My Musical Background
I will share that my earliest experience of music was at four years old when I heard music coming from the sun. To this day, it is my belief that God provided me a glimpse of heaven's music when I was this little. I heard music I had never heard before or since that time that was a sound that can only be described as the most beautiful sounds I had ever experienced. The only thing that ever came close to the sound was when scientists had picked up on the biorhythms of plants and the sound that was picked up from those plants. I would be with someone in a car as the sun was setting or in the early morning hours rising and I would hear the music. I would ask whoever was around me to be quiet as I wanted to listen to the music. They never could hear it. You don't hear it?, I would ask and their reply was always no. I knew then that only I could hear it. Later in life, I knew it was God who gave it to me to hear.
I've spoken of how I learned how to play piano by a neighbor who lived across the street from us in a previous blog. She saw I was a latchkey child and wanted me to spend time with her afterschool learning how to play piano. She also taught my brother, who was a musical genius -- music was definitely his gift and came easy to him. I had to work hard to learn how to play. Now my singing ability was much easier for me and I loved to sing.
I learned how to play guitar in 10th grade from a teacher named Mr. Griffith or Griffin. I'm old, so I can't remember his name exactly. However, he first taught me the basics and actually was the one to draw out my singing ability from within me. He wanted me to sing as I learned how to play Tom Dooley. After he taught me my basic skills, my brother took over from there. My brother taught me how to pick and to this day, my style of picking strings is the style he taught me. I remember there was a boy named Michael Jackson in this class and he had a girlfriend, Linda. They used to harmonize so pretty. So I asked them how they learned to harmonize. Michael usually carried the melody and it was Linda who harmonized. So she told me to just practice with the radio. Match your voice to the song with a second melody that harmonized with the note being sung in the melody. Originally I sounded horrible, but because of her, I learned how to harmonize with anyone who sang the melody. This included my brother, who never harmonized. So in essence I became his backup singer.
This brings us to our teen years when we were very involved in our church. I sang solos for the Inglewood Seventh Day Adventist Church, but my brother and I also sang together as well. I was the one to harmonize with his voice. When you are related to someone, it is much easier to harmonize with them and I have to be honest, our harmonizing was pretty tight. We formed a little choir we called the Agape Group. It was a group of youth that used to travel and sing for convalescent homes and we also used to go Christmas caroling together. Later when my brother and I were college level, we sang at a Maranatha Gather on the lawn of Loma Linda University. By this time my brother had formed a group of his friends to play the drums and guitar along with his guitar. I harmonized as a backup singer. My brother was a song writer and we also had a recording session where we sang and recorded several of his original songs. I remember there was a young man who joined us in these recordings who had an amazing singing voice who I was also able to harmonize with and together we recorded my brother's songs. Later my brother provided a copy of this tape to some of our relatives and told them he actually was singing the male part (no he wasn't), but whatever. It was an amazing experience.
I had a Best Friend in College who actually invited me to also sing backup to a song that had been written by a song artist. We were invited to sing in a recording studio. The exciting part was actually hearing the song on a religious radio station in San Bernardino being played. That was an exciting experience.
