Keyboard

  I am very excited because I finally got a keyboard. I have been wanting one for a very long time, my Mother In-law's neighbor moved and they had a sale on pretty much everything in the house.  They were very musical and owned many instruments and played bluegrass music around town for different events.
   My wife told me last week that her Mom had a surprise for me, I had no idea what it was. So today they came over and told me to wait in the bedroom and when I came out I saw this keyboard!
    I was so surprised! I had no idea! As you know, I have been taking vocal lessons for almost a year and my next step was learning to play and read music. Now I have a new toy to play with! They also got me several books and  DVDs to watch. I spent hours last night  setting up the spare room as my music room, and learning a few easy songs for now. I'm thankful to have a music room until we have a baby.
  Can't wait to get out my song book and start putting music to some lyrics I have written, and also put music to my wife's lyrics she has written over the years. I am committed to set aside time every night to practice.
   In my vocal lessons lately, we have been collaborating, putting music to my song and some stylistic things to the vocals. It still needs some editing, but with time and work it's coming along. God is truly blessing me with everything I need one step at a time.

Song Writing

     Lately I have been inspired to get out my song journal and write. As of now I have one full song that I wrote back in ’08 but never did anything w/ it. My former vocal coach put music to it and I love it. I let my new vocal coach listen to it 2 weeks ago and we are going to clean it up some more, it’s very raw right now. My journal has lots of random lyrics, half songs, titles, etc. On Monday night while listening to Kim Walker’s CD “Still Believe” and worshiping I was inspired to write, so I have the first verse and chorus and bridge for a second song from a bunch of random lyrics I wrote years ago. BTW, if you have never listened to Kim Walker you need too, her music is so anointed, always puts me in the mood to worship! I’m not sure where all this will lead but I am doing what God has called me to do; He’s confirmed it to me time and time again. Even if these songs never get heard I’m just happy to make melodies to the Lord.

New Year, New House, New Vocal Coach

     Well, it’s been a while since I’ve last blogged and a lot has happened in my life since.  As you saw in my last blog I was offered a solo part and I took it. I was extremely nervous when the day came, but felt well prepared with all the practices with the band. Overall it went great, I sang “What Faith Can Do” by Kutless and it was a good fit for my voice. I am grateful that I had the opportunity, the first time in front of people singing solo is always the hardest.  

    I also have a new vocal coach. My former coach moved, which I was sad about, we worked really well together and were working on a new song I wrote.  Learned a lot from her and my new teacher is pretty awesome. It took me a few sessions to get use to the change and the different way she teaches but I’m excited for my Wednesday sessions. Lately we have been working on “Rediscover You” by Starfield (love that song). Starfield also is a good fit for my voice so will probably check out more of their songs to work on.

    Something awesome happened in October of 2012, my wife and I bought our first house. I have to say it’s a pretty exciting/stressful season.  God’s hand was truly over the entire transaction and we got such an amazing deal, and an awesome realtor. When we first started this process we found a house that I loved (or so I thought) and we put an offer, but the seller wasn’t going to budge and we walked away from that deal. Little did I know that God had something better in store for us.  About a week later we found the house, but after our last attempt I didn’t want to rush it, so we looked at more and I just kept coming back to this house in my mind and I knew I wanted it. We took our families to see it and they loved it, so we decided to make an offer. They were willing to work with us but didn’t give it at the price we wanted, they wanted almost full price and I was ready to give it to them (it wasn’t a bad deal, BUT God). That night my realtor called and said I don’t think you should give them that price, walk away and let’s re-think about it in the next week. I was scared to just walk away, but I trusted our realtor and most of all trusted God, that if this was the one He would make a way or give us something better. I remember driving to work that day upset that we let it go and I just began to pray. Later that day my realtor called and said they are willing to drop the price to what we asked! PRASIE JESUS!! I was in amazed at how God moved their hearts.  This house was bigger than the first house we wanted and had pretty much everything we wanted! It was such an exciting and smooth process for us. We have real red oak wood floors which needed to be sanded and re-stained, something I've never done before and to get someone to come and do it cost lots of $$$. My co-worker has refinished wood floors before and offered to them as a gift to us at no charge! WOW, what a blessing!! He spent almost a week and late nights after work getting our floors done. My wife and I were so blessed by this, such an awesome guy to do that for us. The only thing asked of me was to "send a prayer to the man upstairs" for him, he isnt a Christian or anything. God moved in his heart to bless us, we are forever grateful!

