My Most Influential Musical Moments

This is the final installment in this series of major influences on my life. Music plays a tremendous role in my life, so I thought it would be fun to think about the top five musical experiences that have impacted me as a musician. (There is no way that I could confidently state the "most influential" moments, so I will have to settle for five that were really important.)

1. The youth department of the church that I grew up in held an annual Teen Talent competition. The contest featured local, state, and international rounds and winning was a great honor. I competed in the Arkansas state competition for 6 years and won the piano division each year. I was fortunate enough to compete in the international competition twice. It was during these competitions that I was first introduced to the hymn arrangements of Marilynn Ham. These arrangements have served me well over the years and I have a special fondness for Ham's arrangements of Great is Thy Faithfulness and Be Thou My Vision. The introduction to these works clearly established my belief that instrumental music can be a powerful method of sharing concepts of faith with an audience.
2. After transferring to West Memphis Christian School, I was encouraged to participate in the summer musical presented by the local community theater. I really didn't know what I was getting into, but I auditioned anyway. A few weeks into that production of Carousel, I found myself sitting at the piano....and being asked to play for the evening's rehearsal. I didn't really realize that playing a major score at sight was a big deal, so there was no opportunity to get nervous. That night taught me that I had a gift for sight reading, a love for musical theater, and began a great friendship with one of my personal mentors, Donna Bledsoe.
3. Eastern Arkansas was not known for its strong choral tradition while I was in high school. When I began studying at Pepperdine University, I had the opportunity to sing in a choir for the first time and fulfilled a lifelong dream. What I never expected was that my first semester would include the opportunity to sing Carmina Burana! I immediately fell in love with this powerful choral work and have been involved with choral music ever since.
4. It was also at Pepperdine that I began to gain confidence as a pianist. When I was asked to open the dedication of the college's new recital hall with Brahms' G Minor Rhapsody, I was overwhelmed and honored. I still enjoy going back to this early work and diving into the richness of those bass octaves!
5. In graduate school, I had spent most of my accompanying time in vocal studios to make a little extra money because that was the repertoire with which I felt most comfortable. As soon as I was introduced to Halsey Stevens' trumpet sonata, I was hooked on the world of instrumental collaboration. Not only did I enjoy it; I learned that I did some of my best work with brass and woodwind instruments. I still spend most of my time with vocalists at the moment, but there's always a longing to return to the instrumental side of collaboration as often as possible....and I'm looking forward to playing a recital with an undergraduate violinist in early May!