One of My Piano Mentors Goes "HOME"

I've had three people in my life that influenced me in my piano playing. The first (and this may be news to her) is my mother. All those years hearing her play the piano for church has taught me much about accompanying singers with my piano playing.

The second was my first piano teacher, Mrs. Johnson. She taught me many things, but the thing that stands out more than anything is that because of her, I can play a song in any key I wish. She embedded chords and scales into me so that it became second nature. Because of her, my transitioning from one key to another is done with very little thought.

My third mentor at the piano is Roger Bennett; long time Cathedral Quartet piano player and co-owner of the Legacy Five Quartet, who took over the reins after the Cathedrals retired. I first met Roger as a teenager. A friend of my family, who knew Roger as a child, introduced me to him at a concert in Flint, MI. I talked with him for what seemed to be about 20 minutes. When Roger saw the Cathedral sheet music and tapes that I was getting ready to pay for, he told me to take them at no charge. As we talked about singing and playing the piano, he encouraged me to use the talent God gave me to play the piano for the glory of God. That night I decided I would take what God had given me and work to get better at it. Over the next several years I purchased almost every project the Cathedrals recorded since the late 1970s. I would play the tapes on my stereo and play my Roland piano along with them. As I listened to the Cathedrals sing, I would pay close attention to Roger's accompaniment and all the licks that he would play. Over and over again I would listen to the music, playing along on my piano. Over time I began to notice a difference in my playing. More and more I would listen to Roger's playing and pick up on his style. Every year I would see Roger at the December concert and he would remember me. We'd talk about the newest songs he was doing and I'd ask him questions about playing.

To this day, I still practice along with Roger playing on the Legacy Five CDs. Other than learning neat sounding licks, the most significant thing I learned from Roger's playing was how to play and implement rich sounding chords. He taught me what is now my favorite thing to do; how to take a hymn and turn it into a classical piece.

In September of 1995, Sandra and I went to the National Quartet Convention. That was right after Roger was diagnosed with Leukemia. I was talking with him during one of the breaks and he told me that no matter what, he knew the Lord was going to heal him. In his words, "Either the Lord's gonna heal me here and leave me here, or He's gonna take me home to be with Him. Either way, I'm healed." What a testimony. And he held that testimony over the years as he fought the Leukemia.

Today, the Lord completely healed Roger by taking him HOME. This morning around 8:00 a.m., Roger left this life to go to that "HOMELAND." The southern gospel music industry will have a deep hole in it with Roger gone now. All those who were touched by his playing, singing, and writing both songs and meditations, will miss him dearly. What an impact this wonderful man had on this teenage boy to use my gift for the honor and glory of the ONE who gave it to me. I'll never forget the man who, in my opinion, is THE PIANO PLAYER of Southern Gospel Quartet music.

Visit Roger Bennett's Midnight Meditations