Flute lessons

This girl started flute lessons this term at school and she is doing so well! She came home with her rental flute from school (awesome that she doesn't have to use mine, so we can both play together and I can help her along) and has learned so much already. She had me show her the notes and how to play and she has already managed to not only learn all of the notes, but how to play some songs! Their teacher is well impressed with her and I am too! Go Maddie!

The best part so far has been snapping this photo. We were gifted a lecturn/ music stand/ many use stand from a friend at church who cracked a joke about how high it was and that it might be a few years before she would be able to use it. Not to be outdone, Maddie simply stacked some of the bar stools on top of each other to prop herself up to the right height and went straight back to playing. She is loving it so far, so let's hope it goes well! 

taylor swift!

friday night was one of the most amazing nights of this seven year olds life. maddie is living a completely charmed life and it got even better due to life getting in the way for her daddy and i. dom, our friend luisa and i bought tickets to taylor swift late last year and due to me deciding to have a baby in there, who was just 8 days old at the time... doug was going to go in my place. only life reared its ugly head and he was needed elsewhere by his mum who had an important hospital appointment... so when the time ticked closer and he still hadn't made it home, madeline got to take his place. 

oh. my. word. i have never seen a more excited child in my life. she was bouncing off the walls and waiting by the front door counting the minutes until aunty dom arrived to pick her up. 

her report was that "it was amazing! i loved it all. taylor swift is the best! i did fall asleep for a few minutes, but then i was happy again afterwards." lol

i am honestly glad she had a cool experience but i'm just amazed over here that she got to! i don't think i went to my first concert until i was out of high school!! what a lucky girl. i am just super grateful for my amazing friends who took her and didn't mind one bit. 

just for laughs, here she is the following morning, on our way to ballet, looking super cool and rocking out to taylor swift in the car. ♥

christmas eve

christmas eve fell on a sunday this year and it made for a wonderful sabbath! everything had to be done by saturday afternoon, so there was no dealing with shops, just a chance to be home with our family and prepare for christmas day.

our church service was at 9am, combined with the other ward that meets in our chapel, which was nice and the program was made up of musical items and reading from the scriptures. i sang guard him joseph with my friend maddy as part of it. it is such a gorgeous song, have a listen here (not us!)

after dinner, we read the story of the nativity in the bible (luke: 2) which is a long time tradition from my family, before putting the kids to bed and putting their gifts out.

i can't wait for tomorrow!

marry christmas to all and to all a good night! ♥

a relief society lesson on music

just for something different, this sunday we asked our ward organist (who is extremely well trained and educated in music... and teaches it for a full time job) to give us a lesson about the music of the church. what a treat! she does not do things by halves and created this amazing edible grand piano that was demolished after the lesson... taught us basic music knowledge, spoke about the music of the church, the mormon tabernacle choir and to top it all off, finished by having us break into groups and rewrite a primary song, using the tune with our own lyrics. 

what a laugh! our group chose "jesus wants me for a sunbeam" and it went as follows:

relief society makes me happy

to come to church each week

to sit and to learn with our sisters, 

enlightenment we seek.

on sunday, on sunday, 

relief society on a sunday

on sunday, on sunday,

i'll be a sister for him!

the group behind us sang something about i love to see a clean house to the tune of "i love to see the temple." it was hysterical... what a cool game - and an amazing lesson. we are very blessed to have sisters in our ward who are so talented and are willing to share their talents with others! ♥

come thou fount

come thou fount of every blessing,

tune my heart to sing thy grace;

streams of mercy, never ceasing,

call for songs of loudest praise.

teach me some melodious sonnet,

sung by flaming tongues above.

praise the mount! i'm fixed upon it,

mount of thy redeeming love.

here i raise my ebenezer;

here by thy great help i've come;

and i hope by thy good pleasure,

safely to arrive at home.

jesus sought me when a stranger,

wandering from the fold of god;

he, to rescue me from danger,

interposed his precious blood.

o to grace how great a debtor

daily i'm constrained to be!

let thy goodness, like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to thee.

prone to wander, lord, i feel it,

prone to leave the god i love;

here's my heart, o take and seal it,

seal it for thy courts above.

tonight i had the privilege of singing at saturday night stake conference with two of my favourite girls from our ward. i had a very unexpected call from our stake president a few weeks ago, asking if we would be able to prepare a musical item, consisting of at least two sisters... we managed four with our pianist and worked together so well, that from the very first practice, there was never any doubt that we would be able to present something wonderful on the night.

we chose an arrangement of "come thou fount of every blessing" by sally deford (which you lds music lovers can find here) and it was just perfect to set the tone for the meeting, which was all about teaching in the saviours way. what a wonderful blessing it is to be a part of the gospel and to be able to sing such beautiful songs to draw closer to our father in heaven. 

ward talent night

a ward talent night? i haven't seen one of those since i was a kid and certainly can't remember actually participating in one. haha. so when it was announced and i thought i had better set a good example and sign up to do something... i can sing, but that didn't seem to be exciting me as for once i wanted to do something challenging. so flute it was! 

i learned to play the flute when i was 10 at primary school and played it up until my final years at high school, but haven't really played it too much since, other than busting it out on the odd occasion to see if it still worked.

so maddy (pictured above) and i did an arrangement of "did you think to pray?" and it was fun! i am so glad i did it and feel inspired to practice more in the future. :)

hymn hit parade

today in sacrament meeting a gentlemen in our ward gave an amazing talk, speaking of his his love for the hymns of our church and how they had affected his own life and the lives of his family. he came from a home with a father who wasn't overly religious, yet found peace and strength through the beauty of music and hymns.

he spoke of his family rising early on a sunday morning to listen to the wireless (a radio! not the internet for those who came in late - or were born late...) to listen to two radio shows for children (the equivalent of saturday or agro's cartoon connection for any australian's of a similar age to me) follow by the hit parade of all the current top songs.

he then told of his top 4 hymns on his hit parade. such a good way to put it and keep everyone listening... which instantly got me to thinking what the top songs on my hymn hit parade would be.

