David L. Edwards and His Music
David inherited his love for music from his parents, who hailed from
Appalachian Southwest Virginia, where music flows throughout work, worship,
fun…all of life. Following his two great loves, spirituality and
music, David has created songs with religious themes and songs that celebrate
the sacredness of all life… a child’s wonder and delight,
people gathered in prayer and working together for the good of the world,
the suffering of people and the earth that calls us to respond in love,
justice, and compassion, the delicate grandeur of the creation, the longings
of the heart. This is the scope of David’s music.
In the early 1970s, while he was working at Boston Children’s
Hospital Medical Center as an orderly, fulfilling two years of alternative
service as a Conscientious Objector to the military, David began writing
songs. Writing and performing became a second vocation as David then
entered seminary and afterwards began serving as a minister in the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ).
In
the years since then, David has written folk songs, songs for children,
hymns, spiritual songs, and settings of the Psalms and other scripture. Due in large part to his wife Kaye’s influence, out of her ministry
on behalf of children, David has increasingly been interested in using
music with, and writing music for, children. In the 1990s, David taught in an
artist-in-the-schools program in Amherst County, Virginia. He worked
in a rural elementary school, using U.S. folk songs to teach singing,
geography, history, and many things about life.
David is minister/covenant member of the Church of the Covenant, a congregation of
the United Church of Christ/Christian Church (Disciples of Christ,) in
Lynchburg, Virginia. He enjoys being part of, and working with, a small community
of people committed to their own spiritual growth and to various ministries
in the city.
Music continues to be the language David uses to understand
and express the sacred dimensions and experiences of life.
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