Making Music in Majuro

After church and before our YMYW choir practice, Corina and some young women sat down at the piano bench and sang "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" as Corina played hands together - woohoo! Go, Corina! Batteries in the keyboard were the key to give her more time at home practicing when the adapter was on the blink.

On Thursday afternoons I travel out to Rita to teach 3 or 4 piano lesson at the Rita chapel. Sometimes students don't show, but someone always seems to be around - on July 8th these Young Women were at the chapel early for a meeting, and when they heard me playing in the chapel they came in. I played while they sang from the hymnbook - the Marshallese have music all through them, and these girls loved singing the English hymns.

August 5th when some piano students didn't come in Rita, I played some Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy. Soon I had a rapt audience of neighborhood children, and when they came into the building for more, I taught them some Primary songs - "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man", "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" "I Know That My Savior Loves Me." The Marshallese children startle me with their capacity to learn, their desire to learn, their almost photographic musical memories. What began as a solitary musical experience ended up as a sharing time full of laughter, fun and joy...