Mr. G

At the beginning of each semester, we're supposed to share a little bit about ourselves so you can get to know your teachers a little bit. I thought I would share a timeline of "Music and Mr. G." I won't be offended if you don't read it! :)

Heritage: In my young life it seemed like someone related to me was always at the front of the church singing a special song or leading worship. In my home church growing up, my aunt or her daughter would always lead worship. My mom was the church pianist. My dad played mandolin, and my sister could play piano or the accordion. My family would regularly sing a special song during the offering or some such, and they begged me to sing with them. I was always too shy! I was chicken! That's why it always amazes me to see our SFdS kids perform in the Spring Musical or the Talent Show in front of hundreds of people. Anyway, when we would go to visit my grandparents and go to church with them, my grandmother would walk up front and lead the singing. On the other side of the family...my other grandmother did not lead singing, but her cousins had a Gospel singing group that was nationally famous, recorded songs that were played on the radio, sold scores of records, sang on national TV and so forth. They were called the Happy Goodmans. Goodman was my grandmother's maiden name. Here's a little clip from one of their TV performances. Keep in mind they sang the popular Christian songs of the time period, and I understand it's not that interesting to you in present day! I think this was from 1969 or close to it.

Midland, Texas: When I was 10 years old, we moved from my home town of Pampa, Texas to Midland, just south of Lubbock. Oil was big in Midland at the time. One of our millionaire parishioners funded a weekly radio and weekly TV show for our church. So guess what, by the time I was 11, I was on TV every week, singing in the church choir. My sister was in a trio that won a national singing competition called Teen Talent Search (I guess a precursor to America's Got Talent). I remember really wanting to play guitar. Here's a few pics from our time in Midland:

Houston, Texas: When I was 13, we moved to Houston. Though we joined the largest AG church in the United States, it didn't take my mom long to become the church pianist again. My sister became the youth choir director, and they would put on shows for the church. She asked me to play guitar for them. Little did I know at the time, years later I would depend on my experience from this time period the most when called upon to produce musicals for St. Francis de Sales! God is always working in our lives, right?

From here forward, the musical things are too many to recount. I'll try to hit the highlights without boring you with too many details. I taught myself how to play guitar as a teen. I started playing several instruments for lots of things at church, including many huge productions and Cantatas. I was lead singer and rhythm guitarist for a Christian rock / pop band called Advent. We got the opportunity to do some studio recording, and one of our songs got some radio play time on KSBJ. I will share a pic of our record cover and the song. If you like it, great. If you don't, I understand. It's been a few years back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yssbJZkxphU&feature=youtu.be