1. i am a child of god (hymn 301)

i have loved this song since i was a young child... having learnt it at an early age in primary, then singing it each night with my eldest brother as a bedtime ritual, then even singing it at my own baptism. it is a beautiful song, speaking of the purpose of life in such a simple way that even small children can understand and love. madeline has also learnt it and could sing the entire song when she was just two, and insists on singing it with us over and over. it makes me so happy when my primary children ask to sing it with me.

2. lord i would follow thee (hymn 220)

this is such a beautiful hymn. such a beautiful and simple message of how to follow our lord and love our fellow man. the tune brings me such peace and i love to sing the words and feel the sweet spirit held within. 

3. come thou fount

published in previous versions of the lds hymnbook, but not included in the current, this old and beautiful hymn contains such sweet and perfect lyrics. i love the melody contained in this hymn and felt such emotion hearing it sung by the ward choir, which i led, last year - which contained an acapella piece in the middle leading into a verse. it is amazing what a hymn can become when those singing and listening are filled with the spirit.

4. because i have been given much (hymn 219)

the lyrics of this hymn always remind me of the words my dear grandfather joseph would speak when praying a blessing on our food. he would always pray "that others would be given the necessities that we ourselves enjoy." i know that from sharing our blessings, we are able to find greater joy in them. this hymn is my father in laws favourite and over the years i have also thought of him and his kindness to me. a girlfriend from church said to me years ago that she would feed the missionaries from our church on a regular basis as she had been told "if you feed others, you will never be hungry." i try to remember that also... not many weeks passed in my child and even young adult years that my mum would not be giving some food to a friend or someone in need. she has forever been a shining example to me of love, of giving and of service. just as the lyrics of this hymn say: "because i have been given much, i too must give."

there are so many beautiful hymns in our church (and other religions too i know...) but i honestly believe there is no other way to be closer to the lord, other than prayer, than through music. my grandmother was blessed with a gift of song and a love for music, which was passed on to me. there is nothing i love more than the music of the gospel and to share it with others has been and still is one of my greatest joys.

new calling!

it's official. i am no longer hanging in the relief society presidency - i have been let loose on the primary children! i am the new music director and i am excited! this past sunday was my third sunday in primary and i have to admit it's a lot of fun. 

we have been learning a song called "picture a christmas" that the kiddies will be singing at the ward christmas party at the end of this month. i had to admit too, that i am so impressed with their efforts that it's not even funny. i swear they should be teaching me the words not the other way around.

i will miss relief society though, i had a ball organising the activities (and of course the swap tables!! ohh swap tables...) and working with the lovely ladies that were by my side through it all. but on to the next challenge i go! ♥  

shipwrecked

shipwrecked - shane alexander

when my ship gonna come and will I hold till it does?

what should I believe as darkness falls on me?

can you hear me? is someone there?

am I losing my mind? am I losing my mind?

am I all alone? won't you rescue me?

talking to myself... staring at the sea

what will morning bring? will I hear that old sea bird sing?

will her colours fill my eyes as she sails through clear blue sky?

can you hear me? is someone there?

am I losing my mind? am I losing my mind?

am I all alone? won't you rescue me?

shapes in the darkness... staring at the sea

this is my favourite song. favourite. ever. i am obsessed and can't listen to it enough. it has just the right amount of misery for me. one day, i want it played at my funeral. i have written it here - so however far down the line it ends up being, no one can say they didn't know. :)

triple j hottest 100

so i forgot to point out the other important thing about

australia day

- the triple j hottest 100 of course!

it is imperative, that even if one is not usually a triple j fan

- that one must listen to triple j on australia day to:

1. see how many random songs they know

and 2. see what tune has cracked this years number one!

after all - it is tradition!

to check out this years results

click: here

the funeral playlist

oh my gosh
i am sure you can imagine that i have been to a few funerals
in my 5 & and half years in the funeral home.
a couple of hundred at least...and what truly amazes me, is the lack of originality in
peoples song choices

so i would like to present below...
my top 20 funeral songs based on the songs i hear day after day

1. time to say goodbye - andrea bocelli and sarah brightman
2. my way - frank sinatra
3. pachelbels canon - johann pachelbel
4. amazing grace - charlotte church
5. true blue - john williamson
6. angel - sarah mclachlan
*nb. does no one realise the song is about suicide?? hel-lo!!*
7. we'll meet again - vera lynn
8. unforgettable - nat king cole
9. wonderful world - louis armstrong
10. wish me luck as you wave me good bye - vera lynn
11. the wind beneath my wings - bette midler
12. memories - barbra streisand
13. the lord's my shepherd - the st. philips boys choir
14. amazing grace - on bagpipes. (augh!)
15. lara's theme (somewhere my love) - dr zhivago
16. the prayer - insert-any-artist-here
17. only time - enya
18. somewhere over the rainbow - judy garland
19. forever young - youth group

and if you're a mormon - just for good measure...
20. god be with you 'til we meet again

someone kill me please...
and for goodness sake... don't play any of these songs at my funeral!