Piano Music

As most of my friends know, I just love to play the piano. It's always my way of letting out all of my emotions and refocusing myself. So I just love to play very expressive pieces. The piece I'm learning right now is called "All of Me," by Jon Schmidt. It's a bit more showy than what I usually like to play, but it's just so much fun that I'm really just learning it for me more than anything. (I don't really play for other people, anyway, except for church music.) If you click on the link you will see that it is quite a fast, difficult sounding piece--and I have to say that I don't play it nearly that well or fast! I'm still learning to not get my fingers all tangled up when I play the part where the bass comes in. I don't know if I will ever get it right but I'm trying!

I've been searching for good sheet music for quite a while, now, so I thought I would share my findings with y'all. For my friends who are also looking for sheet music, Jon Schmidt has a lot of good music available to purchase on his web site. Another muscian that I'd like to try is David Nevue. I found his site just yesterday, and I see that he has quite a bit of church music available. I've been needing some new pieces to play for our church services, so I think I will give his music a try when I have a little bit of time to practice it. Right now, though, I have decided that this is what I want to play next. I've never heard of Yirma before today [and just a heads up--a lot of his site is in Korean! haha], but one of my friends played this piece and I just loved it! Isn't it so peaceful?! This is just the kind of music that I love to play when I need to let everything from my day just come out all at once. I "talk" through my fingers when I play music like this.

Bluegrass Memories

This morning at church my mom pulled out copies of some old photos she had brought to give to an old family friend, pictures were of us and our friends at my Uncle Alvin's farm in Mississippi. We sat looking through the pictures and smiling at the memories they brought back. At Uncle Alvin's we loved to go see all of his animals. He raised almost every farm animal you can think of. (I can still remember being thrown off of his donkey. Not too many people can say they were thrown from a donkey!! Thankfully I was only about 6 or 7, and he caught me before I hit the ground.) Aunt Sandra even raised sheep for the wool, because one of her hobbies was spinning her own thread and weaving it into blankets on a loom.

My biggest memory from his house, though, is sitting there in their big living room, windows open (they didn't have air conditioning), listening to him, Aunt Sandra, and their bluegrass band practice for their next performance. Uncle Alvin would usually play the banjo, but sometimes he'd play the guitar or another instrument. Aunt Sandra could play the fiddle, but I always remember her playing the bass. She usually let one of her grandkids play the fiddle since she was teaching them to play. The 12 year old fiddle player always made me wish I could to learn to play the fiddle too! We went up to Vicksburg a few times to hear the band play on one of the historical days.

I wish I could hear Uncle Alvin play again. He passed away about 3 or 4 years ago. Aunt Sandra and the band still play, so maybe sometime I'll get to hear them again. It won't be the same, though, without Uncle Alvin on the banjo. I can still picture him sitting there, looking down his beard and picking away. I really don't remember if they were good or not. The last time I heard them all play together was at least 6 years ago, maybe more. They probably were good, but I just remember how much fun it was to watch the band enjoying their music so much!

I was listening to some music yesterday and this song came on. Its such a good example of bluegrass. Isn't it so fun to watch them play?!

Jesus I am Resting

A friend of mine introduced me to this beautiful hymn a few weeks ago. It has really meant a lot to me lately, so I thought I would share the blessing.

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.

Refrain

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.

O, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Belovèd,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.

Refrain

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
Thine is love indeed!

Refrain

Ever lift Thy face upon me
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting ’neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,
Earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory,
Sunshine of my Father’s face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,
Fill me with Thy grace.

Refrain

What a Beautiful Savior!

The Lord is so beautiful to me, more and more every day. He picked me up when I couldn't do anything good on my own and has lead me through life in such a loving way!

As I was doing some Spanish study today, I ran across this verse in Matthew 8:2--"¡Señor, si quieres, puedes limpiarme!" ["Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."] The man speaking was considered unclean by those around him. He was marred by "leprosy" (although the text note in my Bible says the Greek referred to a skin condition, not just leprosy), and unable to do anything about it. That is just the way that we are in our sin. But Jesus, who doesn't have anything making Him unclean, chooses to heal us with only a word!! He died to cleanse us. How beautiful is that!!

This afternoon, as I was studying for a nursing test, I was listening to some worship music, and one of my favorite songs came on. I thought I'd share it. It always reminds me of how, without Christ, I am no better than anyone else. I am an orphan, adopted by my Father, a whore, sought by my Husband, and a runaway, lost until He found me. He has given me everything. Praise Him!! How could I refuse to share His love with those around me?

You are on our side (Bethany Dillon)
The orphan clings to Your hand
Singing the song of how he was found
The widow rejoices
For her oppressors are silenced now

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

The runaway falls at Your feet
You are what he has searched for
The rich man is broken
When he stands beneath a sky full of stars

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

Bayou Bell Ringers

Note: If you tried to click on the link for the Bell Ringers' website, I made a mistake when originally typing the address, but I fixed it and the link now works.
I've been wanting to post something for a while about one of my favorite organizations: the Bayou Bell Ringers, a handbell choir for the disabled. This organization is very dear to my heart because I volunteered with them as a student worker for over 6 years, and I still help out as frequently as I can. My family is very close to the director's family. Mr. Aaron (the director) is one of the most talented men that I have ever met. The arrangements that he creates never fail to amaze me!

