CD Winner!

Congratulations to Teresa from Independence, Missouri! My littlest guy drew your number out the cup this morning. Hope you enjoy it!

Thank you to everybody who entered the drawing; it was really fun to hear from you and I appreciate all your kind comments a lot.

Signing off from snowed in Northern VA with another 10-20 inches on the way...
Arian

"Ahh, this is The Lifetime"

Don't miss your chance to enter the drawing for my CD Giveaway! See my previous post, "CD Giveaway" for details. The deadline for entering the drawing is TODAY - 11:59PM EST Monday, February 8th.

In the past 11 days, school has only been in session for two of them. Count 'em, TWO. And here's why!


That is our little basketball hoop in the left corner.


It feels like (an unplanned) Christmas break all over again, which of course has its ups and its downs.

The downs: I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy.

The ups: Sledding, hot cocoa, Wii games, UNO tournaments, homemade soup and cornbread, staying up late, sleeping in, and having my husband's help getting caught up on the laundry. (Nothing like the threat of losing power to motivate me to get it done!) We've watched movies, watched Eric shovel, played in the snow mounds, postponed homework, and are enjoying our unexpected time together.




The boys have had several sleepovers with each other, and at the beginning the very first one, our 4-year old looked up at me from his bed on the floor and said, satisfied, "Ahh, this is the lifetime!"

Well of course it is!

I have had so many fun memories come back to me during these days of a different pace of life - times when I also felt that this was the life. Listening to our boys giggling, telling secrets, making up hilarious scenarios and nicknames for each other, singing silly songs, planning adventures for the next day - this reminds me of the 16 years of non-stop sleepovers (aka "sharing a room") that I had with my sister, Natalie. We still laugh about funny things we made up and schemes we drummed up over the years! I am SO glad we have all those great memories.

I also remember very well a wild ice storm that my dad, my brother Jennings, and I weathered together. My mom had taken Christian (a baby at the time) and my sister down to Texas to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and I was heartbroken that I couldn't go, too. I guess missing a week of 3rd grade would have really put me behind academically. (?) As it turned out, right after they got safely on their way to Texas, an ice storm hit and knocked out our power back in Missouri for 5 days. So much for school; we ALL missed it!

Jennings and I spent our power-outage days playing "Death and Destruction UNO" tournaments while Dad was outside moving fallen trees and branches, clearing and redigging the gutters (on a 1/4 mile gravel driveway!) and working on the tractor to get the hill drive-able again. He kept the fire in the wood burning stove going non-stop so we could stay warm, and taught us how to make tin foil dinners, just as if we were camping. We slept upstairs in the loft on folded up quilts and stayed toasty warm all week. If our power ever goes out for even half that long, I want my dad here to run the place because he knows how to do it!

Well I'm off to make up a bed on the floor out of a folded over quilt for an impending sleepover. They can stay up and giggle as late as they want since school has been cancelled, and in doing so, I hope will be making memories for a lifetime! I am so grateful for mine.

CD Giveaway!

Looking for a Valentine's Day gift for someone you love? I'm giving away a free autographed copy of "A Time to Love" - give it as a gift or keep it to enjoy yourself!

To enter the drawing, answer this question, found in my blog:

What song are my brother John and I pictured singing on Karaoke? (Hint: The answer is found in my "Good Awesome Days" blog entry.)

Send me an email ariangjohnson@hotmail.com with the answer. The deadline for entering the drawing is 11:59PM EST Monday, February 8th. The winner will be notified by email and also announced here on my blog.

Spread the word!

The fine print: I'll ship to addresses in the United States, including APO/FPO. Sorry, no international shipping at this time. Hopefully it will reach you before Valentine's Day.

Behind the Scenes: "Danny Boy"

We enjoyed a fun visit with my uncle and aunt last night, Tom and Andrea Brett. I've written a lot about my family ties on my dad's side, and there is just as much still to say about my mom's (Andrea is one of my mom's sisters). I really am fortunate to have received a musical heritage through both sides. Andrea arranged "Danny Boy" (audio clip on the right) and I thought it might be fun to give a bit of the background on this piece.


I first heard the Brett's recording of "Danny Boy" at a Christensen Family Reunion in 2007. Andrea had arranged it and their family recorded it for a very special man, President Gordon B. Hinckley, for his 97th birthday. "Danny Boy" was his favorite song. Beyond their beautiful arrangement and performance, it touched me deeply for another reason. My grandad had just passed away and the words "for ye will bend and tell me that you love me, and I shall sleep in peace until you come to me" brought me great comfort.


You can hear an excerpt of their original recording, featured on their CD "A Capella Inspiration" here. It's track 10 on the Song Sampler.

During the reunion, Andrea and I took a morning walk in the thin mountain air of Breckenridge, CO (for some reason our family reunions are usually in places that leave me gasping for breath) and bounced around my initial ideas for recording a CD. At this point the idea was still so new and overwhelming to me that I was keeping it a secret from anyone else! Andrea was a great resource and support for me from planning to the final stages in the studio. She graciously gave me free reign to do whatever I needed to with the music to make it work for the violin and accompaniment.

My recording engineer, Jim Robeson, accompanied me on the keyboard and made it possible to change the voicing with ease. It was a fun creative process to take a piece written for five voices and turn it into a violin solo. At the time, the Bretts were on tour and our communication was limited to intermittent cell phone signals on the road and McDonald's wireless internet service on their laptops. Tom sent me a file containing the score from somewhere in the Upper Midwest, I did a lot of cutting and pasting and reassigning voice parts, Jim sent Andrea a file with our initial recording, and I left voice messages asking her about specific chords we weren't sure about. (That's the short version of the story.) Jim and I were down to just a few minutes left in the studio and I'll never forget when the phone rang. It was Andrea - she had the info we needed and we got 'er done. Phew! I'm very grateful it all came together because I just couldn't picture doing this CD without it.


