Videos from MSSGM

Clark Hagy - a really good friend to the staff at MSSGM, and a 2009 student of the school, was at the Closing Program with his camera in hand. Last week he started uploading videos from the Closing Program on to youtube. Visit www.youtube.com/user/pianogospel05 to see some of the videos. Clark also attended the WV School of Music, which was held the week after MSSGM in Kenna, WV, and you can see videos from their closing program on his youtube site a well.

The CDs and DVDs are currently in production, and we expect to be shipping them in the next few weeks. Thanks to Donna Leaptrot (Brendon, Katie and Andrew's mom) for taking on that project!

On Wednesday, July 21, I was in a bit of a pickle prior to the evening music school. The man that I had previously asked to do devotions for the evening had to back out at the last minute, due to some personal matters that needed to be tended. So, I prayed and asked God to help me make a decision - did He want me to lead the evening devotion or did He have someone else in mind? I felt that God wanted me to ask one of the men from Union Mission to share their testimony with the student body that evening; and so I did.

Joe was one of the men who had impressed the facutly with his previous musical background - he had even competed at band competitions in high school against one of our faculty members. He also was a great anchor of our bass section. Joe gladly agreed, and shared his testimony. The student body was quiet that night - and listened, hanging on to every word that Joe shared. He told of how he grew up in church and had been saved at an early age. But he grew up and made poor decisions - that included drugs and alcohol. About 11 months ago, he went to Union Mission and turned his life back over to the Lord. He's enrolled at Word of Life Bible Institute and will begin classes this Fall.

There were about 12 men who came to the music school from the Foundations program at Union Mission and we LOVED them! The first day of classes, they were hesitant. It was obvious that those men did not really, truly want to be at a "music school". Even after the first evening I was thinking that the men didn't really have a good time, and was "hoping" they would choose to give the school another night, another chance. They did. On Tuesday night they were more comfortable, their mouths were opening a little wider and they were smiling!

This past Sunday night, the men came to Cobbs Creek (my home church) along with Rex Whiteman (of Union Mission). They sang three songs ("Hand In Hand with Jesus", "Where Could I Go" and "Victory in Jesus"). Seth Gregory surprised the men (and me too, I didn't know he was planning on attending the service) and accompanied the men as they sang.

It was such a blessing! I wish you all could have been there!

Mountain State School of Gospel Music Faculty Ladies Quartet.mpg

The videos are going up on youtube! Check out this one of the Ladies Quartet, consisting of four of the lady faculty members. From L-R: Katie Leaptrot ("Queen of the Children", children's teacher), Ashley Mahood (worked with preschoolers), Tori Holstine (MSSGM Director and taught basic music theory for adults), Ashli Samples (sight-singing assistant).

Our Students are Keeping Busy!

It is always a blessing to see our students use their gifts coupled with the things they learned during music school. This past Sunday evening, I got to see one of the children - Troy - play a piano special at church. It was precious! Probably the cutest thing was on Sunday morning after church he ran out into the parking lot and yelled, "Tori! Tori! I can play the piano!" We give all children (ages 7 - 11) who enroll in music school free private lessons in voice or piano. Troy had chosen piano lessons. He had never played a piano before, and was able to learn to play "God Is So Good" during the music school. Troy also took guitar lessons from Seth during the music school. At the Student Recital he played guitar and sang along to "Amazing Grace". He has so much potential! He's going to be a fine musician one day, and he's getting started on the right foot, by attending music schools and enrolling in private lessons. I wish more adults took their gift from the Lord that seriously!

We also work with adults, training them and encouraging them to take part in their church's music ministry. We train them to be better choir members, choir directors, pianists, organists, etc. This past year, we were privileged to have a group of men from Union Mission take part in the music school. Today I traveled to the Union Mission to accompany the men as they sang during the Staff meeting. It was an exciting day for the men and for me too!

I'm looking forward to hearing more stories of how our students are allowing the Lord to use them for His glory!

MSSGM 2010 Success!

I had intended on blogging daily, keeping everyone up-to-date with the happenings at music school this past week. However, that didn't happen and I'm sorry :(

So, here's a synposis of the entire week, including photos... Enjoy!

On Sunday, July 18, the faculty of the Mountain State School of Gospel Music sang at the Dunbar Mountain Mission Church - the location of the music school. We were able to meet several new folks, see some familiar faces, and register folks for the music school. Several people from the church had previously registered for the music school, and a good number registered after we sang.

Earlier in the year, as we were planning for the music school, we set a goal to have 75 students registered for the music school. The goal seemed attainable. We had 57 registered in 2009. On Monday, July 19, we had 55 students registered to attend the music school. We were 20 away from our goal. By the end of the week, we had 88 students enrolled in the music school.

Monday was an exciting day! We had 40 in the choir during the day, which is a HUGE number for a music school day crowd. We had no idea what to expect for the evening session, and were surprised when we had to set up folding chairs to accomodate our students in the choir loft. Even with the chairs, there were several students standing during the group singing.

We implemented a few new things this year, all of them seemed to work out quite well. The first thing we added was an Opening Assembly in which we shared a time of devotions, practiced singing shaped notes and made all necessary announcements prior to dismissing to class.

Brianna with Re

A few of our students took part in the OpeningAssembly by leading some of the devotions. Jim Young lead devotions on Tuesday evening, and on Wednesday Joe Carte - one of the men from the Union Mission - shared his testimony with the student body.

Below are some more pictures taken during the week...