Artist Personal Profile…
You may be somewhat curious about my music and to answer some of your questions, I have included this short profile. As you have already guessed I am not a professional, but I simply do what I do because I love doing it and I feel it is what God has called me to do.
I am retired and have been doing my music for only about 10 years. I began writing a short time after the death of my mother and I attribute my writing to the influence she had on me. I have had no music training of any kind but have always wanted to play the piano. When she became ill and was confined to the hospital I started singing songs from the church hymnal and taking them for her to listen hoping they would cheer her up a bit. I sang all the songs that I knew from 3 or 4 song books and soon ran out of material to sing. After she passed away I felt that I couldn’t stop what I was doing but I wanted some different material. I did not know where I could obtain new material and could really not afford to purchase it. I really don’t know how to read music that well so I came up with the idea of creating my own. A little over three years later and I have written approximately 700 songs.
After writing the lyric I wanted to take it the next step and attempt a melody. I do not have a singing ability but I decided that I should attempt to do the best that I could and sing what I had just written. I have always been told “You don’t know what you can do until you try it.” Many of the songs that I have written were for my lovely daughter Heather to sing but I had no sheet music for her and she gently declined to sing them. She is an extremely lovely person and I am sure that we will be able to work something out. She and her four brothers make their dad really proud.
I have little ability as far as writing, singing, playing an instrument so why would I want to continue to create something that I know so little about? First, I felt that I was being led of God to do so. After sharing some of my music with friends, I received a positive response as to God’s working in my life as well as the life of the ones that I had shared my music with. I could not deny that God can and will take whatever He so chooses to accomplish His will. I have asked God this question. If He has chosen to use my feeble attempts of praising Him, why did He not give me the voice and the training to do so? His answer, He is not concerned about how well I did it but was only concerned that I was ready and willing to do it. If what I have written were to only be seen by my eyes alone, it would for sure need to be done because I felt it was what He has wanted me to do. What He (God) chooses to do with it is entirely up to Him even though I would like for it to be used to bless those who see and hear it. I don’t know what will happen with what I have accomplished but I do know that I am at peace knowing that I have a God that loves me and is only concerned about what is best for me as His child. It is in this thought that I have given it totally to Him thanking Him for a opportunity to serve.
About the songs: Most of what I have written took me thirty minutes to an hour to compose, although some of them took me several days to complete. Looking back on what I have written, knowing myself, I wonder how it was accomplished. Many of them were written with little thought, just writing down what I felt in my heart I was to write. I, in my mind, had intended to go back and improve or correct what I had already written but my passion to write more kept me from doing so. Most of the songs I have sang only once or twice so I really don’t know how or couldn’t sing them again without the CD. I have serious problems with allergies and in many cases found it difficult to sing them even the first time. I have an extensive education in the arts having obtained a BFA and MS degree in fine arts and I am somewhat of a stickler for quality, I take pride in my work. In feeling this way, I am sometimes prone to discomfort when doing inferior or incomplete work and strive not to do so. This has been a problem for me in my writing not only for my own fulfillment but because I in no way wish to tarnish or disgrace the One I have written about. Having little knowledge about music but wanting to do what I feel I am led to do, I have found comfort in taking my efforts as far as my knowledge and talent will allow me to and then giving it to God and letting Him do whatever He wills. I am not attempting to entertain or to gain any type of praise; my only desire is to please my God whom I serve and to tell others about His undying love.
I pray that you will enjoy my efforts and that you will let Him speak to you as you listen. As I wrote each word my prayer was that God would bless my humble efforts and that comfort and guidance would follow all who hear.