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Faye López - Church pianist and arranger
37 Plays15 days ago
Faye López is a retired college educator and an acclaimed arranger and composer of piano and choral music.
Faye's Website: https://fayelopez.com/
Robert Sterling's Principals of Choral Arranging: https://www.robertsterlingmusic.com/principles-of-choral-arranging/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Praise the Lord! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the lupin horn. Praise Him with timbrel and dance.
00:00:11
Speaker
Praise Him with st string instruments and flutes. Praise Him with loud cymbals. Praise Him with clashing cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
00:00:24
Speaker
Praise the Lord! Well, hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Lute and Harp podcast. Thank you so much for your patience as you have been waiting for this next episode.
00:00:36
Speaker
But I promise that this episode is well worth the wait. Faye Lopez is an acclaimed arranger and composer of both piano music and choral music.
00:00:47
Speaker
And this episode is very special to me. Faye Lopez was one of the most influential figures in my life as a young musician. And it was such an honor for me to get to speak with her, to hear about her background as a young musician herself, her development, to hear her heart for how piano music and instrumental music works in church music, and to get to also hear a little bit about her insights as an arranger and as someone who would be
00:01:18
Speaker
teaching future generations of church pianists. I know you're going to love this interview, and I can't wait for you to hear it. So let's get started.
Faye Lopez's Musical Beginnings
00:01:28
Speaker
Well, I am so delighted to welcome Faye Lopez to the Lute and Harp. I am just so excited to talk to you today, Faye. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. so Thank you for having me. This is a joy.
00:01:39
Speaker
I grew up in independent Baptist churches in the late 80s, early ninety s into the late 90s. And so I grew up in a setting where part of the service every week was the offertory. And usually that was an instrumental offertory, usually ah piano solo, but maybe sometimes piano and violin, something along way.
00:02:00
Speaker
these routes. And so your piano music came into my life really early, but first by hearing other pianists in my church playing your arrangements. And then I knew I had to buy the books and learn them myself.
00:02:12
Speaker
So I've been playing your music for a long time, and I'm so excited to talk to you today. Well, thank you. Those are old books you're talking about now, right? From the 90s and early 2000s, but they still are used, and I'm thankful for that.
00:02:25
Speaker
Yes, I know. Once we start putting numbers on these things anymore, I don't like it much. but So i would love to just learn just a little bit about you and your story. And so i was wondering, did you yourself grow up in church? And if so, just kind of what type of church was that? Yes, I i was raised in a wonderful Christian. Christian family. they were My parents were very serious about their faith. They sacrificed a lot to give us three children a lot of opportunities to serve. My mother was a church musician, very fine church musician, and she was my teacher, piano teacher, until I went off to college.
00:03:01
Speaker
And she came from a line of musicians. My grandmother was a piano teacher. My great-grandfather was a singer. So we know about several generations, and that's kind of continued into the future beyond me as well, so that's exciting.
00:03:15
Speaker
I was raised in a Wesleyan congregation in Kansas City, and we had lots of hymns, lots of very heartfelt evangelical hymn singing, that kind of thing. And really quite early, I started playing the piano in church. I played for children's church when I was probably eight or nine, started doing that on a regular basis.
00:03:35
Speaker
And then when I was in junior high, my brother and sister and I helped a young pastor and wife do a church plant and we did everything. we taught Sunday school. We played the piano, organ, whatever needed to be done.
00:03:50
Speaker
And so it was a great opportunity to just learn service that way. And I'm thankful for the example of my parents also in, in allowing that. So because of starting so young, ah you know, I was at the piano in church for over 50 years easily. Oh my.
00:04:08
Speaker
So yeah, it's just a part of who I am, I guess. So you started quite young. And so do you know, was was there something that you wanted to do this or was it something, it was just going to happen? It was just part of your family. this this it was a natural course of life for
Exploration and Collaboration in Music
00:04:26
Speaker
you.
00:04:26
Speaker
I believe it was both a because yes, all of the kids in my family took piano and ah and my mom was teaching lessons in the living room after school also.
00:04:37
Speaker
But as far as the desire to play and be involved in church music, I very strongly remember sitting and reading through my first four-part hymn and sitting there until it was right, gathering a phrase at a time until I was reading it correctly.
00:04:54
Speaker
My mom remembers me making lots of mistakes. When I was experimenting, she she let me experiment because she knew that that would come in good stead later. but She also was very strict on learning to read the notes.
00:05:09
Speaker
yeah ah But I was interested in the church music. And my mom also did some arranging, not for publication except for one piece, but she did a lot of customizing music for our church and for piano organ, piano organ and marimba, believe it or not.
00:05:26
Speaker
and things like that. And she would sit at the kitchen table with her manuscript paper and pencil. So I saw that as an example in the home. And then I'd hear it in church, the work that she had done. So that it was inspiring.
00:05:39
Speaker
I love to hear that so much. I'm going to ask you some questions later in the podcast ah along these lines. But I think something that we often lose track of in traditional piano education right now is some of that both and. we We are really good at teaching students to read notes, and that's an important skill that we need to have.
