I have a Story for you...

Hello to all of you bloggers who peek in on the Salgado family every now and then! If you’ve visited a few times, you’ve probably noticed most of the posts are from Ray or one of the girls. I hardly ever post, but it’s been on my mind for a while, and I have a story to tell.

I remember coming into my Grandma's house, almost 25 years ago, to her “room” (they had converted the garage to a very large room with a lundry and bathroom). She had sheet music, white out, staff paper, pencils, pens, and a very old typewriter spread all over their old pool table. She was working on putting together music for a new church song book. She would notate the music in pencil, proofread it, make corrections, then go over it in pen, so that it would make good photocopies. She did the lyrics for some of the songs using the typewriter, but I think it got too hard to line things up with the notes, so she hand-wrote several of the lyrics. That is what she did for so many of the songs that had been done as 'specials", that she was not able to find music for them. Prior to that, she was visiting music stores, looking for sheet music to copy. After making a couple of versions (because songs were added through the years) of the brown, hard back, clasp books, the church eventually invested in the blue, spiral bound, books that contained over 200 songs she had compiled! We used photocopies of those songs to create the books we used under CCLI licensing. You could look through them, and find many pages that represented hours, upon hours of work that my Grandma did, with the help of Cora's mom and Bro Dubby (Bill Bryant). He arranged several of the songs, with his own spin on them, when he notated them for the books.

Even though I loved to see my dear Grandmother’s writing on those pages, I had a desire to, somehow, come to the place where we could have uniform sheet music that would be the same size font on every page, and easy to read. At the end of 2007, My girl’s music teacher was telling me about this amazing music notation software called Sibelius. One day, he brought his laptop, and showed me how it worked. He used it to create sheet music, quizzes, and exercises for his students. I was amazed. I went to our deacon, Brother Mike, and told him about it. I asked him if the church would be interested in purchasing the software, if I would be willing to learn it, and create new sheet music for our collection of songs – some songs were only lyrics, since we hadn’t been able to locate sheet music for them. He gave the ok, and I began quite a journey.

By February 2008, I had learned the software enough to begin inputting the music. I think I had about 10 songs completed, and our elder came for a visit. I was so excited about how pretty the music was, I showed him a sample of the songs I had finished. He told me it was copyright infringement to create new sheet music – it wouldn’t be covered under CCLI. Oh, my, that was such a shock to me! I spent the next couple of days researching and verifying what was/wasn’t allowed. Then, my job suddenly shifted from creating sheet music to becoming educated in how to go about getting print licensing for all the songs we wanted to include in our new song books!

Thankfully, right about the same time, Sister Donna became involved, and volunteered to help me input the music. Sister Judy eventually became involved in helping with song history, source documents, and proofreading. What a blessing. We all spent the next year working together. What an education! We all learned so much about working with one another, and about music, that it became a great blessing to each of us.

Now that the books have been printed, several people have asked me (because they know that I seem to always need some sort of project to go along with homeschooling, taking care of my family, etc.) “What are you going to do now, Rechelle?”

It has been sort of strange since I actually finished the final song for the book (several weeks ago). At first, I would get done with my work, or finish up with dinner, and think, “Wow! I don’t have anything to do! What am I going to do?”

But I have written several new songs, and would like to eventually start getting them really polished, and recorded for keepsakes. That isn’t very high on my list, though.

I’ve had more time to work with Levi, and we are both enjoying his progress in reading, writing, and math. I have a few more weeks of school with my girls, and then I’ll only be responsible for “educating” Kayley for next year! (Levi will be doing “school” but won’t be enrolled at CHEP. Kindergarten isn’t required in our state, so I am gladly avoiding the extra paperwork that goes with him being officially in school for one more year.)

If you’ve read our “Anniversary” blog, you will understand, the other goal I have, now that the song books are done: I’d like to conquer the mountain! So far, I’ve had my new bike for three weeks, and I’m enjoying it so much. Spending that time with Ray, doing something he really enjoys, has been very sweet to me. The kids have joined us a few times, and I am getting in better shape already! I’ve been able to get a little further up the mountain each trip out.

One thing is sure. It is a tough climb, but it's always worth it to be able to take in such gorgeous views! When we get home, I always feel invigorated, and like I have really accomplished something. The best accomplishment is the joy it brings Ray to be able to share something he really enjoys with me. He is always coaching me, and helping me along. I hope to be a good work out companion for him some day. Right now, he goes on his "workout rides", and goes with me for "leisure time" with the wife!

Love, Rechelle