Sunday again

         

This is for today’s leaf on my “thankful tree.”  The thoughts came to me as I walked home from choir practice feeling so grateful for the music people in my life that helped me develop a gift.  I am grateful for:

·         Parents who provided me with piano lessons and a mom who insisted on regular and precise practice!

·         An exacting and technical piano teacher who helped me build a great foundation.

·         A calling as the Jr. Sunday School pianist when I was 11 years old.  This was my first accompanying experience.

·         A girl’s chorus in our ward when I was about 12 whose director gave all the girls who could play a chance to accompany the songs and learn to “follow the leader.” 

·         School teachers who asked me to accompany the fifth and sixth grade music festivals and the operetta (when I was in the fifth and sixth grades).  I practiced for hours and loved it.

·         Brother Brown, a Sunday School chorister with a beautiful and powerful voice that left me no choice but to follow him.  He customarily walked across the front of the chapel as he led the songs with artful individuality singing toward the windows, and I had to learn to play while I watched him—in my early teens.

·         John Thompson, an amazing seminary teacher (ninth grade) former tabernacle choir member, and Ricks College Program Bureau director who provided me with so many experiences in music including playing for his vocal solo and accompanying the Program Bureau.  He often asked me for impromptu help which increased reading skills and focus.  Working with him was an invaluable opportunity.  It also provided the “stage” where Glade and I met!

·         High school friends with beautiful voices who asked me to accompany them for everything from church solos to festivals and competitions.

Each opportunity built another layer of skill and experience that prepared me at an early age for a life-time of accompanying opportunities that could fill a journal.  This is only the first chapter in the music diary, but a critical one that laid the foundation for so many beautiful musical experiences with wonderful people. I will forever be grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for providing such a precious blessing.