00:05:59
Speaker
But that creative side, that that side that's willing to experiment and make some mistakes and learn from that, and then maybe try a pairing of instruments that you wouldn't have thought of before. And I think that is that's a really important part of our formation as musicians, and to see that modeled in your home.
00:06:17
Speaker
And I love to hear that your mom also fostered and allowed you to do that, to sit. And my daughter loves to do that. My daughter loves to sit. And right now she's obsessed with Doha Deer from Sound of Music and she's playing it in, um she just takes on white keys, but keeps it all in white keys. So she's moving it into modes and and sometimes it's not the most pleasant ah version of the song you've ever heard, but I just love to see her exploring and seeing how does, when I move my hand, how does the music change? and That's right.
00:06:46
Speaker
It's very important. And i have one grandson in particular who was really into that kind of thing too. And so I want to foster that in him. Yeah, I love that. So you ah you mentioned you started playing in church pretty early, but then there was there was a lot of accompanying that you did at a fairly early age. Not a a lot of young pianists start that that early.
00:07:07
Speaker
What role has collaboration or making music with others, what role did that play in your musical formation? Well, early on... I'll go back to the accompanying and we'll move into some of the more formal collaboration. Early on, also in elementary school, I was playing for the choir pretty early and our director was was quite accomplished. He was a college professor, but he came into our Christian school to do the choir.
00:07:35
Speaker
And so I understood early what it was like to accompany. And believe it or not, this elementary school would do Peterson cantatas. I mean, way back. Wow. it and So, I mean, we were doing hard stuff in elementary up through eighth grade.
00:07:50
Speaker
But then all through high school, I worked in a Christian youth organization for a short time where there was a lot of collaboration, lot of accompanying, a couple of different traveling groups at different times.
00:08:03
Speaker
And all of that is, you know you're working with people, but an accompanist has such an important role. And so when we think of collaboration, I think of it both in accompanying and also in my writing because I have ah somebody I collaborate with a lot in choral music and I have for the last 12 years.
00:08:23
Speaker
So I think it can it can make us better at what we do. and And then there were years also where I was involved in a lot of piano duo work. And so and we can expand what we do by working with others. But part of that is learning the give and take.
00:08:42
Speaker
In accompaniment, you're you're anticipating what they're going to do next. You can't wait until they do it or you're too late. So it's this anticipation and feeling together. And in in like the coral writing that I do with my friend, Pat, we, we give and take, and maybe I have a strong opinion about something, but she has a stronger one. And so I need to listen.
00:09:07
Speaker
And so i don't I don't get stuck on my ideas. Well, then this works with working with editors too. I've worked with a number of editors, both in choral and piano. And sometimes what I think is just the best, they don't think is best.
00:09:21
Speaker
So there's that kind of that dying yourself, that humility about what I think is right and and letting letting myself learn from other people and strengthening what I do.
00:09:34
Speaker
So it works in all areas, I think. Yeah, that's that's beautiful. I love to hear that. I have been always motivated to make music with others from the beginning. i actually had to kind of grow to love more piano solo things because I'm i'm just a people person generally anyway.
00:09:55
Speaker
But there was something that was really special about that process of... I can do something well on my own, but then when I take somebody else's gifts and allow those to merge with my gifts, the the end results can be something that is even more beautiful than anything I could do on my own. That's right.
00:10:14
Speaker
And despite the fact that, yes, we're working with musicians, we all have strong opinions, and we do have to learn to
Education and Musical Growth
00:10:19
Speaker
navigate that. But it's a great life skill to learn. So can you share your path to Bob Jones and your time studying there? Was it a given by that point that you were going to study music? Were you just like, that is what I'm going to do? Was that school kind of always where you were looking? whats What was that journey like?
00:10:36
Speaker
Actually, I went to three colleges before i ended up there. And that I would not recommend that to anyone. Okay. I lose my credits doing that. I went to a couple of smaller Christian colleges in the Midwest and really benefited from a lot of the things there and from certain teachers. But there were other things about the music programs in the smaller schools that I felt frustrated with wanted to be in a place where I was really pushed. And i went then to a conservatory of music for a year.
00:11:08
Speaker
And during that time, i took a choral writing course and wanted to be pushed. And they gave me a really, really high grade because I was better than the people I was in class with and didn't really help me develop what I wanted to do. So, and plus I had some frustrating experiences with just some spiritual challenges that year and some teachers that were mocking of Christianity, one in particular.
00:11:37
Speaker
And so I thought, you know, what does God want me to do as a believer to hone these skills of wanting to be in church music so badly, but wanting to be pushed to be better.
00:11:51
Speaker
And a friend of our our family who was in charge of Christian radio in our area took me out to a meal and said, you need to go to Bob Jones.
00:12:02
Speaker
And it really wasn't on my radar at the time. So I went for a visit and then I determined that I could get both the spiritual instruction there and the music that I so desired.
00:12:14
Speaker
So I entered there and finished my degree there and stayed there for graduate work. So my undergrad was in church music with piano proficiency. And then I did a grad degree in piano performance.
00:12:26
Speaker
Okay, great. So especially if you spend a year at conservatory, I'm assuming You were having classical training alongside the church music that you were doing. What did that balance look like at Bob Jones when you were there in a church music degree? Was that also still that you were still doing classical training alongside, or was it a more focused, really focused on church piano work?