Back to high school. During my Junior year in high school, I got involved in drama, Chamber Singers (A Small Group of Singers) and Choir. The Chamber Singers performed at many events throughout the community. Our Choir teacher put on a musical production -- Annie Get Your Gun. Originally, I was cast as a member of Annie Oakley's siblings and had a small part and was also part of the backup Chorus singers in the musical. However, sometimes I say I'm an idiot savant (when my mind was young and clear) when it comes to song memorization. When everyone would sing their parts and say their lines, I was like a parrot who would know all the words. Well right when we were getting ready to open our musical production, the lead singer and actress, who auditioned and got the part for Annie Oakley developed a horrible case of laryngitis. So our teacher was desperate and asked if anyone could learn the part. Everyone in the production had told him that I had everyone's parts memorized, so he asked me if I would be willing to learn all the songs and all the lines and do opening night for Annie Get Your Gun as Annie Oakley. I had to suck up my lack of confidence and told him I would. So practice for three nights before opening night. I actually did opening night and two other nights, before the star returned and she finished out the production and I did what I was originally selected to do. The show was a hit in our community. But because I played the lead for those nights, I also got to lead across a boy who I had crushed on all year. In the play, we shared a kiss in one part. Oh be still my heart. After the production was over, this boy called me over and asked me if I would be his Junior Prom date. Oh my goodness, was I so honored and told him of course. Oh what a glorious Junior year I had. Toward the end of the year he informed me of his plans to move to New York and we parted ways. Senior Prom Date picture following:
Then came my just as fun Senior year. I was also part of drama, Madrigal Singers (Small Group of Singers) and Choir. With Madrigals and Choir we often performed at community group events. I was always considered a soloist and my teacher would select me to do songs by myself at times. I remember we sang at the Mission Inn in Riverside. Because I was in music, I also met a very nice boy who was instrumental in improving my piano skills. We became a couple and quite often we would perform with him playing the piano and me singing. We performed "We're All Alone" at the high school talent show in Yucaipa and we won. Then afterward, he and I performed a couple times at Mission Inn together, one time for a group of people and another time in the main lobby of the hotel next to the Grand Piano. These were some awesome memories. I remember our choir went to the rotunda at the Mission Inn and we all sang in harmony in there -- it was like a heavenly choir and the acoustics were amazing. I remember the choir also sang in a staged room at Mission Inn. During the Springtime our Choir teacher had us do a musical called Spoon River Anthology. I had some small speaking parts, but was one of the main soloists in the play. I remember the excitement of the opening night when we all got a free hairstyle from a very popular hair stylist from Redlands and we also had to wear stage makeup. Oh how I adored my music teacher. She was a young very cool teacher. She was beautiful too. She afforded me so many opportunities to expand on my musical gift.
I auditioned for the Southwest Women's Chorus in Temecula and was a member of the choir for a couple years. We performed at the Temecula Theatre there. That was a wonderful experience. I also developed a close relationship with several women in the choir and we formed a Bible Study group that met weekly. That was a wonderful period in my life. Due to my managerial job, the practices and events started to clash with my job, so I had to resign from the group.
As an adult I played improvised piano, guitar and sang as a soloist and also sang in duets with different singers throughout my life. I was an earliteen leader and provided worship for that group. Later I would be involved in a children's ministry where my guitar playing and singing voice along with powerpoint songs would be utilized during worship for them as well. When I worked for a school district during my last Human Resources Manager position, I was an event coordinator and every year we would have a Winter Social. There were many times where I sang solo for our employees. I also became a serious artist in 2006 and was able to do a slide presentation of my art while I sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Most recently, I assisted in providing music and singing for a senior church group in Los Banos. We also took this same group to a rehab nursing facility and sang for the patients there, but then Covid hit and we weren't able to continue with that ministry. I got involved in a church choir for a short duration of time.
Now my voice is dedicated solely for worship within the congregation of the churches I visit. Just this past week, my companion gifted me with a brand new Yamaha B2 Piano. I've been playing for hours on it. Prior to getting it, I asked the Lord to please bless me with the ability to play again as it had been so long since I utilized my piano playing talent and you know what -- I got some books that were an easier level to play and my repertoire has improved immensely. Thank you Jesus!!
I probably have forgotten some of my musical experience, but as you can see, music is very much engrained in my soul. I love music. My favorite thing to do with my music is to worship to the heavens. I so look forward to being able to master instruments in heaven and to also be part of the huge choir that sings and worships the Trinity there.
Psalm 95:1 -- "Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation."
Ephesians 5:19 -- "speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord."
Psalm 71:23 -- "My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I whom you have delivered."
Psalm 150: 1-5
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