I have been playing piano since I was 5 years old. I continually played and performed until the end of my sophomore year at Hillsdale College. I was involved with many other activities and organizations so my piano playing days came to an end during my final two years of college. After I graduated and started my career as a financial advisor in Farmington Hills, MI, I didn’t have much free time or even a piano at my house, so my music life continued to stay dormant.
After about a seven-year hiatus from playing piano my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I had been thinking that I hadn’t played piano in a long time and missed it so I asked them if they would ship the piano that I grew up playing at their house to me for my Christmas present. They agreed, I got my old piano back, and started spending time playing again which was very enjoyable.
A few months after I started playing again the minister’s wife at the church I attended told me I had a nice voice and asked me to come up and sing with the worship team. I told her that I had never had any formal voice lessons but had played piano for most of my life and after a long break had started playing again. When I told her this she almost broke into tears. She went on to tell me that the current piano player at our church who had played there for almost 40 years was starting to get dementia and would not be able to play very much longer. She said that they had been praying for a piano player to come take over for her. I immediately knew this was not a coincidence and told her that I would be happy to come play piano for the worship band at church.
It has been a great blessing to be able to use the talents God gave me to help others worship Him through music at church. The people who I go to church with are very kind and routinely tell me how much they appreciate me playing for church. However, I feel like I should be the one thanking them for giving me the opportunity to play on Sundays!
Being involved with music for most of my life has been a terrific experience. I also enjoy composing music and was even able to surprise my wife on our wedding day with a song I wrote for her! My daughter has begun playing too. It has been a great bonding experience for us and I think she may be on her way to being better than her dad someday! Recently, it was a dream come true to do a recorded duet for her piano recital!
During the day I am currently a financial advisor in Farmington, MI. However, you can find me playing keyboard with the worship team at 242 Community Church in Livonia, MI on Sunday mornings. Come stop by and visit sometime. We would love to have you there!
– Robert “Bobby” David