00:12:47
Speaker
No, it we I had to do recitals both junior year and senior year that were shorter than the piano performance, but they so certainly were memorized classical recitals. I would say that all of the schools I went to I really had to improve with my classical work, including my freshman year at a smaller Christian college. I had an excellent piano teacher there, but my background in classical music was not as strong as some people's.
00:13:13
Speaker
I had background in it, yes, but not the repertoire that maybe was expected. i don't think I could have gone right into the conservatory from home without a lot of extra work on classical to get get the repertoire.
00:13:28
Speaker
That sounds like a very similar journey to mine, actually. So looking back on that a little bit, if you hadn't done that classical work and made the the progress in that that you did, how do you think that would have changed? Or maybe we can ask it the other direction.
00:13:46
Speaker
How did that classical work prepare you for things that you have used further going forward in church music that you're grateful you did? Well, it absolutely changed my technique and that needed to happen.
00:13:58
Speaker
It hand position, fingering, a lot of things like that. It's interesting. There are some pieces, of course, that we probably a lot of us love in the classical literature. And I don't think I would have been familiar with this many of them.
Family and Ministry Journey
00:14:12
Speaker
I just this week, an eighth book in an Alfred series that I've done in the Sacred Performer has come out. And all eight of those books are kind of mashups with classics and hymns.
00:14:23
Speaker
And I feel like the repertoire that I learned during that time has made it so I can do what I like to do, too, in that series. But, no, it it greatly influenced my writing as well.
00:14:34
Speaker
and And I don't know if we're going to get into the creative process a little bit, but sometimes if I just need inspiration for new ideas, i can just pick up some of the classical books. and and start playing and then, oh, and it just leads into an idea, a creative idea. Yeah, it's very, very important, I think, for to have that foundation.
00:14:55
Speaker
And it helped me not to be as messy, you know, yeah messy pianist, you know, so all of those kinds of things. So you did your undergrad, your master's at Bob Jones at some point during school. Is this when you met your husband, Steve, or was that post-school?
00:15:12
Speaker
We met in choir, yes, at at college. For a number of years, we worked in full-time Christian ministry together. And he did choral, leading the church orchestra and all of those kinds of things and and congregational leading.
00:15:27
Speaker
And I was a pianist. I did a lot of help with scheduling and selecting music and working with special music people, a lot of those kinds of things to take some burden off of him. And we did that for a number of years.
00:15:39
Speaker
And then i went back into academics, and he went into some civil government work the last, I guess, the last half of our careers before we retired. But even during those years, we were we were volunteering and and busy serving in various ways. And so that that's a blessing. and way back, we we were at a camp called the Wilds. And I don't know that your listeners maybe would know about that, but I think you probably do because of your book, the books you're referring to. They publish
00:16:10
Speaker
yeah And my husband, Steve, was very instrumental in ah getting the wilds into music publishing. And so, and in fact, he learned a computer program and we had the we were doing the first choral books in our living room and later in our basement. And, you know, he was very, very involved in all of this.
00:16:29
Speaker
And he was supporting really my gifts and the gifts of Mac and Beth Lynch when he was doing that. And I appreciate his heart for that because he's not a writer. He's my best critic for sure. he can I can think I'm done with a piece and he'll say, I think it needs to go somewhere right here. And I'm, oh shoot. you know I had to go back to the drawing board. I thought I was done.
00:16:52
Speaker
But it's it he he makes it better. Trusted ears are very valuable. Yes.
Inspiration and Arranging Hymns
00:16:58
Speaker
yeah We're not always grateful for them in the moment. But but it's important. It's important. And I value it.
00:17:04
Speaker
That's fantastic. So speaking of the Wilds Music Publishing, ah we were talking a little bit before the podcast started. And you confirmed my suspicion that Draw Me Nearer was your first piano solo book that you did. And that was published through the Wilds Music Publishing.
00:17:22
Speaker
So when was that? when When was that that you wrote this? And what was that motivation to do a book of piano solo arrangements? That was in 96.
00:17:33
Speaker
And i had been playing a lot at the church we were at. And the church held large conferences or people who come in and play and different things. And people were interested in the arrangements. And and plus, I wanted to provide advanced arrangements, but have some simplifications. And this book has those above the staff.
00:17:54
Speaker
if you have an arpeggio, which was of course, very, very big in that era. yes You know, if you have an arpeggio, not everybody can do that skillfully. And so I would provide also an alternative. And so that, I think that helped those books be popular at that time.
00:18:11
Speaker
And Just recently, that book, and He Leadeth Me, they've been reissued in The Best of Faye Lopez is the way the book is called. and that's And that's available through the Wilds, but also through J.B. Pepper and places like that.
00:18:25
Speaker
I was so excited to hear that they have been re-released. I have my copies. They have been treasures that have a special spot on my shelves. But I know maybe about even 10 years ago, some because they got hard to find there for a little while. So to see them back in publication, I'm so excited about it.
00:18:40
Speaker
I have a question that i don't I don't want to make ah any accusations of your maturity, but i just I have something that I'm curious about. So I grew up, I played your books and I played, there's ah several other arrangers started around this time. There's a lot of books available, but I'm not very familiar if you go back beyond 30 years.
