Music Lessons from the Plumber

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Maybe this is terrible, but I secretly look forward to having the plumbers come.  Not because I desire a problem--no, I don't have a lot of time for extras of those.  But these guys are hard-working, friendly people, and I always enjoy their attention to courtesy as they take care of life's basics around the house.

I think that's what one of my favorite uncles is like as a plumber (I'm allowed to have more than one favorite uncle, right?), although I've never been out on the job site with him.

Today's visit from the plumbers didn't disappoint.  As we talked about the details of parts and next visits, I mentioned my up-coming responsibilities as choir accompanist at a local school's music festival at the end of this week.  The conversation turned to the piano gracing the living room.

"I think it was built in 1907," I told them.

They did the math.  Yes, 108 years old, as far as we know.  Amazing, right?  

Turns out, one of the plumbers is also a musician who plays several instruments.  He told me how he learned to play by sheer effort and commitment.  And you know what?  I think he had a lot of wisdom to share with this piano teacher and her students.  It was just the affirmation and encouragement I needed in this busier-than-usual music making week.

Making Music Takes Discipline

That's no surprise to me.  I've been making music for a lot of years, and I'm still making music because at each step I've stayed disciplined.  The plumber said playing accordion didn't come easily to him.

"Why can't I do this?" he asked himself, over and over and over.

But he didn't give up, and neither did I.  Now we're both musicians for life.

Making Music Takes Priority

If learning to play your instrument isn't a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly priority, you will never learn to play your instrument well.  The plumber said he turned down countless invitations as a young man to go have fun just to keep trying to play.  Even before he was good at playing.  

He simply wanted to play, and he knew it would take making his instrument a priority if he was every going to learn.

Opening the Musical Ear

And you know what?  All that discipline and all that priority eventually "opened the musical ear", as he put it.  

"Once the musical ear is opened," he told me, "there's no stopping it."

He's entirely self taught.  He tunes all his instruments by ear.  He hears things other people can't hear.

Because he kept at it, day in and day out, until he could play.

A Musician's Thoughts on Sad Music

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My soundtrack that last spring of graduate school as I studied, wrote papers, washed dishes (it DID happen sometimes!) was something we were learning in choir, "When David Heard", a Biblical text set afresh by Eric Whitacre.

"When David heard that Absalom was slain, he went up into his chamber over the gate, and wept, and thus he said,  'O, my son Absalom!  Would God I had died for thee!'"

The music had arrived late, which put us behind our rehearsal schedule for this fifteen-minute no-small-task piece, and our director asked us to listen to it often, following our parts.

And yes, I did just say fifteen-minute piece, and yes, the text above is the entire text. 

It's David weeping for his son, after all, knowing he might have been able to do something more not only for his physical salvation, but also his spiritual salvation, yet seeing that last chance slip through his fingers with his son's death in battle.

It's a complicated story, and I think David's grief was complicated.  Which, quite frankly, makes that fifteen minutes of beautiful and haunting choral weeping seem quite appropriate.

(If you're reading on e-mail, click over to the blog to listen to the YouTube recording.)

Then last week my mom told me about a talk she heard called "Ten Things to do to be Happy".  One of the things, she said, was to listen to sad music.

Wait, what?

The logic had something to do with the sad music giving you a venue to release and process your own sadness, rather than hanging onto it at the expense of your overall happiness.

Well, I had been feeling the weight of stress--my own, and some very intense experiences other people in my life had been going through--and I decided to give it a try.  I knew just where to begin, too, with that choir piece from graduate school, beautiful choral weeping spanning fifteen minutes.

And it sort of worked.  It did give me space to process.

The music made me cry a little, and while the words repeated over and over I had space to think and pray about all the things going on around me that didn't really make much sense.  In fact, I listened to the piece several times over a couple of days. 

There came, however, a limit.  Because the sad music didn't just give me the space to process, and then move on, but it also kept me processing beyond my need for the moment, and it KEPT me feeling sad.  

I needed happier music, and I needed it right away if I wasn't going to wallow in sadness indefinitely.

Enter "Eat Your Vegetables" (video below), another favorite graduate school discovery.  It's about prolific gardens and vegetables and the kind of bounty we all want our soil to bring forth, with a good share of humor mixed in.

It didn't take many rounds of vegetable music before I really did start to feel happier again.

