Playing Hymns with Triplets
by Mike D. Zachary, D.M.A.

If you mastered the information and techniques covered in the first volume of Hymn Playing, you learned (a) how to tell the difference between hymns and gospel songs, and (b) how to play in the basic hymn style.[1] The musical example that follows shows an excerpt of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” as it appears in the hymnal, and then it shows the same excerpt arranged in the basic hymn style.

Defining Each Beat

Before you begin to play triplets in the basic hymn style, you must first clearly know where all the beats are; and you must realize that you will be playing something on each beat. For example, you might play the above excerpt in the style shown below so you clearly understand where each of the beats will be in each measure.

Though this is not yet elaborate, the previous example demonstrates one of the underlying elements of improvisation and gospel arranging. There is a filling in, that is, there is an elaboration of the rhythm. In the original hymn tune, the first measure has a half note that is followed by two quarter notes. In the previous example, that rhythm is made slightly more elaborate because now the measure consists of four quarter notes. When we transform this once again with triplets, we will understand that we are making the hymn more elaborate rhythmically.

Providing Three Notes for Each Right Hand Chord

When we first learned the basic hymn style, we learned that the right hand was supposed to play the soprano, alto, and tenor; however, we also learned that playing this way did not necessarily mean that the right hand would always be playing three tones. For example, if the soprano and alto sing the same note, the right hand piano chord would only consist of two notes: one note that was sung by both the soprano and alto, and one note that was sung by the tenor.

For an illustration of this, refer to the previous excerpt from “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” At the word the, compare the hymn excerpt to the basic piano arrangement that follows. You will notice that the piano arrangement only shows two notes for the right hand at this point.

As a preparation for playing triplets, however, the right hand will always need to be working with three tones. When there are only two tones shown in the soprano, alto, and tenor, the right hand might need to “steal” a note from the bass; or when there is an incomplete chord, the pianist might simply have to provide the missing note even though it does not appear in any of the parts.

In the example below, the excerpt from “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” is shown with each beat defined (just like the previous example). At the same time, a modification has been made so that each chord of the right hand contains three pitches. Examine this example very carefully.

In some cases, a hymn will contain an incomplete chord. In the excerpt from “Like a River Glorious” that follows, you will note that the final chord of the song only contains the tones F and A.

Even though only the tones F and A are used on the final chord of this hymn, it is clear that the composer is thinking of an F major triad.[2] When you provide three notes for each chord of the right hand, you will produce the following arrangement:

Sometimes, the sound is more pleasing when bass tones are not elaborated into steady quarter notes. The following example shows how the right hand defines the rhythm in quarter notes while the left hand follows the rhythm of the written bass from the hymnal:

Playing with Triplets

Now that you have learned to define each beat of the measure and you have taken care to provide three notes for each chord of the right hand, it is a simple step to add triplets. Simply play each chord from the top down, and you will have created a pleasant, flowing sound. The example below shows the last four measure of “Like a River Glorious” played with triplets:

The example above demonstrates the very pleasing sound that can be made with triplets. Since the excerpt above is taken from the very end of the hymn, the final measure of the above example demonstrates a simple way of ending the triplets. In this case, a final note was played on the third beat (remembering that beats 1 and 3 are the strong beats in 4/4 time); and this created a nice sense of closure.

Gospel pianists must be ever mindful that the mental singing of the hymn is incredibly important for a good sound. With this in mind, it should be pointed out that tones that would appear as melody notes should be played slightly louder. The following example shows the arrangement from above with the text of the song. Notice the accent mark that appears above each word. By accenting such tones, you will be following the traditional rule that the melody should be more prominent than the other tones that appear in the arrangement.

Generally speaking, this style of playing is not well suited to congregational playing because it is not aggressive enough.[3] It is more effective for offertories and for piano accompaniments.