00:19:01
Speaker
So when you were growing up in church playing, was there Faye Lopez for you? Was there arranger who was publishing arrangement books that you were playing out of? When I was a child, the books my mom had were mostly things that were more like theme and variation styles, where you'd have your kind of straight through, and then you'd have triplets for a verse, and then you'd have 16th notes for a verse, and that kind of thing.
00:19:28
Speaker
And I thought they were kind of boring. you know So it's not a bad model for starting to arrange. I've told many students to try that and see where they end up.
00:19:39
Speaker
But I wanted to do things with chord substitutions also, because that's just kind of the way I'm wired. But then when I was in high school, Dino was on the scene and I did listen to him. I heard him in person once.
00:19:53
Speaker
okay And ah Don Wurtzen was around and there were people like that coming on the scene. ah Ted Smith way back, you know, Fred Bach was around, but there weren't lots and lots of books, I would say.
00:20:07
Speaker
And i would add by, even by that time, I was more interested in making up my own. yeah So I listened to them though. And there were times where I hear some transition or some really interesting chord and I stopped the recording and what was that? What was that?
00:20:24
Speaker
And even if I, ah even before I did fear some of the theory that I ended up, I, even if I didn't know what it was supposed to be called, I would try to replicate it and, and imitate it.
00:20:35
Speaker
And so there were people like that that were out there, but not as many as there have been since. And I would say this kind of the the trends in church music printing, there was a surge and then there was a bit of a downfall at 9-11 and then there was more of a downfall at COVID.
00:20:57
Speaker
And so even in the church music printing industry, there's certainly it's followed certain trends of demand. Well, of course, also at COVID, a lot of people started doing more online. So you have more of the self-publishing going on.
00:21:13
Speaker
and And so there are a lot of lot of voices or keys to listen to now, but but it the levels are all over the place because anybody can do whatever.
00:21:26
Speaker
I think that's something I started even seeing from your arranging. These first two books, Draw Me Nearer, He Leadeth Me, quite advanced with some simplifications that were provided that made them more accessible, which is really nice.
00:21:39
Speaker
But then I had some adult students maybe starting about... 12, 13 years ago, when I was pushing your name and showing them some of these arrangements, they found some other books of yours that were newer, I hadn't bought yet, but that were also much more maybe in an intermediate range. So you've you've kind of explored yourself varying levels of ah solo arrangement books, yes? so Yes, and almost always when I'm asked to do things for publishers, they ask for intermediate or late intermediate, almost always.
00:22:14
Speaker
I did get to do another advanced book recently with Lorenz called Strength for Today, Hope for Tomorrow. It doesn't have the arpeggios. And I would say it's a little bit more moderate than those early books, but it still is advanced.
00:22:30
Speaker
And in fact, one of the one of my friends who has been an editor and clinician said, oh, I'm gonna play out of your book for this clinic and I had to practice. So I'm like, okay, good, it's advanced.
00:22:43
Speaker
But then another editor said he had another book coming out in the same season and he said it was just a beast and mine was playable. So, you know, yeah I mean, you get all these different, but it is, it is true that though the books that, that do well in the market are not as hard.
00:23:02
Speaker
yeah So it's just a matter of who's playing the piano in church. Yeah. And those those arpeggios, like you said, they were kind of a rage for a while there. But I remember the process it took for me to learn how to do those and do them well. It was sitting at a piano and doing them up and down the piano slowly, trying to make sure that every hand movement was smooth in the sound and like going up and down for hours. But I was determined that I was going to sound like the pianists that were doing it really, really well. i was like, I'm not going to have the lumpy arpeggios.
00:23:38
Speaker
ah So, but it just took a lot of patience and that's one of the most gorgeous things when it works really well. And I think the absence of them, it could end up with absence of ah of a goalpost.
00:23:50
Speaker
I loved, I guess, like you said, in those first two books that you offered other options. So it's not like you can't play this arrangement, but there's also another level if you want to keep working
Creative Process and Preferences
00:24:00
Speaker
for it. That's right. I love the concept.
00:24:02
Speaker
The little bumps in the arpeggios, I call them hiccups. Hiccups, yes. but Yeah, so you want to get our get away from the hiccups, yes. So would you be willing to share a little bit of your approach to arranging a hymn or a sacred piece when you decide you're going to do ah a new arrangement? What is your process? Where do you start?
00:24:24
Speaker
It varies, actually. I'm um very grateful for a phone that I can record on. that it used to be I used to have a tape recorder, you know, i back in the day.
00:24:36
Speaker
And I remember one time I had recorded all kinds of things on that tape recorder, just messing with things. And when another book came up to write, I thought, i don't know where start. And I listened to the ideas. It was like, oh, I've got, I've got about a book on here.
00:24:50
Speaker
You know, so just even little ideas. I like to start with just a small idea. Well, actually I i often start with a concept since I do books.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah. i often start with a concept and then choose my ideas. hymns and then take each hymn and work on an initial idea for that hymn, hopefully based on lyrics.