So in case you're wondering if you should try listening to sad music to help you be happier?  Here's my vote:  give yourself a few minutes to listen to something sad, but plan ahead of time that you'll listen to something happy, too.

Because in the opinion of this musician at least, music not only gives us the chance to express and process the emotions we already have, but also the chance to influence the emotions and thoughts we want to have.  And if you want happiness, you can't feed yourself sadness and weeping, however beautifully composed, forever.

Onward, No Matter How Dark the Path

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I'm not one to sit down at the piano to learn a new piece and get downright angry at a composer.

No, not even when it's hard, or when I can't seem to find a good fingering, or when I mess it up ten times in a row.

Oh, but that day, I could hardly take it, and I was boiling mad at Marilyn Ham (a composer and arranger whose sacred music for piano, by the way, is some of my absolute favorite to play).

Mind you, I loved the idea of combining "The Battle Belongs to the Lord", which talks about the how our battles are really the Lord's battles to fight, with "Onward, Christian Soldiers".  I loved the switch from the intensely anxious minor-key verse when the heavenly army enters the land to the full and triumphant major-key chorus when we soldiers glorify the Lord of our army.

I just couldn't handle the transition to "Onward, Christian Soldiers" that kept it in a sad, mournful, plodding minor key.

And I won't lie, I was downright angry.  

Who puts this triumphant hymn of faith in a sad, despondent key?  If not even THIS hymn can be an encouraging battle cry anymore, what else is really left?  Where is hope if it can't be here?

Why I didn't just stop right there and choose a new piece to learn instead, I'm really not sure.  But I kept playing, plodding through this mournful Christian soldier's march until the tears flowed.

Because wasn't I on that very day feeling the weight and weariness of how sometimes the Christian walk just isn't easy, and feels the farthest thing from victorious?  Hadn't I just been wondering what in the world I was doing where I was, discouraged yet knowing somehow I was exactly where I should be, unable to discern a purpose in it all?

Somehow, though, even in my own life that didn't seem very glorious right then, by God's grace, I hadn't given up on the march.  I was still putting one foot in front of the other, hoping, praying, asking God to strengthen my faith until the light could shine just a bit brighter.

That minor key hung on in the music longer than I thought I could bear, but when that major key finish finally arrived for the very last verse, in fullest chords across the entire keyboard, my hope revived and the tears kept flowing for a new reason.  

I felt encouraged, strengthened, knowing the composer who at first made me so mad I could scream knew how to paint a sound scape of my life, with the promise of a brighter day ahead just beyond the next page.

I didn't have to pretend everything was glorious when it wasn't.  I just had to keep going.

My day of anger at the piano was a long time ago.  When I got that piece out again this fall, to freshen it up in my fingers, I was in a different place, a brighter place.

Still, I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed at the thought of how many people around me face those minor-key, discouraging marches right now.  And I whisper it softly, as if they could hear--

You're not alone.  It doesn't have to be a bright path to be the right path.  Victories won through hard battle are sweetest.  There's light up ahead.  Just hold tight to Jesus' hand, and keep walking, just keep walking through your dark valley.  We're almost home now.  He's coming soon for you and me, but meanwhile?  If you keep your eyes open, you'll often see a little bright flower beside your path to cheer your weary heart. 

Wendy and Mary: A Favorite from the 1980s Christian Music Scene

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I was pretty little in the 1980s, but big enough that I still remember them pretty well.  My mom worked at a Christian radio station for a while, which meant we got a good dose of all the 1980s Christian music artists like Steve Greene, Evy, and the like. 

Then of course there was the Christmas radio drama, Mary's Song, in which my mom played Mary.  She practiced her lines at home one day, and I happened in the room at about the time she said, "My son is the Messiah!"

"He is not!" I retorted.  I may have been three years old or younger, and I adored my older brother, but I knew my Bible well enough to know he was not the Messiah!

Fast forward to a few months ago, when my dad played a record or two over speaker phone for me on his little portable record player.  (That's normal, right?  Listening to records over the phone?)  

Which somehow led to figuring out that our tape player works, and a discussion of which tapes I had in my possession (rescued from my parents' house when they weren't listening to tapes anymore), which led to my dad's incredulous "You have Wendy and Mary?"

Yep, and I proudly still listen to them on a regular basis.

