I have loved music since I was very little. As we drove across country when I was almost 3 years old to move from New Mexico to Virginia, I sang along with the radio to "I Love the Rainy Nights", and "You're So Vain". I had no idea what the songs really meant, but they had catchy tunes that my young ears picked up easily.As we settled into our new hometown, and attended the local Latter-day Saint church, I was permitted to sit up at the organ with the organist, Mike Harward. I was fascinated by the instrument and how it was played. From the first time I sat there, I knew I wanted to play the organ someday. I begged my parents for piano lessons, and finally, when they could afford it, at age 8, I enrolled at the Music Education Center in Charlottesville, VA. There I was taught by the incredible Ann May. Ann had studied organ performance and pedagogy, and had traveled to Europe to play historic organs there. But more importantly, she wanted to help her students become the musicians they wanted to be. If there was a genre of music you wanted to learn, Ann would make sure you got your technical exercises in, but would then get you a book in your genre to help you learn from. She also saw your potential as a musician, and would push you past your comfort zone. I was an excellent sight reader, so she had to get me very difficult pieces just to make sure I was practicing. This pushed me way beyond what I thought myself capable, but made me a great musician.
Today, I am the one sitting at the organ at church. I have accompanied choirs, soloists, beginning voice students, and countless other performances on organ and piano. Additionally, playing the piano has been my emotional outlet for most of my growing up years. Frustration, heartbreak, depression, anger have all been eased by banging out Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, or just sitting down to play the only song I have memorized, Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag.
So, the musicians that are most important to me are not millionaire performers with platinum records, but 2 organists who had a huge impact on a little girl in love with music.
