sing the parts an octave higher.

Our very patient ward choir sang through a few more hymn arrangements last Sunday and someone pointed out that “Dearest Children” had no page numbers. Someone else noticed that “The Light Divine” was missing a word on the first page and in the copyright information said that “Making copies for CON-commercial use is permitted.”
One of our tenors asked if that means only criminals can use it.

After our ward choir sang through “We Thank Thee, Oh God for a Prophet, we agreed it needed something more at the end. So you might want to check out the new arrangement and download it.

I made some changes and additions to the hymn arrangement of “We Thank
Thee, Oh God, For a Prophet.” Those of you who have downloaded it, may want to come back and take a look at the new version.

I have been working on a rewrite of “For the Beauty of the Earth” so those of you who have already downloaded it may want to take another look.

I hurried to post the arrangement of “For the Beauty of the Earth” because so many of you requested it, but as my son and daughter in law were singing through it yesterday, I found several mistakes and missing words. Oops! The mistakes are corrected, so those of you who have downloaded it may want to make a new copy of that one!

This month, for a change, only the women will be singing the choir number. There is a nice, simple arrangement of “Faith” for Soprano and Alto voices that works well for this. Also, next month only the men will sing the Tenor, Bass arrangement of “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

It’s nice to change things once in a while.

It has been six months since we launched www.freewardchoirmusic.com. Since then, we have been looking for ways to make the site easier to use. One of the changes we have made is to make downloading less complicated. We have also added lots of new music as well as improving some hymn arrangements already posted. We hope this helps!

I finally finished an arrangement of “We Thank Thee, Oh God for a Prophet.” Our choir hasn’t had a chance to sing through it yet, but I posted it anyway, since so many people were asking for the arrangement. I’ll probably end up tweaking it after we sing it, so if anyone finds any mistakes, (missing words, etc.) let me know so I can fix them. Thanks!

Hello Everyone,

I have been working for several weeks with Chocolate Web Studios updating my site. It has been hard work, but I think most of the mistakes (misspelled words, notation problems, etc.) are fixed now.

I have also done some tweaking with key changes in arrangements already posted, so you might want to check your favorites and see if they have been improved.

From California
Can’t wait to use some new music with our choir!

From Utah
I belong to the yahoogroup ldschoir, and someone announced your site there. I am always collecting music for my ward choirs. This is great. Thanks again.

Finally the recording function on my keyboard is working! I have finished the piano duet of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and am working to finish some other projects. One of which is an arrangement of, “We Thank Thee, Oh God For a Prophet” for ward choir.

Many of you continue to voice your frustration that you would like to see the music before choosing what to download. We appreciate your suggestions and are working to clear up this difficulty. As Chocolate Web Studios are behind on their orders, it may take a few weeks. Thanks for your patience.

From Arizona
Was desperately looking for new music arrangements with no ward budget for music. Thanks!
This is wonderful. I needed more options for the Ward Choir!

I am the primary chorister in our ward as well as the choir director. Our Primary President asked me a few weeks ago why we always have to sing about mothers being like flowers and having twinkling eyes. So, I have written a Mother’s Day song you might like. It hasn’t been posted on my site yet because my webmaster is behind in projects, but if you’d like to look at it, let me know and I will send it to you snail mail.

Music that will invite the spirit should be selected for Sacrament meeting; keeping in mind that a ward choir’s primary purpose is to worship through song, not to impress the congregation with their musical abilities. It is better to sing simple music well than to sing difficult music only so-so.

Some important things to look for in Ward choir music

1. Ward choirs and accompanists not professionals, so the music needs to be within the abilities of amateurs and volunteers.
2. Ward choirs usually only have from 10 to 20 singers so the music should not divide into more than four parts.
3. A ward choir is lucky to get 45 minutes to an hour of practice once a week, so the music should be easy to learn but still interesting.
4. Hymns and hymn arrangements are especially appropriate since ward choirs perform almost exclusively in Sacrament meeting.