00:25:15
Speaker
Now I have embarrassed myself before where I get into something, I think you are not paying any attention to the words. You just got really soft on the word shout or, you know, something like that.
00:25:27
Speaker
And, and so trying to be text driven, but if I were starting a single arrangement, I always want to choose a song that I'm not going to get sick of in the process. I want it to be something that really ministers to me first.
00:25:41
Speaker
And truly the most favorite pieces that I've done are pieces that have ministered to me in a deep level all by myself, you know, all at home by myself or whatever at the piano. They've ministered deeply to me, both piano and choral.
00:25:57
Speaker
But I would say I start with an initial idea. Sometimes it's an introduction idea. Sometimes it's an accompaniment idea. Sometimes it's keys. You know, it it can vary. I don't just have one process that I go into that with.
00:26:11
Speaker
If I'm doing a collection, i want to have some kind of a balance to the types of pieces. Even though I gravitate to the flowy stuff, I'm going to try to have something that's a little more vibrant to give contrast.
00:26:26
Speaker
Then I take those initial ideas and then I, my setup in here is I've got my piano. I, in front of me, I have a synthesizer that's connected to my music software so I can go back and forth and I can write some things down. Then I go, I go back to the piano a lot and play it and, oh, that doesn't feel right.
00:26:47
Speaker
I do pencil scratchings on, i use a lot of paper, you know, ah some, some, writers don't use a lot of paper, but I do. as my husband says, I kill a lot of trees when I'm doing a book or a big project because I i want to see it on paper and mark on it and then redo it. That works best for me.
00:27:07
Speaker
I do know of a few people who still do all pencil and paper until it's done. I know some people who almost exclusively are writing on their computers. For me, it's it's really a combination.
00:27:19
Speaker
I don't know if that answers your question with choral. It's a bit different because I'm working with other factors with the lyric and how it's going to fit in with the voices and the voicings and all of that.
00:27:33
Speaker
So I think that. what you're what you're sharing here is that the secret to the creative process is that there's no secret. I think a lot of people go to listen to arrangers and composers and they're waiting to say like, here is the workflow you need and you're going to just start producing like crazy. But I think most arrangers and composers that I talk to and I know my arranging process it doesn't look the same for every every song. There is, there's a a bit of the messy and it's the persistence of working through the messy. And at the end, there's something hopefully polished comes out.
00:28:08
Speaker
Well, I taught of a course when I was in academics, I taught a course on hymn writing, Christian hymn writing kind of thing. And we used Robert Sterling's book, The Craft of Christian Songwriting,
00:28:21
Speaker
And one thing that Rob says is that a song is about one thing. And he's talking about the songs with lyrics, but that's also true with an arrangement. We don't want it to be so extreme with all these different ideas that it's not cohesive.
00:28:36
Speaker
I think early arrangers do too many things in one arrangement. It's very typical and and they'll, they'll do, it'll be too long. It'll be too complicated and it won't hang together.
00:28:50
Speaker
And sometimes We almost have to work hardest on our transitional material to get it to to be a cohesive unit. I would say if there are aspiring arrangers out there that yeah just simplify and don't try to do everything in one song. And I've been in workshops where same guy, where Robert Sterling, will take a a piece and he'll say, you've got three arrangements here, save this one for something else. And do you know, you focus on this. And and that's great advice, because we we get extreme on our ideas.
00:29:22
Speaker
I can think back to several specific arrangements from my high school and early college years. When you say that I'm like, I know the exact song that was everything in the kitchen sink somehow was in that arrangement.
00:29:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Maybe ah a bit of a philosophical question for you. What do you believe the role is of instrumental music in the church as opposed to sung music? And I know that within our traditions, most of the time, the instrumental music is still based on music that is sung, that has lyrics.
00:29:55
Speaker
But we also hold spaces for instrumental music to be played without any lyrics happening. What do you believe that role is? I have a personal preference on it. I don't think it's a conviction, but it's a personal preference. I love to have the things that I know the lyrics to.
00:30:12
Speaker
Hymns, even some of the modern hymn today, you know, I think it's a blessing to hear that instrumentally for sure. But I could listen, and I could be happy listening to a Bach prelude or whatever, if there's a ah something like that being played in a service.
00:30:25
Speaker
Or sometimes people play incidental music, if you want to call it that, during communion. Some people believe that's less distracting than playing the the words of a hymn while you're thinking about, you know, considering your own heart and so forth.
00:30:41
Speaker
So I think there's a place for all of that in different settings, but I still gravitate personally to the songs where I can paint the text and and really, it's like I'm the singer, but i my fingers are doing the singing with the lyrics, hopefully.
Evolution of Church Music Practices
00:30:59
Speaker
So Yeah, it's my personal preference. Yeah, I love that. I am not currently in a church environment that does the offertory that's instrumental. I'm at a southern Southern Baptist church now, a large Southern Baptist church in the Southeastern United States. And in our context, the focus over the past decade or so for sure has gone very strongly over to to vocal music and I love what we do and I and i love our services, but I will say a part of my heart a bit misses that piano offertory and the time to sit and reflect when someone else is playing. And i would say um meditate a little bit. I think even if it's a song where I know the words, sometimes I don't know all of the words, you know, and so at at least not without looking them at them in the hymnal.
