My first stage experience was here at Byer's Junior High School in Denver Colorado. Dorothy Winteringham was the first teacher in my life to inspire me. I wanted to learn more about playing the guitar so I tried out for the guitar class. I had taught myself how to play guitar but couldn't read music so I thought I give her guitar class a shot. I tried out for her class and it turned out I was a bit more advanced than her classes were so she made me her guitar assistant instead.
We played guitar ensembles for a variety of school events and then the day came when I met a second teacher who would greatly inspire me, Sonya Hall. Sonya was the choir teacher, both for the main choir and the Jazz Choir. In order to try out for the Jazz Choir and main choir she told me I had to audition by playing one of my songs. She heard I was a songwriter and could sing from Dorothy Winteringham.
The guitar class practiced on the auditorium stage and I'll never forget when Sonya was auditioning some students for the Jazz choir. After they were finished she started gathering her music and as a matter of fact said, "I hear you can sing?" I was putting guitars away after class and replied, in a timid manner that I could. She just blurted out that I would be auditioning for the Jazz Choir and main choir and that I would be bringing my guitar and singing one of my songs. As I remember there was no, "Do you want to?" only "You will be." Which at the time, for me, was a good thing.
After making the Jazz Choir we sang in that auditorium a lot. Eventually, I ended up singing more than a few of my own songs as a soloist too. The most memorable was a song I wrote called "Mrs. Hall". There wasn't a dry eye in the place when I was finished.
We played guitar ensembles for a variety of school events and then the day came when I met a second teacher who would greatly inspire me, Sonya Hall. Sonya was the choir teacher, both for the main choir and the Jazz Choir. In order to try out for the Jazz Choir and main choir she told me I had to audition by playing one of my songs. She heard I was a songwriter and could sing from Dorothy Winteringham.
The guitar class practiced on the auditorium stage and I'll never forget when Sonya was auditioning some students for the Jazz choir. After they were finished she started gathering her music and as a matter of fact said, "I hear you can sing?" I was putting guitars away after class and replied, in a timid manner that I could. She just blurted out that I would be auditioning for the Jazz Choir and main choir and that I would be bringing my guitar and singing one of my songs. As I remember there was no, "Do you want to?" only "You will be." Which at the time, for me, was a good thing.
After making the Jazz Choir we sang in that auditorium a lot. Eventually, I ended up singing more than a few of my own songs as a soloist too. The most memorable was a song I wrote called "Mrs. Hall". There wasn't a dry eye in the place when I was finished.
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