My twin sister, my best friend, and I started volunteering about 6 or 7 years ago. Originally, our job as student workers was to play the part of any bell ringer that was unable to come to practice and keep the part for them. Thus the name for us student volunteers became the "Bell Keepers.” As the group grew, though, our jobs became more and more complex. Now, as well as playing the parts of missing bell ringers, the bell keepers play parts that are too difficult or complicated for the disabled members to play, help bell ringers to learn their parts, and handle bell changes. Essentially, the job of a bell keeper now is to make sure that everything is running smoothly and on time, especially at performances.

I miss working with the Bell Ringers so much. The people in that group became almost like my second family. I love each and every one of them so much. They are definitely very special people. It is truly amazing to watch how much they grow and change through being in the choir. I have seen this organization help so many people. For a lot of them, the highlight of their week is the days when they practice. Many of the members were very socially withdrawn before they joined the choir, and it is amazing to see how much this group has helped them come out of their shells! They all love to play, and they just live for praise.

The group consists of about 30 members ranging in age from about 12 to 60. Each member usually has from one to four regularly assigned bells, but every song has a slightly different setup for the bells. Often if a ringer can’t handle playing all of his parts on a particular song, one of his bells will be given to someone else for just that song. Since the group has nearly 200 bells, there always is a lot of moving and changing of bells before and after every song.

There is a wide range of disabilities in the group. Two of the bell ringers can’t do much more than control the movement of one or two of their fingers. A local inventor, however, developed machines that allow them to ring along with everyone else by simply pressing a button. Other ringers are blind, but they wear little sensors on their legs that tap them when they need to play.

Because the members can’t read music, Mr. Aaron, who is a music therapist, has developed an original hand signaling technique with a different signal for each chord. There are at least 300 different signals! It takes a while to learn all of them, but Mr. Aaron has always impressed me with his patience in handling the members. He is so very good with them. The very fact of there being so many different signals is actually wonderful therapy, especially when that is incorporated with the dexterity that is necessary for ringing the bells. It strengthens the ringers’ memory as well as their fine motor skills. One of the bell ringers who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair was unable to do anything more than press a huge button when she first joined the choir. As her fine motor skills progressed, though, she has gradually become able to press many small buttons as well as maneuver several tiny switches.

Although I am too busy with my college courses now to do much with the Bayou Bell Ringers any more, I still love to help out whenever I can. My dad is the sound manager for the group, and my younger sister has been a bell keeper for about a year or so now. I think that everyone should have a chance to hear the Bell Ringers perform at least once. It never ceases to amaze me what the Lord has been able to accomplish through Mr. Aaron's willingness to help these people! I have learned so much through working with the bell ringers. I know that they always tell me that I have been a blessing to them, but I know that they have blessed my life with much, much more than I could have ever given them.

I love piano! :)

Oh, I just love to play the piano! It always makes me feel so much better. I was getting really stressed out about school and so I took a few minutes to go play (after eating some strawberry shortcake...;)), and I feel so happy right now! It's fun to just bang around with a fun song and then to play something so beautiful it can make you almost cry while playing it. I just got finished playing a bunch of different pieces, but I think that my favorite that I just played was "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" by Debussy. It's from his Children's Corner Suite. It's a really weird name, but an absolute delight to play!! :) It is a very happy song.

Playing the piano is my way of letting everything out. I love to play whenever I need to express my emotions. A lot of times I'm just itching to play! Mostly I love to play beautiful, expressive pieces, but I also like fun pieces like "Golliwog's Cakewalk" or "Pampillion (Butterfly)". One composer that I like that isn't very popular anymore is Edvard Grieg. My piano teacher used to have a huge book that was a collection of his pieces, and I borrowed it from her as often as I could. Most of his pieces are extremely challenging (a lot of them are on the level of Liszt with lots of runs and stretches and 32nd or even 64th notes), but I found quite a few that I could play. He wrote "In the Hall of the Mountain King", which always reminded me of the part in The Hobbit where Bilbo and the dwarfs are captured by the goblins and taken deep into the mountain. It seems as if you can almost hear the goblins marching around in that piece! I haven't played it in years, but it was one of my favorite pieces to play when I was about 13 or 14. I really should see if I can find some good Grieg music again. I haven't played any of his pieces since my piano teacher moved 2 or 3 years ago.

Well I'd better get to bed. I am in a mood where I really could talk about music all night, but I have class tomorrow and I need to get some sleep. I'm sorry to anyone who read this and was completely bored by it!! hehe! I guess when you have over 10 years worth of pieces stored up in your brain you have to let it out sometime... ;)