There are just days when my heart needs a genuine Christ-centered thing to listen to, and I was thrilled to rediscover how much Wendy and Mary centered their music on Scripture, both direct quotes and paraphrases.  Their music is cheerful, uplifting, just what I often need to keep my mind in a good place while I wash the dishes.

But I started feeling a little guilty when I realized that I still had Wendy and Mary, but my dad didn't.  I thought maybe I should send him the tape, so he could have a turn.  I didn't want to do that, so I started with a little YouTube video via e-mail:

Then I had a better idea.  What about eBay?  Or Amazon?  To my delight, I found out that you can still purchase this delightful music in just about any form you want:  record, tape, CD, mp3, and even a remix from Wendy and Mary themselves.  Or you can get the music from iTunes for your listening device.  It's an amazing world we live in.

For my dad, a record for his awesome little record player was the perfect choice.  I could hardly wait for his birthday to come, when my mom could pull it out to surprise him.

Here's another favorite for you to sample.  I hope you're blessed by their music as much as I am!

All the Way with Jesus

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{Today I played Blessing by Laura Story while two sisters sang at 

their brother's funeral.  Play the music while you read, if you wish.}

I sat at the table on a regular Friday afternoon eating a taco.  My husband answered his phone, and before he could hang up to tell me the news, the tears came.

I took another taco-bite, hardly tasting anything.  Everything had happened so fast.

We've lived here less than a year, and when we came, we really didn't know anyone--except that a close friend said she knew someone here, and put me in touch with a family she thought we'd enjoy getting to know.  

They invited us over that first Sabbath, the one we would have spent in a hotel room if it hadn't been for them, and before we knew it we were fast friends.  Quickly and firmly bonded, all in an afternoon's Sabbath rest.

They'd all three welcomed us--father, mother, son.  Daughters gone to college started to hear about us as we spent more Sabbath afternoons talking and walking as well as late Saturday nights with their family playing games.  We laughed often and much, the three of them and the two of us, together.

With summer vacation came that dreaded relapse no one thought would rear its ugly head.  Relapse worked fast, and hardly three weeks later, a vibrant nineteen-year-old went to sleep in Jesus.

Daughters came home as often as they could during those tough weeks.  They knew it would be hard, but they wanted to sing for their brother's funeral.  Oh, those precious girls!  I wanted to make everything better, but all I could really do was say, "Oh, friend, I'd be so honored to play the piano for you."

There's no class in college or graduate school that really prepares you to play the piano at funerals.

Of course you learn all along that you can't really think about much outside your piece while you're performing, and you learn to focus on reading the notes if they're in front of you, or at least thinking about them in several different ways if they're not.  You learn to tune out distractions, and you learn to follow the singer.

So in that sense, you're prepared.  You've been learning in every lesson and every class how to get through a piece at a funeral, but when it comes down to it?  

There are no words.

The two sisters dared something incredible, singing faith and acceptance and blessing with their brother lying cold right in front of them.  You don't dare let them down by falling apart at the piano.  No, you must dare with them, with faith that Jesus is coming again soon, that He might actually work some kind of blessing out of all this pain. 

You take your familiar seat at the piano, the same one where a young man once sat to play this very song for his sisters to sing.  Back then, he'd just been diagnosed with leukemia.  Today, they sing without him, but for him, or really for Jesus, trying to hold on even now.

You determine to play from your heart, but not so intensely that you break down and can't play anymore.  You start, they sing at all the right times, you all three get through somehow, you walk  back to your seat in a crowded church sanctuary, the tears come.

And Jesus is never so precious than on a day like today.  

During the days right before his death, he kept saying, "All the way with Jesus."  That's how we're all planning to go forward from here, all the way with our Savior.  We don't know any other way, really.  

We'll remind each other often.  We've laughed together, and now we've cried together.  It's only fitting for us to link arms and walk together on the pilgrim pathway leading all the way home.

Does Jesus Care?

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Revisiting this third verse of a comforting hymn, because while many celebrate a holiday today, dear friends of mine are grieving the loss of their son.  (Originally posted on November 4, 2009.)

Does Jesus care when I've said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me?

When my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks, does He care enough to be near?

Oh, yes! He cares, I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief.

When the days are dreary, the long nights weary, I know my Savior cares.

{If you'd like to see the other verses of this hymn, you can find it in the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, number 181.  You can also read its text here, where there's also a simple midi recording of the piano accompaniment.}

Crowning Jewel of Creation (A Hymn)

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{Photo:  La Sal del Rey, near sunset.}

My prayer for your Sabbath.  Because singing is often prayer, too, and just as much an act of worship as is prayer.