00:31:50
Speaker
But I have thought about the fact that sometimes if maybe the piano pianist is playing Great is Thy Faithfulness, you pick up some of the words. But along the way, it's an opportunity just to meditate on the truth of that one line.
00:32:03
Speaker
Correct. Great is thy faithfulness. And to sit there and just, even if that's the only one that comes to mind, that's a great thing to sit for about three minutes and just meditate. Is that true? where Why is that true?
00:32:16
Speaker
Where in my life has that proved true? Right. I loved that time. It was a very special time for me. it was a special time for me as a listener, a special time for me as a player. And i would I would love to see it come come back in more church trends where maybe it has has gone back into the background a little bit right now. And that's true in many places. and And in recent ministries we've been involved with, for sure, in our current ministry, we don't have instrumental solos except for during communion.
00:32:44
Speaker
And sometimes it's it's piano and violin or piano and flute or something like that. But really that is the time generally for instrumental solo of any kind in recent ministries.
00:32:58
Speaker
And I'm fine with that. It's just a change. yeah So I think it's helpful when there is a, a piano solo play to have the lyrics on the PowerPoint.
00:33:10
Speaker
And I think it's helpful even sometimes to have graphics with that. When I, used to travel and do a few concerts here and there. I had PowerPoints for that. And I didn't have every single word. Sometimes, sometimes I just had the concept of photo, let's say the empty tomb or whatever. If it's a song about that, then people knew enough of the words that I could just have a concept with a slight bit of script.
00:33:37
Speaker
and And so they're again, giving people a different way to be pondering the message. Yes. And technology does make so many of those things so much easier now, just like you were saying with the recording, you haven't used a tape recorder. Now you can use your phone. And I think when you said that, how that would have gone but around the time when I was first playing your arrangements, it would have had to be transparencies, I think. which And I think some church churches did do transparencies. really Maybe actually my, i think maybe when I was in children's church, we used transparencies for lyrics, my how how the world has changed in the past 30 years.
00:34:14
Speaker
So your life has taken you through de different turns. do You've gone through working in ministry in church, doing some music publishing, doing some higher act academic teaching.
00:34:26
Speaker
But throughout all those years, were you normally also playing piano in church? ah Was that, has that been a pretty thorough line throughout your life? Yes. Until very shortly before we retired. Yes, that's right. And we've been retired three years. so So yeah, it was, it was most of my life for sure.
00:34:45
Speaker
very full Sundays, as as one of my friends said something about whoever wrote the hymn, Oh, Day of Rest and Gladness. We always have a Christian in like the circles we run in.
00:34:56
Speaker
So whatever. But yes, it was a very busy day, Sunday with withd sometimes double services, depending on the church we were at. And choir, choir before the morning service to to warm up and then choir in the afternoon and the evening service. It was very full day.
00:35:13
Speaker
but very rewarding. It was just our lives. And you did that, you were working, you had children, raising children. I know that adds a whole new thing to early Sundays and long Sundays. So just for you personally, what was the thing that made you prioritize doing that? Because I think a lot of people can get to a point where they make, not necessarily make an excuse, because that's that sounds judgmental, but they just get to a point where they feel that is, especially if they're volunteer, like this is really hard to keep up, but you managed to do that for you know a very long time. What was the
00:35:44
Speaker
thing that was making you say, I need to prioritize this in my life. I think it's stewardship of God's gifting to the body of Christ. That's part of it. I also had a great blessing in a friend who chose to make her ministry helping with our children on those busy days.
00:36:02
Speaker
She was a great blessing to us and she would come at choir time. She'd bring them to the service. You know, but that made them not resent when mom had to go off and they were stuck somewhere. What a blessing. What ah what a great ministry she gave us.
00:36:17
Speaker
I don't know if I could have done all of that without her in those earlier years, for sure. But i i don't really remember thinking that there was another normal way.
00:36:28
Speaker
you know, anyway grew up with parents who were serving all the time in church. And so it wasn't a a hard decision. I guess, to do that.
00:36:40
Speaker
I love to hear that. This is how we see the body of Christ working, right? And we can all serve each other in so many different ways and function in different ways. And I just think about what a blessing that is where she's like, I maybe can't play piano for the service, but I can help our pianist do her job so much more easily and without distraction if I can help her with
Nurturing Future Musicians and Advice
00:37:00
Speaker
her family.
00:37:00
Speaker
It's beautiful picture. Yes, it was wonderful. It really was. Well, moving over into just some thoughts for some listeners, as we've learned a little bit about you now and about some of your work that you've done.
00:37:13
Speaker
Here at my church, we have a school of music where we do music lessons for the community. And I've had several teachers recently who have had students who have mentioned, like, I want to work on some stuff to be able to play in church outside of your normal ah Alfred or Piano Safari or and Faber, whatever your piano literature series is.
00:37:34
Speaker
So if you have, if we have teachers with students who are interested in playing in their church, what are some aspects of the training for those students that you would emphasize? and Well, and that, that question will have a variety of answers depending on the type of worship that their particular ministry is in. If it's all traditional, it's going to be a lot of hymn book work and how to add fill ins and improvise from the correct notes.