I’m still waiting to hear if the recording feature on my keyboard is repairable. I can’t wait any longer to start working on an arrangement of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” for piano duet. We need it for July, so I’m slowly plugging away at it, trying to play both parts at once. Perhaps it is time to think about investing in a new keyboard.

From Utah
I sing in our ward choir and want to give our director more arrangement choices. Thanks!

My friend and I like to play a duet once in a while, so I have started arranging a piano duet of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” for us to play in July. Naturally, It will have lots of octaves and drum sounds. It is slow going without being able to record one part while playing the other part. I need my recording keyboard back from the repair shop!

Many of the projects I have been working on are delayed because my keyboard is still being repaired. Thanks for your patience!

The wonderful thing about ward choir music is that today there are many options. There are several composers who share their music on line at no cost. Many charge only a nominal fee to help cover their costs. Some go the traditional route and distribute their music through a publisher. All these methods are wonderful ways to share the music of the gospel throughout the world.

Since we will be singing this Sunday, I recently sent this message to all our choir members:

Others may come up to join us who have not been able to attend many practices. Please welcome them and be strong on your parts to guide them. And remember, It is more important to worship through music than to be musically perfect. If they feel included, it may be that they will feel comfortable joining us for more rehearsals.

It has now been 6 months since we first introduced www.freewardchoirmusic.com
The response has been tremendous and we have been learning as we go along.
Some of the improvements we are working on are:

1. Making it possible to see the music before deciding what to download.

2. Asking for less information before submitting in order to receive downloads.

Even though we only want the information for statistical purposes - we want to know where the music is being used and how easy it is to find the site, etc. Still, some people are uncomfortable giving their phone numbers and Country of residence on line. So, we are working on making the sign in page quicker to fill out with less information required.
Of course, you will still be able to click “submit” without filling out any information just as you can now and receive free ward choir music any time.

From California
A member of my ward choir found your website. We are also on a limited budget, so these arrangements will be very helpful for our Ward Choir to sing in Sacrament meeting. Many thanks.

One of the problems we have in many ward choirs, especially those that sing copied music on multiple sheets of paper, is the sound of those stapled copies being turned at the same time. The rustling of paper can be distracting, and it is truly difficult to turn the page with no sound at all.
One answer, and this is something I do with our ward choir, is to put the music into page protectors in a folder.
I use black, vinyl folders with three fasteners in the middle for the music in the page protectors. I chose black, because it is conservative and doesn’t distract from the solemnity of the Sacrament meeting service. But I have seen navy used and those looked nice too.
These are only about $1.50 a piece, and will usually last for years. Page protectors can usually be purchased for about $10.00 for 100. So, for a one-time investment your ward choir can turn pages easily and quietly. No lose pages are dropped or lost, and when we are finished performing one hymn, it takes only a few minutes for me to take out the old music and replace it with the new for the next rehearsal.

Many of you have suggested that we make it possible to look at the music before signing up to download. It may take us a little while to make the changes, but we are working on it! Thank you for all your helpful ideas and suggestions.

Many of you have made the suggestion that is would be nice to be able to hear and see the music before you choose to download. We appreciate your ideas and are working on making the site easier to use.

Next week our Ward choir is singing “O My Father” for our ward conference. I love how the choir sounds when they are singing the accapella verse.

From Nevada:
Thank you for this site. Too often I’m left feeling just like you said..small budget big dreams. Have a great day.

From California
I found the link to this website through Sally Deford’s website. I have no budget for music, but I wanted to find arrangements for my choir to do. I appreciate the service you render by providing your arrangements like this. Thanks!

How wonderful it is that we have the technology to share music and ideas all over the world. I feel connected to every one of you every where. We are all doing our best to serve the Lord in any way we can.
We really are a world wide family.

