Who am I? 

Professional Information:

      I have been a music teacher and choral director for 30 years in a small, rural school district in Pennsylvania.   I have a B.S. in Music Education and a M.M. in Music Education from West Chester University.  I have too many years of experience in church music to remember a time when I wasn't a choir member, and I have directed a youth handbell choir since our church purchased the bells in 1986.
     No, I don't have a degree in composition.  I started writing for my own pleasure back in high school when the guitar was popular and everyone was a folksinger.  I always thought of myself as a singer-songwriter, not a composer.
    With the age of computer publishing software, I suddenly felt more enabled to put down on paper all the sounds that were in my head.  Now my scores were legible!  If you are familiar with the Finale program, you will see that I have learned the program gradually on my own.  Some of the older scores don't play back correctly,  some have unconventional spacing...I'm still learning.

My Mission:

     "Donna, child of God, get up and walk!"
                  How many times in scripture do we hear ourselves called?  I have fought with asthma and allergies my whole life, yet He made me a singer with a singer's heart.  I heard his call through scripture and meditation but didn't know what good I was able to do here in my remote environment.  The songs kept coming and yet only some of them were performable here with the resources available.
        "Tell the whole world!"
                 I have a very wonderful friend who regularly takes his music ministry to other churches and camps, proclaiming the word with bold, passionate assurance and a wonderful gift of wit and humor.  I feel the need to share...the call to share....but not possessing the same gifts was at a loss for how to go about giving my music ministry.
A few months ago it occurred to me that the web would be an answer...at least a start.
        "Feed my sheep."
                Why?  What good can I do? 
                 Yes, I tried the whole "send the music to the publisher route" encouraged by friends, but you know how that goes:  "It's not what we need right now".
                 The fact is that I am not young with a promising career ahead.  I am not in need of making money on this music.  I have lived a very full and blessed life and the music has always seemed like it was given to me rather than something I created.
                  Maybe my music will feed someone, somewhere as I have been filled.  That's my prayer.  That's my mission. In the mean time, if anyone is inspired to want to "pay" for the music, perhaps it can be done by physically feeding others.
 

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