"Crowning jewel of creation,

Blest and hallowed, sanctified;

Time and changes all transcending, 

Shared forever, glorified.

"Blessed Sabbath made for man,

Gift from the Creator's hand.

"Sin and sickness, prayer and weeping

Cease at close of earthly days;

But Thy Sabbath is eternal, 

Joyful thanks to Thee we raise!

"Blessed Sabbath made for man,

Gift from the Creator's hand.

"Teach us, Lord, in storm or sunshine

How to truly rest in Thee,

May Thy Sabbath peace enfold us,

And our shelter ever be.

"Blessed Sabbath made for man,

Gift from the Creator's hand."

{Crowning Jewel of Creation, tune JEWEL, by Wayne Hooper; words by Gem Fitch.  Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, 385.}

Things to Memorize (A Habit for Day 15)

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 Yesterday we talked about how the Israelites in the wilderness were really good at forgetting what God had done for them in the past, and how merciful He was to them in contrast to their pitiful complaints.  He was right there all the time, yet they couldn't see past their worries.

Thus today feels like a good day to talk about remembering (a gentler word for memorizing, really) the things that will help us keep holding onto Jesus' hand.

In my own experience, stress has a way of putting blinders over my eyes, so I forget how the Lord has helped me before.  I forget His promises, I forget to praise Him for the blessings I already have, I forget to ask for wisdom as I head toward what feels like disaster.

He's always there; I just need help remembering that.

It seems like the only things that readily come to mind are the ones I've spent time reviewing.  So for me personally, the only way the good things have a fighting chance of even entering my brain when I'm stressed is to have them memorized.

Lest you're afraid you won't be able to memorize anything, think for a second about all the things you know by heart.  Song lyrics from your favorite radio station?  The route to work?  The grocery store that has the best deal on avocados?  The names of your friends?

Maybe we could afford to put some additional focus on remembering the things of God, before we're too stressed to search for them, so they'll be as natural to us as the morning drive to work.

Here are some ideas of things to memorize (or at least think about often) to get you going.

• Bible promises.  Keep them short if memorizing is hard work for you, or keep a journal where you write down in your own handwriting the most meaningful ones to you.  Then you can read a book straight through of promises you've claimed for yourself personally.  Trust me, it's hard to be discouraged after a few minutes of pure Bible promises!  Some of the most powerful are the shortest, so memorizing a few is doable for just about anybody.  Need wisdom?  James 1:5.  Need guidance?  Psalm 32:8.  Need hope?  Jeremiah 29:11.
• Experiences you've had where God has clearly blessed your life.  Write them down in story form and share them with family or friends, if appropriate.  Write them down in list form, and keep the list where you have easy access to it and can review it when you're tempted to think God has left you alone.
• Hymns.  Words are almost always more catchy if they come with a tune.  Choose some songs you already love.  You can also choose from different topics, such as praise, prayers for help or guidance, what Jesus did on the cross, the second coming, or heaven.  

Speaking of heaven, I used to feel a little bit like spending a lot of time thinking about heaven would be a sort of denial of the rough realities of this life.  As I've allowed myself to ponder and sing about heaven more, however, I've come to realize it does the opposite.  I can see my present realities with more clarity (which helps me make better decisions for the here and now), and the words about heaven give me the long-term determination to live in heaven's hope no matter what my outward circumstances.

I would thus encourage you to spend a lot of time especially reading and singing about the cross, as the only way you have a way out and a choice; and heaven, where that way out is ultimately leading you.

(Click button for series index.)

(Photo by Barbara Frohne) 

This Week in the Garden, and Moment by Moment Living

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My mom graciously sent these photos of the garden so I could see it really beginning to produce.  Check out how many tomatillos and green beans there are!  Even the Love Lies Bleeding is beginning to put out its cascading blooms.  It's amazing to me how much noticeable growth there is in the garden every week, and it all just happens a moment at a time, imperceptibly growing and changing.

It's a good reminder for me during this week of change and detail and newness, and it reminds me of a hymn.  Mind if I share?

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine, Living with Jesus, a new life divine,       Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,    Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Chorus:

Moment by moment I'm kept in His love; Moment by moment I've life from above; Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;  Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Never a trial that He is not there, Never a burden that He doth not bear, Never a sorrow that He doth not share, Moment by moment I'm under His care.

