What Praise Can I Play on Sunday?, Book 1: January & February Services: Piano Book

Tornquist understands exactly what busy church pianists need: arrangements that are genuinely playable at the late intermediate level without sacrificing musicality or harmonic sophistication. Ten contemporary worship staples in one book means you can cover the January and February church calendar without hunting across multiple collections, and her signature approach to voicing gives each piece enough harmonic interest to reward careful listening while remaining accessible in a Sunday morning context.

These arrangements honor the warmth and accessibility of contemporary worship while adding textural depth through thoughtful voicing. You'll find yourself playing hymnic progressions alongside modern harmonic language, creating a bridge between the familiar and the fresh that feels equally at home in traditional and contemporary services.

Church pianists who lead worship services and need reliable, well-crafted arrangements of contemporary Christian songs without the time to hunt through multiple books. Students working at the late intermediate and early advanced levels will find material that challenges their harmonic understanding and interpretive choices while remaining within technical reach.

• Honor the rhythmic profile of each arrangement. Tornquist's settings often feature specific rhythmic figures that support the harmonic structure; precision in tempo and articulation brings the arrangements into focus.
• Pay attention to dynamic contrast between verses and chorus sections. These arrangements lean on registration shifts and subtle dynamic shaping rather than octave doublings, so control your tone color through touch and pedal rather than volume alone.
• Use the sustained pedal judiciously to support harmonic movement without muddying the clarity of the voicings. Many of these pieces benefit from pedal changes at harmonic turning points.
• Approach the left-hand figures as integral to the mood. Whether the bass is walking, static, or gently moving, it anchors the piece; give it the same interpretive attention you give to the melody.

Build your January and February Sunday service planning around this single collection, selecting pieces that match the liturgical theme of each week. The arrangement of titles across Epiphany, Lent, and Ash Wednesday observances makes this especially useful for churches following a liturgical calendar, and the general praise songs provide flexibility when thematic selections fall short.

• Playing contemporary chord extensions and alterations in worship contexts
• Interpreting harmonic movement through touch and pedal rather than volume
• Managing rhythmic figures that sit across the beat
• Building fluency in the language of modern hymn and Christian worship music
• Understanding how arrangement choices support congregational or devotional singing