The Bretts have a fantastic show in Branson, Missouri. Here's a taste! Andrea wrote "I'll Give America My All" and I cry every time I watch it. You'll see why!

A Feeling of Peace

Last night I had a sweet, unexpected "payback" moment and wanted to share it here:

The conversation began with, "Arian, let me give you a hug". (A nice start!) "My daughter gave us one of your CDs for Christmas. The first time I listened to it was in the car while I was driving, and that was a big mistake." (This had me a little worried.) "It just made me cry and I had so many tears streaming down my face I couldn't even see anymore! I couldn't believe it. So the second time I listened to it, the same thing happened. I had to tell my daughter about it, and asked her if it had made her cry - and she told me the same thing happened to her. Thank you for making this CD, it has touched me so much and has brought me so much peace."

I told her sincerely that is my highest hope for this, and that I know what she meant because it has brought me so much peace as well. She asked for a couple more to give to people she loves who could use that feeling of peace right now. St. Francis of Assisi's prayer, "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace," comes to mind and I count it a blessing to be a small part of that in another's life.

I can pinpoint a couple of personal reasons this music brings me such peace, although I'm sure it's going to be different for everyone. I've written about these reasons in older posts: why I made this recording and couldn't have gone better. This last post is what I talked about when I performed at my CD Release open house.

I am grateful that several of my CDs have been given as gifts (by people I know and love, to people they know and love, but whom I don't know)! I would really enjoy hearing about where those have gone and any stories or feedback from the recipients. This started out as a very personal family heritage project, as you may already know, but I didn't know if it would go anywhere beyond my family. In fact it scared me to think that it might. It turned out to be too much of a miracle to just keep it to myself, and it really has meant a lot to me that others have wanted to share it, too. It's gone from Alaska to Florida and is floating around in Germany, Norway, Japan, and even Qatar now! Thanks for sharing it, thanks for your feedback, and many blessings to you.

"Good, Awesome Days"

Happy 2010, everyone!

This past week my little brother John came out to visit. Among all the other holiday festivities and catching up on the last 2 1/2 years since we've seen each other, John and I did something really fun: we recorded a song together! He's composed some really cool stuff, and in this case he wrote a violin part to go with the guitar and vocals. It won't be long before his CDs are flying off the shelves, I'm quite sure!



Just as much fun for me was to watch him and my boys develop a rapport (2 1/2 years is a VERY long time apart when you're only four!). I overheard John ask them what they wanted him to write a song about, and my youngest replied without hesitation, "good, awesome days". Thus a very catchy tune with lyrics inspired by two young boys enjoying the holiday break was born. With more than one reference to chocolate. I love it!

John and I kind of grew up in two different worlds as siblings separated by 13 years. When he started Kindergarten, I started my freshman year in college. I remember so clearly when I came home for my first Christmas break and what a comforting feeling it was to be back with my family. (In this picture I think we were singing "Somewhere Out There" on Karaoke...)


The problem came, of course, when it was time to go back for my next semester. I found my sweet little brother John curled up on the floor by the Christmas tree, crying, the night before I left. He knew I was about to leave again and it was just too sad for him. Oh, my heart! I curled up on the floor next to him and just held him for awhile. I didn't want to leave him any more than he wanted me to go.

Something interesting happened when it was time to say good-bye again yesterday, this time John headed back to college and we were the ones who stayed. My youngest son watched from the window while John loaded his suitcase into the car to head for the airport. He turned back to me, laid down on the couch next to the Christmas tree, and sadly said, "I don't want Uncle John to go." I knew exactly how he felt. I felt it 16 years ago, I felt it right then, and I felt it for my little guy who reminds me so much of my brother all those years ago. I knew what to do. We waved good-bye through the window, and I laid down on the couch with him and held him.


We had some good, awesome days over the holidays indeed! And I am confident that there are plenty more ahead this new year. I am reminded that sometimes we are the ones who help make it a good, awesome day for someone else without even knowing it. My family has certainly just done that for me.

A song for the season...

. . . and for the rest of the year, in my book: track #11, Stille Nacht. This is the Mannheim Steamroller version of Silent Night, arranged by Chip Davis and transcribed for violin and piano by Chuck Penington. I LOVE this piece!

There are several reasons why I've included it on this CD, which is meant to be enjoyed year-round, not just at Christmas. The main reason is that I am filled with a very real, very tangible sense of peace every time I hear and play it. (Except when I was recording... for some reason, this is the only piece that I felt nervous playing in the studio! After feeling unsettled through the first couple of takes, I suggested we move on - to my two hardest numbers left, ironically - and we came back to it at the end. Guess I had to get my mind off the other stuff ahead of me first.) When I get anxious in the crazy traffic around here, listening to this song is like pushing a magic "Relax" button for me. With this I sense that really "all is calm". Or at least that all of me can be calm.

I love the tender yet powerful phrasing in this music; through it Chip Davis sensitively approaches the range of emotions surrounding the birth of the Tiny King. I feel that the melody could be spun on and on and I'd never wonder when it would end. Just like my need for Him, my love and gratitude for Him, and my awe of what His life means in relation to my own.

I knew this track needed to be last on the CD because usually the last song I hear is the one that stays in my head. And in this case especially, in my heart. I need some of that heavenly peace to be mine. I need the daily reminder that the Son of God came with love's pure light and that His redeeming grace is enough for me. It is somehow, miraculously, enough for all of us.

May this peace be yours and mine all the year through. Merry Christmas!