Chorus

Never a heartache, and never a groan, Never a teardrop and never a moan, Never a danger but there on the throne, Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

Chorus

Never a weakness that He doth not feel, Never a sickness that He cannot heal; Moment by moment, in woe or in weal, Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still.

Chorus

Source:  The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, number 507.

Come, O Sabbath Day

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As the Sabbath descends and the sun sinks behind the horizon, I'm thinking of one of my favorite Sabbath hymns.  Perhaps you'll simply join me in this prayer?

"Come, O Sabbath day, and bring
Peace and healing on thy wing:
And to every troubled breast
Speak of the divine behest:
Thou shalt rest,
Thou shalt rest!

"Earthly longings bid retire,
Quench the passions' hurtful fire;
To the wayward, sin oppressed,
Bring thou thy divine behest:
Thou shalt rest,
Thou shalt rest!

"Wipe from every cheek the tear,
Banish care and silence fear;
All things working for the best,
Teach us the divine behest:
Thou shalt rest,
Thou shalt rest!"

Words by Gustav Gottheil (1827-1903); music by A. W. Binder (1895-1966), tune name SABBATH.  Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, number 387.

Love at Home

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Just before my husband and I got married, I wracked my brain trying to think of something to give him for a wedding gift.  I thought of joint tennis lessons (he's active, and loves to play all kinds of things together).  I searched high and low for the right thing.  

Finally, nearly ready to give up, I pulled into my local Christian bookstore, partly to say hello to my friends the employees and partly to make one last attempt at finding the perfect wedding gift for my amazing groom.

Now, if you've grown up in the same circles that I did, you'll remember an oblong, tattered little hymn book that sits on your parents' and grandparents' shelves.  The cover may be ready to fall off, but you can probably still make out the title on the front.  If you're like me, you've wondered about that signature of ownership in the front--who owned it first, which were their favorite hymns to sing, how long they treasured and cared for the  little volume, all the while looking for the soon return of Jesus.  Maybe you see your parents' names written below the first name, with the phone number they must have had when you were born.  Maybe you've chuckled at the directness--and oh-so-trueness--of the temperance tunes, and tried to sing a few of the hymns without ever hearing them before.  Then you might wonder, like I do sometimes, why people ever stopped singing those unfamiliar gems.

So it was that day, as I walked into the bookstore, that I gasped.  Because here all this time of searching for the right gift, I had forgotten all about the one hundred year anniversary Christ in Song reprint.  My husband-to-be was a singer, a choir conductor, a professional musician with the goal and dream to always make music purely for the glory of God.  It was the perfect gift for my handsome singer.  Its title sums up his life mission in its three simple words.

I took it to the counter, where my friend and colleague of four and a half years smiled and promised to engrave the groom's name in silver, to match the title's lettering.  She refused to let me pay for the lettering.  I think her smile may have had something to do with the Bible she was engraving for me, from my groom, with my new married name.

We took our wedding gifts on our honeymoon--my new Bible and his new songbook--and established the habit of family worships in our married life.  (Worships together were a habit even in our dating life, but there's just something extra special about worships with your new spouse.)  We paged through the songs and spent a lovely afternoon near Mt. Rainier singing in our beautiful rented cabin.  (It was raining outside.)  

From that afternoon on, we knew just which hymn would, as often as possible, close our Sabbath days together:  Love at Home.

This Sabbath, he and I are apart.  But these words filter through my mind, drawing my heart closer to Jesus and closer to my husband, reminding me how it happens that marriages stay loving and families stay happy.  Take a look especially at the last verse, and make it your prayer with me today.

"There is beauty all around,

When there's love at home;

There is joy in ev'ry sound,

When there's love at home.

"Peace and plenty here abide, 

Smiling fair on ev'ry side;

Time doth softly, sweetly glide,

When there's love at home.

Chorus:

"Love at home,

Love at home;

Time doth softly, sweetly glide,

When there's love at home.

"In the cottage there is joy,

When there's love at home; 

Hate and envy ne'er annoy,

When there's love at home.

"Roses blossom 'neath our feet,

All the earth's a garden sweet,

Making life a bliss complete,

When there's love at home.

Chorus.

"Kindly heaven smiles above,

When there's love at home;  

All the earth is filled with love,

When there's love at home.

