Another Year of Growth
God continues to direct my paths
First Baptist Church Quitman
Returning to classes at La Tech was exciting to me as I received an invitation to direct music at Quitman Baptist Church. Although it was a small church, it gave me an opportunity to develop my skills in leading congregational singing as well as providing special music by the small choir and doing some solo work myself. The pastor was easy to work with and though the accompanist was a high school student she was very capable. Her parents were staunch members of the church and welcomed me into their house for meals from time to time. Selecting hymns for the congregation to sing and working with a small choir was a real challenge because I understood how important the music was in a worship service.
At school, I joined several other music students in a class taught by the choral director Dr Bretz on the development of hymnody. It was a stimulating class and provided an insight into how the gospel was spread through hymns in various countries. For the fall semester, the Music Department usually produced a well-known musical, and in the Spring more serious music was performed from the world of opera or more challenging choral works such as the St Johns Passion by J.S. Bach. The musical we performed that Fall was "Brigadoon," a story about a legendary Scottish village that appeared from time to time. I loved the music and was thrilled to be performing on stage with costumes rented for the occasion.
I spent more and more time at the BSU, and formed friendships with many fellow classmates, including Juniors and Seniors. The BSU Choir was directed by Maxine Milner, who very capable led the choir in a wonderful Christmas pageant. I remember how hard we worked on The Little Drummer Boy to get the "rumpa pum pums" just right. My friendship with Kenneth Williams continued to deepen as we chose to room together. During the Spring I participated in a made for TV opera called "The Telephone." There were only two characters in the opera--the suitor (Me) and his girl friend (Beth Dawkins) who was addicted to phone conversations. Although I developed a serious cold, I was able to do a live performance on a televison station in neighboring city of Monroe. One of the challenges was singing a high G in one of the scenes. The school sponsored a special event in the spring called "Sing Week," featuring choirs from fraternities, sororities and religous groups that competed for first place rankings. The BSU choir sang a Russian choral piece "Cherubic Hymn" and we won first place.