Thank you for all your kind words and suggestions. As many of you know, I write these arrangements for our own ward choir. And since we sing once a month, I try to keep at least a year ahead in music. That means that I have written at least ten arrangements that have not been sung yet by our choir, but are posted on the site.
When our choir begins practicing them, I may make small changes or correct small errors. For instance, I may decide to have a solo sing the first verse instead of all the women. Or I might decide to take out a key change I don’t like. I also work hard to fix misspelled words and notation errors.
Once these corrections and changes are finished, we take down the old music and post the corrected music in its place, so something you downloaded last month may be different than the same piece you download next month. Chocolate web studios is working with their staff in order to get the corrections up sooner, but there are still occasional delays. Thank you for your patience, and, if you find a mistake, please let us know and mark the correction in your copy!
Thanks!

From the Philippines:
Hi. I’ve been searching hymns that can be used in our ward choir, that are of course arranged for choir. I’ve visited sally de ford’s site and went to the links that’s why I found yours. I am really happy and blessed. Your works are truly a great help to us. Thank you very much, sister for sharing your talent.

As I have mentioned before, our ward choir is singing “How Great the Wisdom and the Love” for Easter this year. Today we were practicing with the obbligato when I would say, “Let’s start at the pickup to measure 64.” As we kept having to wait for the flute player to find the right place, it was pointed out to me that there are no measure numbers marked in the obbligato score. Sigh. Hopefully, we will be able to post the corrected score within the next week.

There has been a lot of interest in the new piano solos planned for wwwfreewardchoirmusic.com
Chocolate Web Studios has been experiencing some delays in getting these up on the website, but they should be posted soon.

From Hawaii:
Thanks for providing your arrangements for free. I’m sending the link to my daughter who is ward choir director.

My daughter teaches at a private school and recently they were learning about George Washington. When she asked the children, “Who was the first president of the United States?” One boy shouted out, “Gordon B. Hinkley!”

From Washington:
I am a Ward Music Chairman and always looking for music with our choir director. Thanks. Nice Site.

Yesterday, our ward choir sang, “Come Ye Disconsolate.” I think the sopranos were a little timid to come in when the piano sounded their first note, so only one or two started singing and then the others joined in one by one. I actually like the effect. Maybe next time we’ll do that on purpose.

This is a busy time of year for our ward choir. In addition to singing at least once a month in Sacrament meeting, we are expected to sing for Ward Conference and several numbers for Easter. It’s nice to have a couple of simple hymn arrangements that can be learned quickly to perform with only a couple of practices. For instance, today our choir is singing “Come Ye Disconsolate.” Since it is fairly simple, we will be able to review it and then spend most of our time on our more challenging Easter program.

How many of you dedicated choir directors out there continue choir practices and performances during the summer? I’ve heard from two schools of thought on this. Those who like to take the summer off say that it rejuvenates the choir members. They also contend that it is hard to get the choir together do to summer vacations.

Those who disagree point out that a summer vacation for the choir means for an entire fourth of the year there will be no choir music in Sacrament meeting. They also point out that many people go on vacations during the Christmas holidays too, but nobody cancels choir practice because of it.

I have had to take a break from working on any new hymn arrangements while an electronics expert is looking at my ailing keyboard. He will tell me if the recording feature can be repaired. In the mean time, until I can get back to writing choir music, I will write a nice little piano piece for the little girl down the street to play in the school talent show.

From Australia:
Hi I have been implementing similar ideas to yours in my ward choir. I do like to stretch them now and again to put them a little outside their comfort zone and the results have been encouraging. Thanks for this music. A lot of bishops don’t understand the impact that music has on the spirit of a meeting, hence quite low budgets.

When I visit friends in the hospital I like to take my harmonica and play songs for them. The reason I do this is because my piano is too big to fit into my purse, and because they can’t get away even if I play badly which I usually do.

Since piano solos are quite popular downloads on www.freewardchoirmusic.com, we have two more solos to post. These are nice to use as special numbers for Sacrament Meeting. One is a nice arrangement of “Our Savior’s Love,” and the other is “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

In the hymn arrangement, O My Father, on the 4th page, in measure 61, the wording is “and I felt that I had wondered from a more exalted sphere.” Of course, the word should be wandered. Spell check didn’t catch that one before we posted it, so please correct it in your copies and we’ll correct it the next time we update.

