Service, doing what is needed

Service is an interesting concept that I love to do, but that sometimes I forget what it really is and avoid doing it for those reasons. Service is doing what is needed when it is needed, or at least that is my definition for service. I will put it another way. If you are walking through the hot desert and the sun is baking your brains, your body is demanding water to make the trip and you see someone coming towards you in a jeep. They get out of the jeep and hand you the most beautiful dress you have ever seen, jump back in, grab a quick drink from the gallon of water they carry, and roar off into the sunset. Is that service? Yes, it would be nice to have that amazing dress, the one you have always wanted, but no, it is not service. Or rather, it is self service, done for the giver and not the receiver. Service is needs based, the needs of the receiver and not the giver!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to do some service and a few people have looked at me as if I had a cracked head. Stephanie and I did special music for a singles conference. I admit, that was weird, there are so many single people that could have done an admirable job but they asked us so we did it, and we did well or so I believe. From there I went shopping, heck, I was on the mainland with almost 3 hours to fill, got some new slacks, a skirt and a top....all in all a productive day I would say....but that is not the point.

In the afternoon I went down to the Temple, dressed in white and sat down at the organ to play for the first session of our ward conference in the Assembly room of the temple. I played about 15 minutes of prelude, the opening hymn and then postlude until the room was again empty, found a stepping off point and cadenced. Walked back to the escalator that took me to the locker room, changed into street cloths and came home. Someone made the comment that I had not done a session and didn't I feel bad. I don't think they liked my answer because I assured them I felt great about my service. I had done service for the living and not the dead, but I had offered my service with a grateful heart at being asked. Yes, there were others that could have done what I did, but they asked me. Service is what is needed and not always what we want to do. It would have been rewarding to do a session but it did not diminish the rewards I felt for doing the service I did.

Heavenly Father has a plan for us, an individual plan as well as a group plan. It is our responsibility to keep an open heart and mind so that we can hear and feel what he would have us do. I know he gave me back my music so that I could use it to serve others, and through that service help people find their way back to him.

Garret Oliver Godsey

I started out this session trying to up-load a picture of Lawrence and his family onto my blog, but all I get is a series of numbers etc. Not what I had in mind so I will just do nothing on that angle. Sometimes I wonder why I can up load pictures and why I can't....I swear I do the same thing both times. Such is the life with a computer I guess, they are truly unpredictable under my hands!

Garret Oliver Godsey came to this world on the 13th of February weighing in at 8 pounds and standing 20 inches in height-length. He has a light dusting of black hair but it looks like the kind that will soon be history. And in the only picture I have seen of just him, he looks a lot like Lawrence at the very beginning. Emily says he is a calm little boy and that is good. She said she has hardly heard him. I know that he is well cared for, of that I am certain, Michelle has wanted this baby forever it would appear. I understand, I was there when Emily was born. I didn't think I could have children and then there was Emily. A pretty amazing experience any way you look at it.

The birth of Garret really slides the family into boy mold. We are now at 3 girls and 5 boys, and if you include the grandchildren of choice (Luzvie's kids) it is 7 boys. I am glad I like little boys a whole lot because I think that is just a fine number! I will say it also makes the three more special because they are so unique. Family is what it is all about and I get great pleasure seeing my small beginnings start expanding. Coming from a mom that was an only child and a dad that had one surviving brother to this is breathtaking. I could not be more pleased. The next generation of the family is composed of a whole lot of remarkable souls, remarkable in all ways.

Just listen folks....

I am always amazed at what teachers assign students to perform. Do they not listen to the student to ascertain if they are capable of playing the piece or do they just hear what they want to hear? There is a major concerto competition coming up with the auditions on the 24th. I am playing for 4 students. There is Adam that will do just fine, maybe fine enough to win a place and maybe not, but he will not embarrass me or him. Needless to say, he is my student, I started him with his first 1 1/2 reed and still work with him on Stamatz concertos. Then there is Zoe, plays a very competent viola but practices the art of Sorta-pitch when things get moving. Her teacher doesn't seem to notice that so I just try not to notice too. She should do well, probably getting a seat because she is a really good young violist, albeit a little pitch handicapped. Next we have Wyatt, not my student, playing the extremely fast Quantz Concerto. He is very good but he has not mastered the art of tonguing at that fast tempo. So would it not be better to play the slow movement and show off his remarkably good tone and control? Nope, we are going with blazing fast that shows off all his weaknesses (thank heaven's there aren't many). Lastly there is Jacob, a trombone from the north end. He really knows his instrument and he gets from note to note with speed and accuracy. Intonation is remarkably good too, but he has one volume and it is loud. On and on it is loud with no contrasts at all. And he is playing a transcription where the instructions so no transcriptions. We will see if they honor their own rules because he really is very good. And last of all, a mid-island clarinet that is trying to get some scholarship money from WWU. She is doing the slow movement of a Brahms Sonata and refuses or has no clue as to how, to count. The accompaniment offers no support to the solo and she is all over the place with her notes. It will never hang together unless I just throw the music out the window and improvise around her random notes.

So why do teachers do this to students and why do students do this to accompanists? No answer, only I hope I never do it to the students or to myself in that I do all my own accompaniment work. I think we get our egos too involved and somehow think that the student playing a more challenging piece makes us look better. True, but only if they can pull it off with authority.

