A passion for music that progresses day by day

by Minister of Music Mark Pace

I have often been asked, “How many instruments do you play?”  The real question should be “How many instruments do you play well?”  I do love to learn to play different musical instruments.  Through out my life I have learned or studied: piano, organ, flute cello, oboe, harp, classical guitar, and alto recorder.  The instruments that I play now are organ, piano, harp and I have brought back my study of the flute which I have not studied seriously in over 15 years. 

Many people ask me “Why do you like to play so many musical instruments?”  I think the answer stems from the fact that I did not get the opportunity to study music as a child.  I would have loved to study the piano but the financial implications for my family made this impossible.  I remember in seventh grade when kids were signing up for band, I did not even take the letter home because I knew that it would be impossible for my parents to do this financially for me. 

Music has always been in my bones.  I remember vividly sitting at a desk and pretending to play the piano.  I only began music study at the age of sixteen when I bought a piano with money that I made picking beans and doing farm labor in rural North Carolina.  I was able to audition only a year later on piano for college.  However, I must say with almost all musicians having started music at a very young age it has always made me feel somewhat inadequate and “a day late and a dollar short.”   Nevertheless, I continue to study and to really practice.  I know so many church musicians who rarely practice, however, though it may not always sound like it on Sunday, but I do try to rehearse and know the music that I will be playing.  I also try to find new things to play and to continue to grow as a musician. 

For over two years I have been recording everything that I play here at St. Paul’s and posting it on YouTube as a kind of video diary. All of my videos may not be perfect, but it is the best that I could do.  I figure if I am going to play it for church it should be ready to record.  One nice outcome of this is that I have had several composers thank me for recording their music and have them send  me music and CDs.

I practice my flute every day at home and get ready; after I get my good flute back from being serviced and re-padded you will be hearing that in church.