I was asked to play piano at a memorial service this morning. While there is often some sadness at such a service, there is also joy in celebrating life–especially the life of the one who died. There was much joy this morning. I usually play piano or organ before the service, lead hymns, maybe accompany a soloist, and play a postlude. Not today. Wonderful harp music before (turns out I knew the harpist decades ago when we were…much younger). And an outstanding duet by two members of Calaveras.
I guess I don’t get out often enough. Greg and Vickie from Calaveras are consumate artists, with strong singing and instrumental work. They sang “Ready to Fly” from their latest CD (visit CDBaby and search for “Calaveras”). The song spoke of one not getting ready to die but rather getting ready to fly. A wonderful image that was especially appropriate this morning.
The song has a folk/celtic sound with strong lyrics and strong music. I don’t buy a lot of CDs–particularly by people I hear at memorial services–but I just bought two of theirs. It was nice to be jolted out of my comfortable musical rut. I’ll probably have more to say after I’ve heard their CDs.