Meanwhile I will continue practicing those hard runs and go out there to showcase those I am working with....and maybe guide the one young lady away from Brahms.

A Full Day

Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do, then I remember it is because I like what I do! That would be today. What a long day. Started off going to the gym for my average but brief workout. I figure it is better to go and do something than stay home and do nothing, so I go with that something in mind. Works eventually. Anyway, taught a piano lesson and then sewed with Avery for a couple of hours. Booked it up to Oak Harbor to teach some lessons and do some accompaniment work for the upcoming concerto competition. Came back to attend the WICO rehearsal (Whidbey Island Orchestra Organization) and now I am back at square one. I am tired but all in all it has been a good day. Avery learned the fine art of zippers, single flap and double flap. A necessary skill but not one that I find easy to instruct so I brought in Tarey to do the deed!

While up north I picked up stuff at Wal-mart and Albertsons. I figure that I might as well take advantage of the trip and do some shopping while out and about. I also discovered that you can not purchase a freezer in Oak Harbor, or the portion that I was shopping anyway. So it means I head off to the mainland tomorrow after my lesson and rehearsal to look at Sears. I figured Home Depot would have same, not a one! That came as a shock! But I am rather certain Sears will come through on this department. I will purchase same tomorrow (hopefully) and Larry will collect it on Monday. Will work for both our schedules I think. My chest freezer is not holding temperatures as good as it once did so it is time to get a new chest freezer for long term storage.

Time to decompress and head to bed. Tomorrow is another day, and it might even be a sunny day. That is an extra plus this time of the year. There was some nice sunshine today as I was locked in a practice room with students. Earning money can be such a drag but I am so grateful that I am able to do just that. There are many that have no income at all, I get to do what I want pretty much when I want. Not such a bad routine!

They always say that a picture is worth ever so many words....and this pretty much says a bucket. We had some deep snow just before Christmas and my one and only went outside to make a snowman, or snow pile or something, in his pajamas. No gloves, no boots and plenty of cleavage! Some families are known for their cleavage on the front side, some for the cleavage on the back side.....mine would be the latter. I would have thought the snow crawling down the obvious cleavage would be ever so cold but he stayed out there for well over an hour. I took the picture form the bedroom window. Heck, I am smart enough to stay inside where it is warm and dry, don't need to be out there getting snow in places snow has no need to be!

When he finally finished his project it was the tall pile of snow. I thought it was an igloo but it was just a pile. He then walked around to the deck and put the flag on the top of the pile. But that wasn't good enough....if you are going to be "poor white trash" you need to take the final step. He went and got some clear plastic and covered the pile so that it would not melt. So I ended up with a flag sticking out of a pile of snow covered with plastic wrap. Oh I was proud! Well, at least I was entertained! I sure hope it is more genetic than environmental. I would hate to think I have populated the world with more Cleavage baring snow piling, flag sticking, plastic wrapping off-spring! Ain't life grand?!

Faith is...

I think faith is an interesting subject, one I get to teach on today for Sunday School but also one that always hides in the back of my mind for manipulation and thinking. The scriptures have all sorts of amazing definitions for faith, what it is and what it isn't. But I always like to put things into my own words and into the sphere of which I work. A while back I came to define Faith as playing an octave with your pedals at the end of a Bach piece at double forte volume. That takes faith, you can't look at your feet and the volume is already up there. You just have to believe in all the practice, in all the times you have done it right, and put your feet down with conviction and confidence. That is faith in my world.

Brother Fredrikson once accused me of giving him confidence....misplaced confidence! He knew he had a voice but didn't know he had a singing voice, but when told he could sing enough times he started to believe it and then, through his belief, he brought about the desired end. He became a soloist as well as a choir member. Therefore I must conclude that faith has to do with confidence and sometimes, it would appear, misplaced confidence. Nothing really changed with his voice, only the confidence to use that voice. Faith does not waver, we do. Sometimes I have enough faith to just present my gift and feel relatively confident. Other times I present it on the confidence of someone else.

I have Faith in Heavenly Father but sometimes I don't have faith in me. When that happens I have to borrow the faith from someone else until I am strong enough to have it for myself. That is the concept I want to teach my wonderful little ten through 12 year old students today. Use your own faith, exercise your own faith, but when you just aren't strong enough to make it happen then look around and borrow from those that are so willing to offer it to you. Look to unit leaders, look to parents, to friends and peers that you respect. Look there until you can look inside and blow the little sparks of your own faith to full light.

One of the things I admire most about my children is their faith. All of them have a generous supply of it. They keep going when logic says it is time to quit. That is faith in action and that is what we all need to cultivate. Emily was willing to exercise her faith in her musical ability to pick up a viola and play violin music for Nancy's wedding without the preparation time necessary. It didn't happen for other reasons, but the faith in her own ability was still there and I have no doubt it would have been a positive experience for both the performer and the listener, albeit the music might have been sacrificed a little.

What a key component to life this faith is. It is what I intend to work more on as the new year comes upon us. Having faith in all things, including faith in me.

Winter sky

This would be 525 heading towards Maxwelton Rd. And the best part of the drive! Maxwelton was pure white and ever so interesting. Sunlight Beach road was accessible only with 4 wheel drive so Joyce had to catch a friend to get home! We slid on in with no problems. I love the Island in snow when I am safe within my four walls! And this was even good snow!