"Sweeter sings the brooklet by,

Brighter beams the azure sky;

O, there's One who smiles on high

When there's love at home.

Chorus.

"Jesus, make me wholly Thine,

Then there's love at home;

May Thy sacrifice be mine,

Then there's love at home.

"Safely from all harm I'll rest,

With no sinful care distress'd,

Thro' Thy tender mercy blessed,

When there's love at home.

Chorus.

Look for all four verses in Christ in Song, number 580, or three of the four verses in the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, number 652.

Today's Playlist

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 I harvested mint from my parents' yard today, some to dry, and some leftover to figure out what to do with fresh.  Maybe some Indian chutney?  Maybe some minty summer (non-alcoholic) drink to offer my parents when they arrive home from their anniversary trip this evening?

When I first arrived here this summer, my dad showed me the beautiful patch of mint growing, and reminded me that I had given him a couple of shoots with their root ball when they moved here.  It was somehow delightful and comforting to have the "offspring" of my own plant from Washington state when I had just come from Virginia.  It made me feel more like I have roots right now, during this transition time of life.

While I plucked leaves for the dehydrator, it dawned on me that I again have access to the wonderful recordings on YouTube.  It has been quite some time since I had internet at home, thought I, so that I could do serious listening from the kitchen.

Then like lightning it struck me:  One year ago today, I took comprehensive exams for my master's degree.  What a day it was!  Six hours of essays and theory problems to solve.  I love solving theory problems, to tell you the truth, so it was not a loathsome six hours.  Just very intense.  All at once.  My hand felt weary from writing at the end of the day.  I visited the grocery store directly afterward, and added up my purchases in mod twelve.  Exactly like I would if I was analyzing a twelve-tone row, or a pitch class set.  

So today, I'm listening to favorite pieces from the repertoire.  Pieces I've studied in depth, pieces I grew to love the more as I studied them the more.  Some, I'm listening to more than once.  Since I have to get right back to my mint leaves, then my lunch, and then the strawberry patch, I won't write about each piece.  But you'll write and tell me if there's more you want to know about any of them, right?  I hope you love them as much as I do!

 

Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn

Vienna Philharmonic, 1973

 

 Mendelssohn "Reformation" Symphony

Conducted by Leonard Bernstein (hence his photo above)

Charles Ives Symphony No 2

This video also has the particular delight of an explanation of the symphony and introduction to Charles Ives himself by Leonard Bernstein, which is incredibly worth listening to.  Then once that's finished, listening to Symphony No. 3 ("The Camp Meeting"), my favorite, is also a wonderful use of your time.

 

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

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Since my husband and I got married and went straight to graduate school, this is the first year I've had the delight of watching his expertise in the classroom.  (He's a wonderful teacher.) And I've learned a lot about the joys and struggles a classroom teacher goes through. 

Inspired by some other blog posts around the web recently, I thought I would put together my own take on showing appreciation for the teachers in your life, whether they're your teacher or your child's teacher.

1.  E-mail the teacher's boss, and boss's boss, letting them know several specific things you appreciate about the teacher's methods and work.  Copy or blind copy the teacher.  So many times, teachers and their bosses hear complaint upon complaint, but you never know what power an affirmation to someone's boss can have.

2.  Thank the teacher in writing (e-mail or hand written) for something specific they did to help you or your child grow.  Teachers invest a lot of time in energy in their students' growth, and it's easy for even the best teachers to wonder if their investments are paying off.  A specific and meaningful thank-you note can jump start their energy, at any time during the school year.

3.  Recognize the time a teacher may put in beyond their "required" hours with a gift that sets up them up for quality time with spouse and family.  This doesn't have to be expensive or complicated.  A basket of bubbles, water bottles, and sidewalk chalk for a day at the park.  A gift card for a smoothie place.  A gift card to a book store where they can buy a book to read aloud with spouse or children.  A picnic kit with cute paper plates, some fun reusable plastic ware, napkins, and a table cloth (they can choose their own food items, which is easier for you and them unless you know their allergies and dietary preferences).

4.  Pay attention to hints they give about who they are all year, and teach your kids to do the same.  Teachers spend a mountain of quality time with their students during the course of the school year.  If you're attentive, you're likely to find out what their favorites are:  hobbies, foods, music, whatever.  Act on those discoveries.

