Music and Me-Part 6

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I loved to sing…as I’ve mentioned in previous musings.  And while my favorite way to sing was in groups – trios, choirs, mixed groups – I did occasionally sing solos.  As I sang, I usually had the copy of the music in front of me, “just in case…”  Well, it was a good thing I did, because once, as I was beginning a solo, the intro had been played, and I opened my mouth to sing…and the words had completely left my memory!!  The pianist continued to play as I scrambled to look down at the music to find my place.  I was so totally embarrassed by that, that my confidence was forever shattered.  I never again did a solo without the music “just in case” – it was always there to support me.

I’ve mentioned that I sang with wives groups at all the military bases where we were stationed.  I sang with a wives group in Wiesbaden, West Germany, and later with the wives group in Heidelberg.  Unfortunately, while in Heidelberg, the pianist for the group had rotated back stateside with her family, and they needed a pianist/accompanist more than a singer, so that’s what I did.  I remember once we did a fun number (sorry, I can’t remember the name of the song we did), and about halfway through the song, was a piano interlude.  The director thought it would be a fun touch for the accompanist to stand up and play that piano interlude.  So when it came to that part – I actually stood up, Cheshire-cat-smiled at the audience (and winked at them) and played the music standing up!  It got a good laugh from the audience!

Last week I posted a picture of the entire music program at my home church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

First Baptist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico

 While that picture included the children, there were over 60 adults in that choir…no small thing. 

(Please see my post of February 21, 2016 – The Cruise of a Lifetime – Part 4.  We met Richard and Judy Bradford on that cruise, and he was the Minister of Music at my home church in Albuquerque in the 1970’s!)

When Fred and I first married, we moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for Fred to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

We joined Travis Avenue Baptist Church while there, and became members of the choir.

It was a great choir, and we had some amazing directors.  There were probably 80-100 members of the adult choir at that church.  We had some classically trained voices, and the first director was a voice teacher at the Seminary.  However, other directors who followed her were also great.  The one we sang under the most was Bill Pearson.  I remember we did The Seven Last Words of Christ,

and later a musical called God’s Trombones.

That was so much fun to do – Bill had the choir members scattered throughout the sanctuary.  Someone had a large handbell, and when it began to toll, we got up, one or two at a time, and made our way to the choir loft.  And then we sang.  It is a wonderful piece of music, that would probably be considered “politically incorrect” in today’s world, unfortunately.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: Music therapy