I wondered how I missed that one!

As we listen to yet another talk about genealogy and family history we have the feeling that somehow we should be doing more, but we don’t really know what to do or how to begin. We aren’t computer experts. We aren’t even very organized. We don’t have the hours of time we think we need in order to do that kind of research. The truth is that most of us are convinced of the importance of searching for our ancestors; we just don’t know how to begin.

The good news is that today’s technology has made it possible to organize and do research in only minutes per day.

Computers are more user friendly today than ever before with all kinds of tutorials and helps available. Nearly every ward or stake in the church has family history specialists standing by to answer questions regarding the use of the latest technology.

Here are some suggestions in getting started: These take only a few minutes and do not require expert research skills to accomplish. If you get stuck on any one of these steps, contact your ward or stake family history specialist or call the Family History Library for help.

Day 1:
Go to familysearch.org and find the download link on the right side of the page about halfway down the page. Click on “Download PAF.” Follow the instructions. It is free, easy and takes just a few minutes.

Day 2:
Open the Personal Ancestral File and record information about yourself. Fill in all the information you know and write anything you need to find out in a notebook. You may not remember your baptism date, for example.

Day 3:
Open the PAF and record the sources of the information about yourself. Ask yourself, “How do I know this date or place?” The answer to that question is called a source. Useful sources include birth, marriage, and death certificates, family bibles, funeral programs, obituaries, and wedding announcements.

I like to record my sources in the notes section because it allows you to type certificate numbers, phone numbers of relatives, and other information such as physical appearance, etc. Click on the note pad to the middle right of the personal information screen and type in any sources you used to record your personal information.

Day 4:
File your certificates and letters in a manila folder with your name on it in a file drawer or box. The cost of a file box is quite reasonable, and instead of looking through stacks of papers again and again, you will be able to use that time to do more research.

Day 5:
Contact your ward or branch clerk and get a copy of your membership record. This will give you your baptism and conformation dates and other membership information.

Day 6:
Go to familysearch.org and click on “register” on the top right of the page. Fill out all the information. The membership number and confirmation dates will be found on your membership record. This is also free and takes just a few minutes.

Day 7:
Open PAF and record information on your spouse if married, or your parents. Write down anything you don’t know in your notebook.

Day 8:
Record your sources in the notes of your spouse or parents. Personal knowledge is also a source.

Day 9:
Call, write, or email your parents and ask them for their personal information. Be specific. “Do you know when Uncle Harold died?” is better than, “What do you know about the family?” It is also a good idea to only ask for one or two dates and places at first, or relatives may feel the project is too time consuming and put you off. Take notes during the conversation and ask if you may make a copy of any sources they have.

Day 10:
Carefully copy the sources your parents give you and return them.

Day 11:
Record the sources in your PAF for each individual listed on the source.

Day 12:
File the copies of the sources in manila folders with your parent’s names in your file box.

Day 13:
Contact extended family members and record the information they give you. Take notes in your notebook. Record the information and file any documents you find.

Day 14:
Choose a family or ancestor with missing or incomplete information.
Go to familysearch.org and sign on in the upper right hand corner. Fill in the information under “Search For Your Ancestors” with the name of the ancestor you have chosen. Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File are databases of pedigrees submitted by other researchers. If your ancestor is listed there, that means someone else is also looking for that ancestor and you may be able to share information.

Day 15:
Write or email the person who listed your ancestor in the Ancestral or Pedigree Resource Files. Again, ask specific questions instead of asking them to “send me everything you have on the Cook family.” And remember to only ask for one or two dates or places.

Day 18:
Go to familysearch.org and click on Research Guidance on the top of the page under “Get started with family history.” Follow the suggestions of the research assistant on the left.

Day 19:
Print a copy of your pedigree and family group sheets and take them to the nearest family history library. Helpful librarians there will guide you to other sources where you can find more information on your family.