5.  Volunteer to help with an extra project in that teacher's program or area, and let the school know your donated time is in appreciation for a particular teacher.

6.  Make a donation (size doesn't matter) to the teacher's program.  If that's third grade, donate toward field trips or a classroom need you know they have.  If that's high school science, donate toward something needed in the lab.  If that's music at any level, donate toward scholarships, tours, instrument maintenance.  Ask what the needs are.  Then show your support with your donations.  And of course let the school know your gift was inspired by a teacher or something specific a teacher did.

So it's not an exhaustive list, but I hope it gets your creative juices going!  You'll notice the first couple of items on the list are free.  But they also have the capacity to be some of the most powerful things you can do for a teacher.

I'm Not Perfect, But I Hope They Feel Special Anyway

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I wanted to make cookies for my students the day of their recital, but I ran out of time and my mom had to bale me out.  Thing is, I forgot to tell her that the baking powder substitute I use (EnerG Baking Powder, http://www.ener-g.com/baking-powder.html) takes twice as much as regular baking powder, so her cookies, although she's an expert, were too hard.  I finally got new ones made and all put together and delivered today (nearly two weeks after the desired date), but I forgot to take a picture of them to show you.  They were cute little piano shapes.  I hope my students feel special even though I am tempted to think I failed because I didn't meet my deadline.

Tuesday, my husband's large choir met for the last time of the school year.  I had it all neatly planned, but I got going with my homemade musical eighth note cookies as well as my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (enough of each for about sixty kids) later than I wanted.  I was late getting things finished, and my in-laws jumped in to rinse grapes and load the car to take everything to the class....about half way through the period.  I felt like a total failure.  A total un-showered failure at noon, in pajamas no less.  But the students must have felt special, like I wanted them to, because they said they could hardly bear it that I didn't come down, and they've been thanking me all week every time I've come on campus.  Not that it was supposed to be about me or anything.  And it wasn't fancy.  It was just good to know they really did feel pampered.  Even though I was late.

Does it sound like I need to lighten up a little?  Probably.  Maybe next time--and I know there will be a next time when I frustrate myself for "missing" an arbitrary deadline--I'll remember everything worked out this time, and I won't stress so much.

Maybe it just counted that I care, that I am proud of their work this year.

My Next Instrument?

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Just visited a school to share music.  They have three octaves of this awesome instrument you can build from PVC pipe.  Great idea, huh?

Wisdom and Power

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I've been thinking about how humbling teaching can be, about how much I still don't know.  Discipline, inspiration, connecting the dots between the tasks and the faith.

But do you know what I just read?

"The wisdom and power of God will be given to the willing and faithful."  White, Ellen G.  Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 56.

Now to be faithful, with His help, as well as willing!

Performance Class

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We just had our first performance class of the semester.  I loved it.  The group setting, the students playing, having them all affirm each other (of course I told them they were only allowed to give compliments today).

We celebrated a birthday at the end.  I had debated about making something sugary, knowing that some might not need the extra sweet, and came across a recipe for a smoothie/almost-popsicle instead.  It worked.  They seemed to enjoy it.

I hope they had a nice time like I did, because I want playing the piano in front of people to be something they learn to love, not fear.  I want them to be generous with the gifts they're developing, willing to share what they learn (especially in the church context).  I want them to learn that what they have to offer really is a blessing and a joy to other people, and that playing the piano is something most people wish they hadn't dropped at my students' age.  That it's work, but work with great personal reward.

I Am an Example

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I encourage all my piano students to learn to play by ear.  Well, I guess I encourage them.  They might say that I require it of them, like it or not.  It works like this:

I play part of a melody twice, and they try to repeat it exactly.  I'm not strict, though, and I usually play it for them as many times as they need me to so that they can learn and memorize the melody.  Once I have given them several sections, we string them all together to make a larger section.  We do this until they have learned an entire  hymn melody by ear.

Then I work with them on the bass line.  I have them learn it the same way as the melody, and when they have a section, we put it together with the melody.  I follow this with the alto, and then the tenor.

But over the last few days I've noticed something.  Right now, since most of them are new at this type of ear training, all but one get to watch my hands on the keyboard as well as listen to the notes.  Most of the time, they focus in on the notes themselves, and do not at all imitate my fingering.

But today, when I was using crazy fingering so my student could see which notes I was highlighting?

My crazy fingering got imitated, too.

