I Music Because I Must!

Music has been part of my life since I came from the womb. My parents are musicians, my sister... And my formative years in the Greathousehold were full of piano lessons, band practice (I played clarinet in elementary through to high school), and choirs, choirs...and did I mention I sang in the choir? (alto voice) In college I formed a ladies trio, and we performed some of my original joints - I was blessed to have a great keyboard player, Clarence Benjamin (WHERE ARE YOU, MY BROTHA?), and he brought along his band. We rocked quite a few college events (the most memorable, the gala for the graduating class of '77 - my class).

Today, I'm director and cofounder of the singing group known as Revived! We've been together since 1999 - and have performed around the 'high desert', the Inland Empire and the greater Los Angeles area. Putting a CD together of original contemporary gospel music is yet another project in the works. (Did I mention a sista had too many irons in the fire this year?) It's been a slow process, mostly because of the actual musical compositions/arrangements that we're working with. Recording is, thankfully, not the problem - and that is due to two major things: 1. the studio owner is also one of my musicians and therefore...the project is almost a 'gratis' situation (we have a sweet deal!) 2. technology has fixed it so everybody doesn't have to be present to lay down tracks! And my crazy mix of singers (12) and musicians (3) love to remind me that they're "grown" and have "lives"! (when I send out my emails about rehearsals and calendar controls) But it's going a little slow - slower than we'd planned. And now the holidays are upon us and our annual musical events are on and poppin. This weekend we're doing a holiday concert on Saturday evening... but I'll be participating in a mass choir Messiah event that morning and again on Sunday... Needless to say, a sista is rehearsaled out! (is that a word?)

But I do it because I must... it's like the air I breathe on the real.