Hello to you all and thanks for checking out our blog! Here’s a little update on what we’ve been up to these last 6 months.
September came and we hit the books. The big news this year is that Shannon (17) is graduating! She has already begun taking college courses through Lumerit and is enjoying pursuing an English degree. Shannon has a passion for children and introducing them to excellent literature. She has a new business idea related to this and is excited about developing it over the next year, along with reaching out to area schools in order to share our music with the children in our community. Shannon (along with all of her siblings) has been working with an excellent vocal coach and has been learning so much more about how to use her voice more effectively. She is also dipping her fingers into the songwriting world…we’re excited to see what becomes of this!
Emily (15) is in her junior year of high school and is toying with the idea of becoming a midwife. She has been interested in childbirth since she was a small girl. She has been educating herself on the subject this school year and is taking classes that will help her if the Lord continues to direct her toward this field. She has also been working hard to develop her mandolin and fiddle skills. She had the opportunity in early November to play at the famous Station Inn in Nashville with her fiddle teacher, Deanie Richardson. She also worked very hard on multiple mandolin tunes in order for Chords of Grace to compete for the first time at SPBGMA (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America) in January.
Daniel is 13 and is currently having a love/hate relationship with Algebra 1:) He is our constant entertainment, making us laugh multiple times each day. He has continued to work hard and advance in his piano skills and we are grateful for his teacher, Kenneth Thompson. The Lord answered prayers as He provided an amazing banjo teacher for Daniel in December. Kristin Scott Benson (with The Grascals) has been such a positive and challenging instructor for Dan. He looks forward to each lesson with great enthusiasm. Daniel has also been singing a lot more in the band and the competition at SPBGMA created the perfect opportunity for the siblings to develop their harmonies.
Molly is 11 and she is the creative one. You never know what she may build or design (her first love is the hot glue gun!) Molly has been having a lot of fun with the family vocal coach, especially when she gets to sing songs from her favorite movies. She has discovered that she actually can sing loud (although in the past her singing was more of a whisper.) She has a new bass teacher who we met at Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp last summer. Skype lessons have become a big hit in our home (less driving for mom, and a big time-saver all around). We’re grateful for Mr. Dan Delaney!
Over the last months we have had multiple opportunities to play music for very special people. The San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club asked us to be their opening performance for their season. Generally a classical venue, we had everyone’s feet tapping and hands clapping, bluegrass music had never before been performed at this 100 year old music club! We played at our community Lion’s Club Fish Fry and at our annual Garden Ridge Christmas Tree Lighting. We had an opportunity to play at the Pickin’ and Grinnin’ Bluegrass Fest in Bellville, TX in October and met some really special people there. We had the opportunity to see Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver in a very small venue here in San Antonio...and we got to meet the great Mr. lawson! We traveled up to Nashville in early November to work with Mr. Stephen Mougin, who has helped us as a band so very much.
We have a lot going on this month and are looking forward to the months ahead. Please check out our tour page, we’d love to see some of you at our performances. San Antonio peeps…mark your calendars for Thursday, February 20th at 7pm when we will perform at our home church with the Benson Family Singers!
