Have you been asked to play for a friend's wedding or in church, but don't think you have anything long enough? No worries. Use what you have creatively. Short pieces in the same key can be bundled together to make an interesting longer arrangement out of what you already know.
My students have made great use of this practice by taking their very eary pieces (which most keep in a repertoire book so that they always have music ready to play.
These simple solos are some of the first things they'd use in public. Originally, each was in the key of C major or A minor (key signature of all naturals), so they were easy to pair with anything in the key of A minor or C major without a key change. Overtime, more keys became helpful. Below you'll find several options to try for yourself. You can pair any relative keys together without a change of key signature, so pair C major with A minor for an interesting contrast between your sections of music.
Start with a simple A-B-A format - play one theme first, then the second, then repeat the first. It's a common form in music because it's satisfying to the listener.
Look through music that you already know and see what you can find that would compliment another piece in your repertoire and creatively piece together something uniguely yours.
Listen to the first option, Beside Still Waters, then grab the music below and make something new with it.
free sheet music downloads:
Beside Still Waters in A minor
Beside Still Waters in B minor (key signature of two sharps, pairs with keys of B minor or D major)
Beside Still Waters in D minor (key signature of one flat, pairs with keys of D minor or F major)
Hope in C major
Hope in F major
Hope in D major
Comfort in A minor
Comfort in D minor (key signature of one flat)
Comfort in B minor (key signature of two sharps)
updated option: Still Waters, just the first half, with Were You There? as a middle section, to give you a push to make your own combinations
Here's another version of Were You There?, this time, with the hymn played twice, and Still Waters as the interlude between the two verses.