    2012 was an exciting year for my wife and I, but I’m excited to see what 2013 has in store for us. My wife is getting ready (as I write) to release her third book, so proud of her! We are excited to start a monthly bible study in our home. I want spend more time working on music, writing songs and using this gift in whatever God asks me to do. Be Blessed! J 

Solo???

       Today I had my vocal lessons as usual, but this time I  had an unexpected surprise! Apparently they have an annual concert where the students enrolled at the music school can show off their hard work and talent. I was asked by the owner of the school to preform a solo with a band (something I have NEVER done before), its an all christian song list and the song they chose for me to sing is "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless.
          I'm excited, but at the same time nervous! Guess I knew this day would happen sooner or later. God is just stretching me even more. Makes me feel confident knowing that my coach has so much faith in me that I can do it. She actually went to the owner of the school and suggested that I sing that song. Just hoping I don't forget the words or anything.
        We also put some music to a song a wrote back in 2005. She hopped on the piano and started playing stuff till we found what we liked. It was a pretty fun process, still have some work to do on it, but we got it recorded so we can continue working on it.

New Journey, New Season

    I am on a new journey this summer, working on my vocals. I am excited and have the best coach, so encouraging, really getting my voice to its full potential. I have always loved music, especially singing. When I was younger I wanted to be a country singer and once I was saved that changed to wanting to be a Christian artist.
     Most of my life has revolved around singing, whether it was in High School or church. I wasn’t that guy who had all the solos or anything like that; I preferred to stay in the back, out of the spotlight. There were a few times I remember in High School I wanted to try out for a solo part, but shrank back and decided not to, walking home later that day and regretting that I didn't, but I couldn’t find the courage to sing in front of all my peers. I have never really been "trained" in this gifting, but I have an ear to hear the notes, whether it was to the piano or music tracks.
      After High School I joined the choir at my church for about a year, then quit and didn’t start back up again till about 7 years later. One Wednesday night I was sitting in service worshiping and having a good time, after service this random lady sitting behind me came up and asked if I was a signer or in music and I said no, but I use to be. She went on to say that I need to get back into doing it. That lit a fire in me again for music. God has continued to encourage me in this area every time I step away. I'm thankful.
      It was a few years later, my wife (BFF at the time) and I joined a new church, smaller church. I wanted to get involved but didn't know where. God spoke to my wife and I separately about the same thing, when we confront each other about what God said to each of us it was the same. So, I tried out for the worship team. The day of my audition I was really nervous, but thankfully made the team. It was a fun season and God led us to move on eventually. The experience solidified my passion for singing. I knew that's where I belonged.
      Not knowing where to go or how to train God gave my wife several dreams about me singing, then another about me taking summer vocal lessons. So I searched and searched schools near my area online and found one. The pieces came together. God seriously gave me the best coach, she really pays attention to my voice and what works best for it. My range has grown since I started 2 months ago and I am feeling more confident.
     I am very humbled by her words of encouragement. Last night my coach and I were talking about writing music (something I always wanted to do). I have a journal w/ one full song and then a bunch of lyrics here and there that I got while worshiping in my prayer closet. We are going to take those and put music and a melody to it. I have no idea where God is going to take me w/ this, but God has shown me this is my purpose and destiny, so I trust Him to take to where I need to be!

The Wrecking - You Remain

This is the current song I've been learning. Again, it fits my voice and I really like the lyrics. This is not the best video, but the original video was unsharable. Check it out on Youtube.

The Afters - You lift me up

This is the first song my vocal coach had me learn. She says it fits my voice well.