00:38:02
Speaker
If it's going to be more of a chord chart situation, then learning the chords and learning them in all different inversions. Something that I've been acquainted with in more recent years is the Nashville numbering system.
00:38:17
Speaker
Just learning how to use chords, it's almost a shorthand for that, where you can transpose the P's to different keys, just using the numbers, getting around in keys, knowing your accidentals, knowing your scales, knowing chords within those keys and the inversions.
00:38:33
Speaker
I would say all of that, really to be well-rounded in church music playing, all of that is important. And being able to sight read an accompaniment. I used to just collect pieces of choral music that were kind of easy. And then I'd give them to students that weren't all that great, maybe on up through advanced.
00:38:52
Speaker
and and say, play this. I'm going to sing it with you next week and see if they can stay up with it because some students go back and fix and fix and fix and they never go to the hole. You can do the same kind of thing with your hymn book where you sing with them.
00:39:08
Speaker
Following a director is a whole different thing. That is a different skill depending on the the worship style there again. So as well-rounded as you can be for for the students coming up and at any age, right? Because we have we have accomplished classical adult musicians who've never read a chord chart.
00:39:29
Speaker
ah There are skills they can learn, certainly, and there are resources to learn them. There are probably some really good resources on YouTube, but sifting through the ones that aren't as good figuring out who really knows what they're talking about, that's kind of challenging sometimes.
00:39:46
Speaker
you're involved in an SBC church, I know sometimes their state worship conventions have wonderful clinicians who who teach this kind of thing in the workshops and it might get them going on some of these issues. So You probably have just as many resources that you know about as I do.
00:40:05
Speaker
I think what you're saying, it seems so basic in a way. Know your scales, know your key signatures, know your chords, know their inversions. And the funny thing is, I think that is a part of traditional education. For most teachers, they're ah teaching those things. But what I do find is the students often miss knowing what they're doing. They can do it.
00:40:24
Speaker
But if you ask them to tell you anything about it or how this chord relates to this chord, knowing How many students can play their 1-4-1-5-7-1 in all 12 keys? But if you ask them what the four chord is in A flat, they don't know. That's right.
00:40:41
Speaker
So I think sometimes even just taking what they do know and making them put words on it. that's right I think it's something that can be really, really helpful. You mentioned, you know full-blown, excellent classical pianists who can't read a chord chart. And I always thought, I'm like, you have the skills to do that.
00:40:56
Speaker
you You had to have to get to where you are. it's It's just someone didn't connect some dots for you along the way. And that's ah and that's a shame. Yeah, I think those are those are some very helpful ideas. And just knowing where to at least to get a start. And i think a lot of times the student's curiosity hopefully will also drive some of that if they're asking.
00:41:14
Speaker
Yeah. What encouragement might you give to someone who's serving as pianists in their church, but they feel that they're limited in their abilities or training? I know there are many pianists who somehow they ended up, they are the pianists in their church and they don't maybe feel quite ready for it, or they don't feel like they had been prepped well for it, but that's where they are.
00:41:36
Speaker
What kind of advice or encouragement might you give to someone in that position? I would say thank God for the calling he's given you and try to improve at one or two things at a time.
00:41:47
Speaker
You can't do everything today, but you can do a little bit today. i would say one of the starts is to see, it and this is not always possible, but see if you can get the hymns ahead of time, depends on the church, and try to practice them faithfully, building a repertoire of songs so that you go, okay, I've already really worked on these three, and next time it'll be these six, and then you're building that repertoire and not feeling like you have to do everything on the fly.
00:42:17
Speaker
I think it's very discouraging to people who are not your players to feel like they, well, in classical, you don't do it that way. Why not build a repertoire? you can You can do advanced work on what I'm going to fill in on a long note.
00:42:33
Speaker
You can write it in You don't have to be super good at doing it. on the fly. And so just get better at one or two things and then ask questions of those who are, if there's somebody skilled in your church or in your area, ask them to give you some feedback.
00:42:50
Speaker
And I know that kind of takes a tough hide sometimes, but it's helpful. I remember when I put myself under under some serious critique of my choral music and it was very painful, but it was one of the best things I did.
00:43:06
Speaker
in the last, it's it's in the last 15 years that I did that and it transformed some things about the way
Accessing Faye's Music and Final Thoughts
00:43:12
Speaker
I was doing things. So it's helpful to to continue to to put yourself in the learner's seat.
00:43:18
Speaker
And if you feel very, very inadequate, just just that one next step, one next step. God understands that we're not good at everything that he calls us to do. He wants us to keep being stewards of our gifts.
00:43:33
Speaker
So that's how I would encourage. And if you have a chance to take a few lessons, there are places you can do that online. There are probably some local people in certain areas, especially. And some teachers are willing to work with your schedule and just do once a month or once every time you need it.
00:43:49
Speaker
So giving yourself those opportunities. That's beautiful. A lot of wisdom there. So Faye, tell me if there's anybody who's listening this who is interested in buying some of your arrangements or doing, learning some of the things, resources that you provide. or there Are there anything that you would like to know to give people to where they can find you, where they can find your works, your arrangements, that kind of thing?
