Songs About Me

My sophomore year was pretty much the same as my freshman year.

• I woke up,
• went to breakfast,
• went to class,
• went to lunch,
• went to class,
• hung out with friends,
• went to dinner,
• did homework,
• went to bed.
• Lather, rinse, repeat.

But this year we got a new chorus teacher, and once again things would change for me  because of it.

I had played B flat clarinet for years, and the year before had started playing the bass clarinet.  I worked real hard to get my first chair seat in the band at TSB.  I wanted to learn to play piano, and had started brief lessons the year before with an extremely talented woman named Georgette Atsedes.  The new teacher of the chorus was going to take over the piano lessons though.  So I started being taught by her.

Music had always been extremely important to me.  A very large part of my life as it is today.  I am a huge music fan, doesn’t matter what kind it is either. Classical, rock, hip hop, country, gospel, R&B, heavy metal, I love ‘em all.

I jumped into my piano lessons with both feet.  I think I did pretty well, because Judy was asking me to perform in concerts, and outside of school competitions.  I won a few, but not all. Since we are talking about a blind school you may wonder how we read music. Most piano teachers don’t like teaching students who can’t read music and who prefer to play by ear.  She wasn’t like that.  She took my ability to play what I heard as a benefit and used it to teach me complex songs, like some that you can hear on my music page.

I should probably stop here a second and explain a few things.  You may be wondering why a piano teacher would not want to teach someone who does not read music.  In the blind community this is actually quite common.  Braille music does exist, but since it is so extremely hard to learn most blind musicians don’t waste their time.  Judy, my piano teacher, is also visually impaired, so she was more than happy to work with someone like me who did not require sheet music.

Back to the story. I can play the clarinet fairly well, and I can play the piano fairly well, but I can’t carry a tune in a swimming pool.  So why on Earth Judy Denning asked me to become a member of the chorus I don’t think I will ever know.  The only thing I think made me appealing to her was the ability I have to sing in a very low bass or a very high falsetto that could be used to fill in breaks in the choral arrangement.

Whatever the case may be, I dropped band and joined choir.  Judy and I spend a lot of time together, and we quickly became friends.  She was always there to talk to and provide guidance.  We are still very close, I talk to her about once a month or so.

Judy also introduced me to something else that made a huge impact on my life.  Judy introduced me to Christ.  She attended the Donellson Church of the Nazarene, and had asked if I would like to go with her one night.  I was intrigued.  I had been raised in a house that knew Christ but didn’t worship Him.  So I decided to go ahead and go to a few services with her.  It was fun, I joined their teen group, and we had a great time.  We would play games, go on trips to Kentucky Kingdom, learn about God and how Christ can help us with our “normal” teenage problems. If not for Judy I probably never would have invited Jesus into my heart.  While I may not attend DCN anymore, I still consider it my awakening to the presence of Christ in my life.

1. A Small History Lesson	2. Congratulations It’s A Freak
3. The First Five Years	4. It All Goes Up In Flames
5. School Daze	6. Say What?
7. A New Hope	8. Becoming A Sophisticated Redneck
9. A New Beginning – Literally	10. Back Into the Fray
11. They Like Me, They Really Like Me	12. 10011001
13. Let the Music Heal Your Soul	14. Taking My Sister to the Prom
15. My First Love, My First Broken Heart	16. From Zero to Hero
17. Livin’ On a Prayer	18. Moving On
19. Going Full Circle	20. The Rockford Files
21. Faith of the Heart	22. Partner, Friend, Lover, Wife
23. Turns Out She Was Right	24. A One-Legged Bear
25. Another Victim of the Game	26. Payin’ Bills with my Skills
27. A New Revell-ation	28. A New Page, A New Day
29. R We There Yet?