Day 20:
Look how far you’ve come! You have begun what has been called “the greatest individual responsibility that we have.” (Doctrines of Salvation [Bookcraft, 1955], vol. 2, p. 146.). Keep taking one step at a time.

President Boyd K. Packer said concerning his own research, “We gathered together everything we had, and in the course of a few weeks we were amazed at what we were able to accomplish. The thing that was most impressive, however, was the fact that we began to have experiences that told us somehow that we were being guided, that there were those beyond the veil who were interested in what we were doing. Things began to fall into place… It was as though the Lord was waiting for us to begin.”

You too will be amazed at what you can accomplish in just 10 minutes a day.

Some people are looking for a nice hymn arrangement for a funeral. I have always liked “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” The one on www.freewardchoirmusic.com has a nice descant.

When I write a hymn arrangement I work with a keyboard that records so I can play the parts and the accompaniment at the same time and make sure it all fits together. When I add an obbligato, I need the recording feature even more.

Sadly, the record playback has stopped working, so getting out new arrangements is taking longer. I can’t decide if it would be better to try to get the keyboard fixed, or to invest in a new one.

From Arizona:
I just got called as ward Choir Director. I’m so excited to find your site! Thanks!

For our Easter program this year, the ward choir is singing “God so Loved the World” from the choir book, Larry Beebe’s arrangement of “There is a Green Hill Far Away,” and my arrangement of “How Great the Wisdom and the Love with the flute obbligato.”

In addition to those numbers we will have a wonderful quartet of men singing “Rock of Ages” from the hymnbook. The first verse will be sung with bass, tenor, and the melody an octave lower with a very talented tenor singing the alto as written. The second verse we’ll have the melody sing the words while the others ooh their parts. The last verse is very effective with the melody singing one line alone and adding the other parts one by one.

I am very pleased with the way it sounded yesterday at practice.

We will also have a nice tenor singing “His Hands,” as a solo. Of course, we will have some wonderful scriptures from Isaiah quoted between songs.

We can’t go wrong with such excellent material.

Since our Hispanic brothers and sisters seem to be having a hard time finding and using the free Spanish hymn arrangement web site, we have decided to combine it with the English site. It may take us a few weeks to put it together, but the goal is to make the ward choir arrangements easy to find and download for everyone.

The more well known a hymn is, the more difficult it is to write an arrangement that people will like. They are used to the hymn the way they have always heard it and tend to resist any changes in harmonies or rhythms. “We Thank Thee, Oh God, For a Prophet” is like that. It evokes tender emotions in nearly everyone who hears it and sings it. Nevertheless, it deserves a place among the music performed by our ward choirs, so it must be attempted.

Someone has asked for a hymn arrangement of “We Thank Thee, Oh God For a Prophet.” I will take a look at that one after we have reworked the Spanish website and finished the medley arrangement of “Press Forward Saints” and “I Believe in Christ.”

We are still trying to get some new piano solos posted as well.

From Arizona:

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOO much for sharing your beautiful music and talent!!!!!!!!!!

From Utah:

THANK YOU!! for using your talents and posting music that is available for free. Celestial rewards are better than monetary ones, eh?

I am grateful for your site. It will bless many people, they will appreciate and love music more. It will help them become more nearer to God.

From Idaho:
I found you on a google search and I truly truly appreciate your generosity with your gifts! THANK YOU!!!

From England:
Thanks for what you are doing. It is a great help to those of us who are less talented.

I’ve started on an arrangement medley of two hymns as suggested by a friend from Arizona. “Press Forward, Saints” and “I Believe in Christ.” These hymns are full of energy and faithful enthusiasm. They should work well together.

It is difficult to know how energetic a ward choir director should be in recruiting members for the choir. Too much enthusiasm and ward members begin to avoid you as they would an over zealous sales representative. Not enough and your choir has three members because nobody thinks about attending.

