Hymns from the Piano

Well, on my last post I said I’d hopefully have something exciting to share with you and I do! Hopefully if you click above, you'll hear a short sampling from the CD I’ve been working on for awhile now. It is a compilation of 23 hymns performed by me. All the piano arrangements are my very own creations. It is a very peaceful CD that encompasses many of the older, more traditional hymns of the church.

I am selling this as a fundraiser for the 60 mile, 3-Day for the Cure Breast Cancer walk that I’ll be doing in Boston. The selling price is $15 and all the profits will go into my walk account to help me reach the $2300 minimum requirement to participate. Any profits from sales after I reach this goal will be donated to charity, I’m just not sure which ones will benefit next.

The cover art for the CD is a copy of an original painting done by me. It is of the church that I have attended since I was in first grade. I’ve also been the organist there on and off since 1987! I owe special thanks to my pastor, Bruce Lucas for taking the photograph I based my painting on.

Putting together a CD is much harder than I thought. I did my first CD’s right before Christmas of 2009 and it was amazing what all had to be done. This time around, I was much better prepared for all the steps, but that didn’t mean that they were much easier. For this CD, since I was recording my own arrangements, I decided that I’d just sit down at the piano with the hymn in front of me and improvise. Sometimes these improvisations worked out well and the result is what you can hear on the finished CD. Other times, I’d would hit a rough note, the phone would ring, or the dogs would bark and I’d have to start the recording all over again. I cant even tell you how many hours I spent recording to get the 48 minutes of material on the CD! Beyond the music, I wanted to design the cover myself. I’ve wanted to try to paint the church for years and now that we have a new front porch the time was right for me to give it a try. The painting was actually the easiest part of the entire process for me. It just turned out really well without a lot of struggles. Trying to design the labels that go onto the actual CD was a huge struggle this time. I kept trying to get the entire church on the label but then there wasn’t any room for the playlist. I finally used just the church steeple for the label and then everything fit on and I like how it turned out.

The CD booklet was a bit of a struggle just to get things the proper dimensions for the case. The booklet opens up and has the playlist, copyright info and also some special thank you notes.

After all of that was put together and ready to go then I had to do the entire production of all the elements. The booklets needed to be copied then trimmed down to the proper size. The CD labels needed to be printed out (and I cant find CD labels that I can run through a copy machine, so all of these were printed from my printer at home!). The CD’s had to be burned which is not hard, just very time consuming when doing them one by one from my laptop. Finally, after stuffing everything into the jewel case, the project is ready to go!

Its no wonder I’ve been exhausted and had a headache this past week! I’m hopeful that my hard work will pay off and sales will be good.

2010 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure

I am embarking on a great journey this year. I have decided to walk another Breast Cancer 3-Day, 60 mile event. I walked my first 3-Day in 2004, along side my Aunt Bev. It was a challenging event for me, but I did it with Bev's help in both the fundraising and the motivation to keep putting one blistered foot in front of the other. We both finished all 60 miles that year, and I wish I could put into words, the total experience of being a part of that walk. Amazing, incredible, powerful and significant just dont seem to explain what the event is like.

In 2005, I did my second 3-Day, participating as a crew member. My main reason for switching to a crew position was due to the fundraising requirement every walker must reach in order to participate. I couldn't walk away from the charity, but I also couldn't commit to that amount of fundraising after struggling to make my goal the first time. Over the last 6 years, I have participated in 10 events. This year, I will be doing 3. I am crewing in Cleveland and Michigan and walking with a friend in San Diego.

Last year, while I was on the Michigan 3-Day, my grandfather passed away. It was the hardest 3-Day I've ever done. it reminded me of the importance and value in every fundraising dollar raised. He was a victim of a different form of cancer, but I, like many people, feel that if we can find a cure for one cancer it will lead to advancements and cures for all the other forms. When I walked my first 3-Day, I was one of the lucky ones. I knew very few people who had suffered from breast cancer. The people I was aware of were all survivors and thriving. Since that time, I have met many people of all ages, race, and sex-- yes, men do get breast cancer--who have faced this disease. Some of them are survivors, but many of them are still in the middle of their battle, and sadly, some of them have lost their fight. Watching these people and the raw strength and determination they demonstrate while they fight the battle of their life is humbling. Their stories prove how vicious and unrelenting breast cancer can be. I walk for all of them and for all of us. So that the next time one of us finds a suspicious lump we may be a little less terrified. So that I never have to see another young mother wonder if she will get to see her little girl graduate from kindergarten. So that none of us ever loses a best friend, a mother, a sister or anyone else to this horrific disease. I walk because I can't walk away.

I am required to fundraise a minimum of $2,300 to walk in this event. As of today, I have raised over $1,400. I need your help in reaching my goal. I know that money is tight these days and I truly would not ask for your donation if I did not completely believe in the charity it will be supporting. Do you know 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their life? That's a pretty startling percentage. That number all but guarantees that each of us will have a close experience with this horrific disease at some point in our life. Do you also know that every major advance in the fight against breast cancer in the last 27 years has been impacted by a Susan G. Komen for the Cure grant. It is stunning that this charity, something that started as a promise made between sisters, has come so far. It reminds us that with enough hard work we are all capable of reaching amazing goals and doing incredible things. Please be a part of this incredible event be donating toward my walk today. To make a donation, go here. If you don't want to donate online, you can download and print a donation form from that page that you can mail in with your donation. You can also call 800-996-3DAY to donate over the phone. If you have someone who you'd like to make your donation in memory of, or in honor of, please let me know and I will carry their name with me through my 60 mile journey.

As extra incentive for your donation, I will dye my hair hot pink shortly after reaching my goal. (Although it will be delayed until after my sister's May wedding if this were to happen quickly). I will keep my pink hair from that time until the end of the San Diego walk in mid November. That could mean half a year as a pink haired church organist! I admit that I'm a little hesitant to make this change, but it will be worth it if it brings in just one more donation. I figure that it will be a great way to strike up conversations about the 3-Day and allow me to raise awareness as I go through my everyday routine and my pre-walk training.

Thank you very much for helping me reach my goal. We can all make a difference and someday we will find a cure and live in a world without breast cancer.