My interest in Music began when I was about 10 years old. My mother and father had no musical talent; in fact, my father always claimed he "couldn't even play the radio without static." I did somehow manage to have an ear for music. - Maybe because there was always a variety of kinds of music playing around the home, or being brought up in the "southern church" tradition where music was an integral part of every service, or both. Who knows? - I walked into a church at 10 years old and started playing the piano - I was just putting together notes that sounded good to me. My parents caught me; apparently it sounded good enough they at first thought I was a certain young lady, who was the church pianist at the time (since from their viewpoint they could only see the top of my head over the piano). They resolved to get me a piano, which they had done within a month. It was a student model - it only has seventy-something keys, the rarely-played keys from both ends being excluded from the model. This piano is now 50-some years old and is as-is, with the one exception of having the brittle plastic elbows replaced with wooden ones. It is still in my family's home.

High School
With my interest awakened, I took to music study. I was, at first, on my own developing my ear. I took lessons when the summer came around (something I repeated three more times). Again, I was back to self-development. Lessons again. Then getting a chord chart, which I studied quite extensively, and so on. A few years passed until I found myself in high school, where I thought it SO important to study computers instead...though, I must say, it has paid off, as you're looking at a self-engineered web site. I began studying clarinet while in high school. I took post as music director of the same church my junior year. I got to my senior year and took a programming class (I later came to the realization that computer programming was not my ball of wax) and needed one more class to complete my schedule, deciding to take a music class. There were two offerings - appreciation and theory - and I decided to take theory at the advice of the music teacher. I didn't have the first clue of what theory was or even meant (the literal definition isn't much help either). I had an extreme amount of fun in that class of four (yes, really small class). I learned a great deal of musical knowledge in that class. In fact, no other class has ever been able to top the class in its well-rounded approach, thoroughness, nor intensity, not even in college. It proved to be the best music class I ever took, as I found in later years, and it sufficiently prepared me to go to college...AND be a little ahead of the rest.

The Development of the "Professional" Musician

I applied to and was accepted at Barton College for a degree in Music Engineering. I went in for a vocal audition, and was able to perform, as well as do the transcription portion and pretty much everything else they gave me. I took voice lessons for a semester before I had decided that I wanted to study piano as well.

My first couple of years proved to be almost a repeat of my high school music theory class. Theory 1 - nothing new; Theory 2 - learned a few things; Theory 3 - already knew about half of the 3rd semester studies; Theory 4 - This is where most of my collegiate learning began, though I was familiar with a number of the topics, like jazz chords, improvisation, and so on...not even to mention that this knowledge lapped over into some other classes as well. This gave me alot of time - yes, even a good deal of free time - to refine my ear. By my sophomore year, I had developed a good sense of not only relative but perfect pitch...mostly done while sitting in class (it also helped that I was still music director at my church and was constantly surrounded by sonorities). The teacher (who also had perfect pitch) would play around with the second-year class - a sort of guess-that-note and name-that-chord game that only I seemed to get. He even gave us a section on the listening portion of the final exam. Needless to say, it didn't go over too well with most of the students.

In addition to studying both piano and voice as majors, I took classes in woodwinds, brass, strings (where I began playing the viola), guitar, percussions, arranging, instrumentation, composition, in addition to all the required acoustics, electronics, and studio classes. I did both sound reinforcement and recording. I have installed or helped install a few sound systems. I did alot of performance work: choir (baritone, all 5 years), band (clarinet and saxophone, all 5 years, piano one year - did I say that I love jazz?), and orchestra (viola and clarinet, 3 years).

I did have a wonderful voice teacher who helped to make my musical journey a little easier. She encouraged me to teach younger voice students as a way of not only expanding my knowledge, but paying for my education as well. So I taught voice lessons my last three years there, and other music lessons also - a practice that I have continued since my college days.

Professional is a four-letter word
I continued to teach private lessons after college, and, additionally, still hold my post as music director of the church. In late February, I resigned my post at the church for a number of reasons, the top two being that I felt a calling and direction to go to Raleigh NC (which I had had for about 6 months - God had to give me a swift kick in the rear to get me moving), where I now reside, and the fact that in all my years in the church, there had not been a period of even one month that there was not contention, prejudice, hatred, and discrimination. I immediately began attending St Johns Metropolitan Community Church in Raleigh upon arrival. I will not say that I'm attending a "perfect" church, but it is the best church that I have ever been a part of. There is a love, a close family feeling, that is so Godly it is completely indescribable. I am a part of the Voices of St Johns, our multiracial, multicultural, evening-service choir, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. Even though I'm new to the Raleigh community, and I nonetheless have to reset myself with a new student base as I am unknown in this area, I still have loads of fun and my days seem brighter as I'm now walking in God's will day by day. Hey, here's a personal invitation to attend St Johns MCC. We're on Glenwood Avenue, one block from Peace St. Hope to see you Sunday at 7:15pm.

Love,
- "Rainbeau" J.M. Dubois

PS: A special love and thank you to Wayne Lindsey our wonderful pastor, Eddie - who inspired me to get my butt moving on completing this online voice lesson project, to the choir and music directors, and to each and every choir member. Thank you for your prayers and support. I love and pray for you all.