I am the music chairman for our ward, so I am in charge of special musical numbers for our Sacrament Meetings. Often when I ask someone to sing or perform, they will say, I’d like to sing “Faith” from the children’s songbook. Do you know of a nice arrangement? I usually do look for an arrangement at the local music store, but am so often disappointed at what I find. Too difficult. Too high. Too boring.

So I end up writing one. That is why our next postings will be two SA arrangements, one of the children’s song, “Faith” and one of “As Sister’s in Zion.” Also the new song, “My Mom is the Best.” Hopefully in time to learn for Mother’s Day. Plus two piano solos; “Our Savior’s Love” and “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

You can pretty much tell what our ward has been singing by the postings that appear on the site.

From Utah
Thanks for all of us on a very limited budget (actually no budget.)

From Colorado:
I was searching for a website that would give me great lds music for my ward choir and not be expensive as our choir is on a budget. Thankyou for your website!

It has been wonderful to interact with ward choir directors all over the world. I’m impressed with your dedication and efforts to fulfill your callings. And humbled that we can reach across hundreds of miles to help each other do so.

Thank you to all those who have helped get arreglosgratisdehimnos.com up and running. We are still making corrections and additions so we appreciate your patience.

One wonders if President Monson can feel 13 million pairs of eyes turning to him.

Even many who are not members of the LDS Church will mourn the passing of Gordon B. Hinkley. Le us honor his memory by carrying on tirelessly as he did in serving the Lord.

It has finally happened. I’ve graduated to taking a wheelbarrow to church. First I carried a book. (My scriptures.) Then I carried a stack of books. (Scriptures and lesson manual.) Then I carried a bag of books. (Scriptures, lesson manual and notebook.) Then I carried a briefcase of books. (Scriptures, lesson manual, notebook, and church handbook of instructions.) Now I wheel in a tote with books in it to church. (Choir music!)

From Australia:

Thank you for your time. I am a student looking for piano solos to compete for regional conventions. May God bless you as you continue to use your talents for Him and bless others through His abounding love and mercy.

The Spanish website is up and running. We have worked hard so our Spanish brothers and sisters no longer have to download in English and then translate into Spanish for their wards and branches. At the present time, we have posted nine complete hymn arrangements and half of the Sweet Hour of Prayer arrangement. We will post the complete Sweet Hour of Prayer plus more hymn arrangements as we translate them from the Spanish Himnos. The new Spanish website name is arreglosgratisdehimnos.com

From Wisconsin:

I’m so appreciative of all of you that share your music. I’ve used a lot for ward choir and prelude music for Relief Society. Thank you so very much.

A close friend of the family passed away this week and I will be playing a piano solo at the funeral. I’m going to play my arrangement of “Abide With Me” with “I Need Thee Every Hour” woven in. Perhaps I’ll write down the “I Need Thee Every Hour” part and put it up on the site.
Right now I’m finishing a soprano, alto duet of the children’s song, “Faith,” that a couple of women asked me to write for them to sing in Sacrament meeting next month.
Then I hope to get started on a medley of “I Believe in Christ” and “Press Forward Saints.” These two hymns have a similar style and both emphasize faith in Christ, so I think they would work well together.

From Idaho:

I found this site through Google search. I LOVE “Come, Ye Disconsolate” and have been looking for a nice arrangement for awhile. Thank you for setting this beautiful hymn!

I played the clarinet all through high school and college, and then a few years ago decided to learn to play the flute. At first I followed my children around playing “Hot Cross Buns” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” while they ran for cover. Now I play mostly right notes with the local city band and occasionally in church. I guess that’s why I like to write a nice obbligato with my hymn arrangements once in a while. But the cat still runs out of the room when I play.

10 ways you know you need www.freewardchoirmusic.com

1. Your choir consists of seven members, two of which can’t read music.
2. You ask your Bishop for money to buy choir music he reaches into his pocket and hands you two quarters and a dime.
3. Your ward music library consists of three books copyrighted in 1904.
4. None of the books has a front cover.
5. Your Stake music library consists of two copies of “Let the mountains Shout for Joy”
6. There is one page missing in each copy.
7. Your only soprano is a 16-year-old boy.
8. Your pianist is a convert from Czechoslovakia who doesn’t speak English.
9. You hear snoring during the introduction of the special musical number.
10. You realize the one snoring is you.