00:44:11
Speaker
Sure. I do have a website, but I primarily don't sell on that. I link to JW Pepper because their website seems to be kept updated the best and they found sound samples on a lot of things, some some things. So that's a resource.
00:44:30
Speaker
And if you go to JW Pepper and just search, you can search my name and find things. You can go to individual companies such as Alfred Lorenz and others, but they're they're going to be available on JW Pepper as well. And they're easy to order on there.
00:44:45
Speaker
I have three free arrangements on my website if anybody wants to download those. There are some companies that are putting out individual copies of songs that I've done over years, and I'm in the process of recording those.
00:45:00
Speaker
So we'll have audio and the ability to print an individual arrangement. I will be linking to those eventually, but we're not quite there yet. And I'm also working really hard to get more and more content on some of the streaming platforms.
00:45:13
Speaker
That is ah an ongoing project that I'm involved with. And those, so far, almost all of those are things that are in print. If you ever have a question about what book is this number in then I'm happy to answer those kinds of questions. And my email contact is on my website.
00:45:34
Speaker
That's fantastic. and I'll link to all those things that you just mentioned in the show notes. So that should be very easy to find for anyone who's listening. Well, are there any other final thoughts, encouragements, anything you'd like to share or anything that we didn't cover today that you think would be important?
00:45:50
Speaker
I think we've run the gamut, but I just, I want to keep reminding myself why I do what I do. I want to glorify God with the things he's given me to serve with. And that is,
00:46:03
Speaker
both by working hard, but but also but being prayerful about the things, you know, prioritizing what I'm doing and then not thinking I have to be the one serving, letting others.
00:46:16
Speaker
And I guess that's a thing, too, that I'd like to say is we need to train the next generation and not feel like we're territorial about where we serve.
00:46:27
Speaker
it's It's a joy to work with younger people and and let them have opportunities when it's our main opportunity, ah engaging them to play along with us on a second instrument or giving them opportunities to be the first instrument. Those are very important things in in reproducing ourselves and others.
00:46:45
Speaker
you know I'm retired. My roles have changed. And the way people view me very honestly, ah the older I get, it changes. It does. And that's okay. So I need to be okay with that, with with helping equip younger people to continue the work of ministry.
00:47:04
Speaker
Well, Faye, I want to give you a sincere thank you, not just for being on the podcast, but ah just very sincere thank you for your spirit to seek the Lord and your and guidance throughout your life and your willingness to listen to him.
00:47:20
Speaker
i I could be like a little emotional right now. I can't state enough the influence that your writing made on my um my life as a young musician. My wife is the same thing. We were talking about how when we were young, your books, The Draw Me Nearer, He Leadeth Me, these books were the things that that drew us to the instrument and pushed us in our abilities. My wife heard another pianist play your draw me nearer The song from the Draw book.
00:47:51
Speaker
And that's one of the two things in her life that she remembers asking a teacher, will you teach this to me? It was that and Rachmaninoff Felicia. ne So those are the those are the two. You're you're in league with Rachmaninoff there. i I spent so much time playing them. I've told so many people over the years, I know if anyone heard me play piano and they were familiar with your work, they would know that I cut my teeth playing Faye Lopez. It's just, it's it changed how I played. It changed how I how i wrote. You talked about the arrangement books being kind of few and far between when you were growing up.
00:48:23
Speaker
And I had these models for what did imaginative, beautiful piano arrangements look like that did have a unified idea that had beautiful chords in them.
00:48:35
Speaker
I just had these this jumping off point going into it myself that I'm just so grateful for. i'm grateful that it drew me to play piano more, that drew me to play church music more.
00:48:47
Speaker
And all of that is because at some point you got an idea that the Lord placed in your head and you said, yes, Lord, I'll do it. And I just can't thank you enough. Praise the Lord. Well, just to end on a fun note, I have one question I'm asking all my podcast guests. If you could snap your fingers and play an instrument that you don't currently play and be proficient at it, what instrument would that be?
00:49:11
Speaker
I used to think harp. I really love the sound of the harp. But I was thinking about it when you sent me that question. and I think there are a lot of churches that don't have good oboist. And I love oboe.
00:49:23
Speaker
I just think it's so beautiful. So I think either the harp or the oboe would be wonderful. I love those answers. I don't know that those are going to be either are going to be one of our most popular answers by people, but I love the, I love those. Those are two that we always need of being a church orchestra director. We always need an oboist and we would love if we have a harp player show up. It's just like we've struck gold. That's right. yeah That's fantastic. Well, again, huge. Thank you so much for being here with me. It's been such a joy to talk to you and I hope so many people just enjoy getting to learn a little more of your story.
00:49:59
Speaker
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
00:50:03
Speaker
Isn't she just the best? It made my year to get to meet her and talk to her and hear a little bit about her story. Can't encourage you enough to check out her arrangements and compositions.
00:50:15
Speaker
Go visit JW Pepper to see what she has available and check out those free arrangements on her website as well. Can't get a much better price than that. Thank you again for listening to the Luton Harp. If you are enjoying the show, please remember to like and subscribe on your platform of choice.
00:50:32
Speaker
And if you know someone else who you think would enjoy this show, please share it with them as well. I look forward to seeing you again next time.