I have been arranging Christmas music to play with friends. (Our group is growing, and we need more parts.)

One good source for MIDI's is the CyberHymnal. I downloaded 'How Great My Joy,' which I happen to know as 'While By My Sheep.' This seems to be a very old song.

One problem with MIDI's made by organists is that organists seem to need to show everybody that they went to college. They can't just play a tune and include normal chords. No, they have to throw in walking alto parts or discordant notes to show how intellectual they are. Trouble is, notes which sound fine with a big church and a husky instrument sound awful in a small living room on a crisp instrument.

I spend a lot of time identifying and removing such notes.

(Another thing I do is put the song in a guitar-friendly key, such as D,G, Am or Em. In this case, I put the song in D. )

So when 'How great my joy' had A#'s in the bass, I thought they were extraneous notes. Then I spent time at the keyboard and realized that they were legitimate parts of an F# chord. In all my years of sharing music, I have never encountered an F# chord before. F#m, yes. But not F#.

So if you are looking for a new experience or want to amaze your friends, I suggest you download & transpose 'How great my joy' and play an F# chord.