For those of you looking for a nice piano solo, we have two currently posted and will soon post “Our Savior’s Love” in our piano solo section. Also, I have played the Tenor solo arrangement of “Come Thou Font of every blessing” as a piano solo for a special music number in Sacrament meeting. I just skip the part where the tenor sings accapella.

The Spanish free ward choir music site is nearing completion. We sincerely hope this new site will be of use to our Hispanic brothers and sisters around the world.

From California:
I’ve been the ward choir director for 3+ years now and am constantly looking for new music (we perform 14-15 times a year, in addition to the big Easter/Christmas programs). Thank You!

When we say free ward choir music, that is exactly what we mean – all free downloads for your ward choir - all the time. No surprises.

From Arizona:
I just found your website a few days ago. I am a struggling choir director always looking for easy, quick, and fun arrangements. My daughter, whom we have adopted, is going to sing a solo for church using your “Teach Me to Walk” arrangement. She is only 4 years old and I am so proud of her. Thank you so much for your very beautiful arrangements. I am looking forward to seeing your new arrangements in the future. Keep up the GOOD WORK!!

Recently one of the basses in our ward choir mentioned that there were some challenging sections in the hymn arrangement I wrote. I just said, “Well, you should have been nicer to me.”

From Maryland:
Just a note to thank you for the musical gems! You have a beautiful talent and a very nice website (I love the way you choose your colors for the cover pages of your songs). Keep up this great work and I am sure our choir will truly enjoy singing your arrangements!

The truth is out. I’m no good at crafts. When I’m with a group of women and they talk excitedly about scrapbooking or card making, all I keep thinking is that I would rather be home working on my music.

From Minnesota:

Thank you! I found this on another website listing free LDS choral music.

From Utah:
I googled LDS hymns; thank you for sharing

From Kansas:

“Thank you for all your work – we have the smallest ward in the stake (and a tiny choir budget) but the best choir (according to the stake presidency) – we’re trying to put together an Easter cantata for the community to help our missionary work.”

Our Primary Presidency asked me to write a new Mother’s Day song for this year; something more interesting than Mom being like flowers or having twinkling eyes. We will post it soon. Let me know what you think.

I have raised the key on the last verse of “Teach Me to Walk in the Light,” We’ll post the new version in a couple of weeks, so those of you who have downloaded it may want to try the new version to see if you like it better.

From Utah:

I searched the web for free ward choir music. (We have a $50 budget for the year.) I’m excited to see and use this music. Thanks so much for making it available for us.

Every time I introduce a new arrangement to our ward choir, I always say, “Alright, let’s run through this and see how many mistakes I made.”
Though I try hard to catch them all, I still miss a few. I forget to put in a rest. I forget to dot a half note. I put the glissando on the wrong side of the notes.
So, if you find mistakes, please, PLEASE tell me so I can fix them!

From Utah

“I have been a ward choir director for 4 1/2 years! I need new music!”

Last year I was called as ward choir director in February. We began working on a special number for Easter when the 1st counselor in the Bishopric came to me and asked if we would do the entire Easter program. I swallowed hard and said that of course we would. We had six weeks to put together a program with six musical numbers and scripture readings. This was in addition to the special number we were practicing for February and something for ward conference in March.

With Easter on March 23rd this year, we won’t have much more time to prepare. I am more convinced than ever that ward choirs need arrangements that are easy to learn but are still satisfying to hear and sing.

We will soon post a piano solo arrangement of “Our Savior’s Love” that has been written by my son, Stephen. It’s interesting rhythms and harmonies make it too beautiful not to include in the solo section. It’s written in the key of B Major (five sharps), so it’s not for the faint hearted, but will be nice for those who like more of a challenge.