This sheet music is part of the collection of crosby3145 :
I got my start in arranging
hymns—and in composing
really—all the way back in
2011, specifically because of
the hymn “Wonderful Grace of
Jesus.” That hymn, along
with “To God Be the
Glory,” was one of my
favorites, and I desperately
wanted to play it in church as
an offertory. Unfortunately,
none of the published
arrangers seemed to touch that
one—it was well-known, but
not in their circles,
apparently. They stuck with
the more famous ones—good
ones, but ones that aren’t
quite as interesting when
you’ve heard them too much.
At the time, I didn’t know
anybody who could have
arranged it. And so, I
decided that if I was going to
get an arrangement, I’d have
to do it myself.
Of course, I didn’t have
music-writing software yet. I
printed out a few sheets of
notepaper and got to writing.
The first verse of the piece
wasn’t very
interesting—the notes were
there, but they didn’t sound
too special. Then, I got to
the second half of the piece,
changed the key and meter, and
tried that. It worked out
pretty well, and sounded nice
too—at least I thought. The
last time through, I put in
some exciting rhythms on the
verse, then wrote the notes
mostly straight out of the
hymnal for the chorus—but
that worked, because Haldor
Lillenas did such a great job
splitting up the male and
female parts—simply playing
the notes from the hymnal
sounded interesting. After
that was done, I went back,
redid the first verse, and
voila! My first hymn
arrangement!
Eventually, I typed out the
manuscript to the arrangement.
Many more arrangements
followed after that. I also
really liked the hymn Jesus Is
Calling, so I made an
arrangement of that one too.
Then, I liked Heaven Came Down
and Glory Filled My Soul, so I
arranged that one. There were
several others, and there
would be many more to come
over the years. The ones you
see in this collection are ten
of the earliest—the first I
arranged together as a
collection. Some are
well-known, some are obscure.
I will encourage you to check
out Lord of the Sabbath, Hear
Us Pray—it’s a really
beautiful hymn! All the ones
in here are favorites of mine,
though, and I hope you enjoy
them! Sheet music list : › Miles, Charles Austin : A New Name in Glory › Kocher, Conrad : For the Beauty of the Earth › Bridgers, Luther B. : He Keeps Me Singing › Miles, Charles Austin : In the Garden › Prichard, Rowland : Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners › Anonymous : Lord of the Sabbath, Hear Us Pray › Spratt, Ann B. : No, Not Despairingly › Sullivan, Arthur Seymour : Onward, Christian Soldiers › McGranahan, James : There Shall Be Showers of Blessing › Lillenas, Haldor : Wonderful Grace of Jesus