David Penshorn

About Me:

I started my music career when my mom made me take piano lessons. I’m guessing it was about 3^rdgrade. I didn’t stick with it because I was young and full of energy and wanted to go play instead. Our school district introduced band in 5^th grade and I signed up for percussion. My band director taught us to learn music by ear in addition to regular reading techniques.  It really opened up my ears to being able to translate what I heard to what I wanted to play. Little did I know that would change the way I listen to music for the rest of my life.

The summer between 5^th and 6^th grade year I decided I wanted to pick up the trumpet. Percussion was cool, but banging on a drum wasn’t musical enough for me. So I rented a trumpet for the summer, took a few lessons, and self taught the rest. When the 6^th grade year of band came around, that same director saw my growth over the summer and my potential as a trumpet player and suggested I play both trumpet and percussion.  With my time over the summer, I was as good or better than a lot of the other trumpet players that started the year before. Slowly over that year, I started enjoying the trumpet more and more and I was getting better and better.

Over the next 6 six years I continued to play the trumpet and take private lessons. I got good enough to succeed at the regional competitions and one year I made it to area. I also made it to the state solo ensemble competition. I also took a few drum lessons just for fun one summer around the start of high school. My sophomore year in high school I decided to teach myself guitar.

I think I have always had a good ear for music, but it was my early years of musical development that really set the stage for ability to come. I want to thank Ms. Brenda Medina, my 5^th grade band director and private instructor, for teaching me how to listen and for working with me all those years in band. She didn’t just teach me how to play the trumpet; she taught me how to make music.

Most recently I have retaken up the piano. I took lessons last summer and have really focused on learning to play along with other musicians. This past summer I received a keyboard for my birthday.  By connecting it to the music editing software that I had received for Christmas at the end of high school, I was able to start recording more sounds. I was able to record a strings part, drum part etc. by playing my keyboard.  I somehow heard a recording that Bekah had done with her brother and had the idea of adding a full arrangement to it.  I asked her about the idea and she seemed up to trying it out. After I sent the first version back to her she was hooked and six months later we have recorded ten tracks.

I am a self-proclaimed perfectionist when it comes to musical performance. I don’t like performing or recording something that is going to sound unprofessional. I also am the type of person that wants to be good at everything.  There are so many styles of music and guitar playing that I like, I wish that I could get good enough to play them all myself.  I think this attitude that I have is a reason why this album turned out the way it did. I have pursued several music styles over the past few years and come to realize with each one that I don’t have time to get to the professional level at it. But that branching out exposed me to a lot of different sounds that are out in the music world. I was able to incorporate that into the making of this CD.

Quick, unrelated to music, about me:

I grew up out in the country on the outskirts of San Antonio. I have two brothers, an older and a younger, which are a lot of fun. Both my parents are Christians and both my brothers gave their lives to Christ at a young age. I didn’t get the picture. I saw a lot of hypocrisy in my peers that claimed to be Christians at school and church. I decided that I wanted to live the “good” life, but didn’t need to give my life to Jesus or be accountable to him.

My first two years at Baylor, God started pursuing me harder. Through several distinct circumstances over those two years, I decided that this God was for real, and that he really did love me. I came to a place where I wanted to have a relationship with him.  I gave my life to Christ on April 3, 2011 right before going to play ultimate Frisbee (highly recommend the Frisbee if you haven’t played before).

So this past year I have really grown in my relationship with Christ and have seen in my own life how he has redeemed me. I really believe my heart was in the right place for this album to come together the way it did. I had seen Bekah’s life transformed, and then experienced my own and all of a sudden the words of these songs came to life.

My prayer is that these songs speak to you in a way that you can understand. Whether its stirring heart, strengthening your faith, or peaking your curiosity, I believe that God can use these songs in a powerful way.

Enjoy!

-David