BIGGEST DREAM THAT DID COME TRUE

BIGGEST DREAM THAT DID COME TRUE

When I was a child I dreamed of two things.  One was becoming a teacher, the other was to be a church musician, even before I even had music lessons.   My grandmother exposed me to church music at an early age.  When I would visit her, she would make sure we sat close to the organist at her church so I could see her play.   My dream was to play in church.   My only obstacle was that I couldn’t take lessons, because my parents wouldn’t let me.   My grandmother had a small keyboard and she would show me where the notes were and did her best to impart the limited knowledge she had of piano to me, so I would play with the keyboard and pretend to be playing in church.   

Finally, at age 15, after years of begging my parents for lessons, my grandmother stepped in and made sure that I got lessons.   My goal to my piano teacher was clear-I want to be a church musician.   That’s all.  None of that "classical"a stuff for me, no sir!   So, we worked through a series of books for church musicians.  After a while, though, we basically only worked on learning hymns.   Once I had the basics down, I began playing from the Baptist Hymnal 1975.   I would sight read and play and play and play and when I was done with that I would play a little more.   About a year and a half after my first piano lesson, I was filling in at church, first on the organ, then later playing the piano as needed and almost always on Wednesday nights I would play the opening hymn for our weekly prayer meeting/Bible Study.   I also substituted as pianist for a couple of local churches and, while still in high school was the accompanist for our high school chorus.  

I went on to college and started as a Music Education major, but after a couple of years, I decided to switch from the education program to the BA in Music.   My major instrument was voice, although my passion then, now, and always will be the piano.    While in college, I was given the opportunity to serve as my best friend’s accompanist for part of his freshman year and played in a couple of churches off and on.  

It wasn’t until the spring of 2006 that my childhood dream would become fully realized, though, when I was asked to consider playing on a permanent basis for the church where I was confirmed as a Catholic in 2000.   I gladly accepted the offer and have been there nearly seven years.

Here’s my confession:  I can still recall one of my first Sundays as accompanist at my current church.  I generally play the piano, but from time to time I will play the organ (although I’m first to admit that I am NOT an organist).    On this particular Sunday, I was playing the opening hymn on the organ, looking out over the congregation, and I just had this feeling of “I have arrived.”  It was at that moment that I knew my dream had come true, it was a feeling that is hard to put into words because it is so surreal.

As for that other dream—becoming a teacher—I haven’t completely dropped that idea, but it is on an indefinite hold because I have other priorities that must, at this point, take precedence.