I need to remember I'm always an example.  Of something good, or something not so good.  And in the case of fingering, something helpful, or something that will cause my student problems in the future AND in the learning process.

Five Years Ago Today

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Did you realize that five years ago today I published my first post here at Ladder of Mercy?  It's the post that tells you where the blog name came from, and it started a tradition of writing about hymns that I still love.

I thought it would be fun to take a quick snapshot of my life then, compared with my life now.  After all, half a decade can bring a lot of change! 

Back then, I was working as an administrative assistant.  I sometimes longed to earn my living from something "more creative", but was constantly reminded how much I was learning and growing in the field I was in.  {Now I wouldn't trade it for anything.}

Now, I work as a piano teacher (taught seven lessons today, and loved every minute--wish I had more!) as well as a housewife.

Back then, I had many friends who were housewives.  I knew they kept busy.  I know how busy there were now because I have time to carry the load of running the household smoothly.  I barely keep up!  But I love the opportunity to more carefully plan for meals and errands and laundry and summertime gardening.

Back then, I volunteered a lot at my local church.  I played the piano for services, organized everything musical, and even sat on the church board as clerk.  

Now, I haven't managed to volunteer at my new church much.  I frequently travel with my husband's music groups, and I was asked today to play the piano for a children's Sabbath school when I can.  I'm excited to re-enter the church-involvement part of my life back then that I loved so much.

Back then, I wondered if God was planning to unite my life to a husband.

Now, I see how brilliant His plan really was, and my appreciation for His leading and the man He put in my life daily grows.

Back then, I lived in a little rented three-bedroom house across the street from my office.  It had two apartments in the basement, and some flower beds out front that I used for my vegetable and flower garden.

Now, I live in a bigger house {my husband keeps saying we should fill it up with children...} that has a wonderful kitchen and a great big garden out back.  Rather than a busy street out front, we have a quiet neighborhood to live in, and an orchard behind our large back yard and garden.

Back then, I was within four driving hours of my parents and brother.

Now, I am thousands of miles away from my family AND my in-laws.  {Sometimes sacrifices must be made to follow the will of God and work in the harvest fields.}

Back then, I didn't dream of getting any more education.  Life was providing me with enough of that.

Now, I am blessed to have my master's degree.  I would have been the last one to guess it, but I'm grateful every day for the learning, experiences, and people God put in my life via graduate school.

Back then, I didn't have a camera, and I didn't include many photos in my sporadic posts.

Now, my goal is to invite  you here for new words and photos more and more often, with a constant desire to grow as a woman of God, as well as to bless you, my readers.  

Thank you for stopping by today for a visit.  I hope you'll stick around for my next five  years!

Day is Dying in the West

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When I was a little girl, we sang the same song every Friday night.  Dad sang the same beautiful harmonies, and I never could figure out how he could hear the extra notes and find them with his voice.  (I’m finally learning.)

The calm of sunset, the house freshly cleaned, a delicious (and often easy, crockpot) supper always seemed to speak Sabbath peace to my young heart.

Will you join me this Sabbath, in the peace?

Day is dying in the west,

Heav’n is touching earth with rest.

Wait, and worship, while the night

Sets her evening lamps alight

Through all the sky.

Refrain:

Holy, holy, holy,

Lord God of hosts,

Heaven and earth are full of Thee,

Heaven and earth are praising Thee,

O Lord, most high.

Lord of life, beneath the dome

Of the universe, Thy home,

Gather us who seek Thy face

In the fold of Thy embrace,

For Thou art nigh.

(Refrain)

While the deepening shadows fall,

Heart of love, enfolding all,

Thro’ the glory and the grace

Of the stars that veil Thy face,

Our hearts ascend.

(Refrain)

When forever from our sight

Pass the stars, the day, the night,

Lord of angels, on our eyes

Let eternal morning rise,

And shadows end.

(Refrain)

{Did you notice the poetry?  How the rhyme scheme was so well-crafted, and yet not stiff?  Each verse has an AABBC rhyme structure, which is easy to spot.  But the fun thing I JUST NOW noticed?  The “C” line in verses one and two rhymes, as does the “C” in verses three and four, which makes a rhyme scheme entirely made up of couplets.  I know.  You thought that was genius, too.}

--Day is Dying in the West, text by Mary A. Lathbury; tune CHAUTAUQUA by William F. Sherwin; SDA Hymnal number 51.