McCALLA, Ala. (ABP) — In many ways, Grant Frederick is just as ordinary as the next 13-year-old boy. He loves hanging out with his friends and watching television.
But the fact that he is also his church's pianist and shuns much of youth pop culture in favor of Southern gospel music and Andy Griffith, and one notices that the McCalla, Ala., boy is an out-of-the-ordinary teenager.
Frederick's piano talent recently earned him the position of pianist for Sparks Gap Baptist Church in nearby Bessemer. “(His talent) is just amazing. He's really a blessing to our church,” said Johnny Thacker, the church's pastor. “I figured if we didn't put him to work, somebody else would.”
Frederick has been playing the piano since he was 4 years old, but if he'd had his way, he would have started sooner. He began asking to take lessons when he was 3.
“It was Mom playing that made me want to play,” he said. Frederick's parents are Kim and Mark, and the family also includes his 2-year-old sister, Allison.
Frederick, who is home-schooled, started out at a kids' music camp sponsored by Samford University's music preparatory department. He is still a student there, taking lessons once a week during the school year and participating in the program's summer activities.
A music reader — as opposed to playing by ear — Frederick's style is his own. His fingers trip from one end of the keyboard to the other with ease, tossing in the occasional grace note or glissando along the way.
“I enjoy improvising a lot,” he explained. “If you were to put a hymnal in front of me and tell me to play it just like it's written, I wouldn't like that very much.”
Frederick started filling in for the pianist and the organist at Sparks Gap Baptist when he was 10 years old. A couple of months ago, the substitute “gigs” turned into a steadier arrangement.
In addition to playing for the church's Sunday and Wednesday night services, he plays for Sunday-morning services at the Plantation Manor Nursing Home in McCalla. He has a special place in his heart for senior citizens.
“They have so much wisdom,” said Frederick.
“I've made a lot of friends there,” he said. “The ladies at the nursing home really encourage me a lot, in addition to the encouragement I get from my church family.”
Among Frederick's greatest encouragers at church is Thacker, who describes the young musician as exceptional in every way.
“He's one of the finest young men I've ever known,” Thacker said. “Whatever you ask Grant to do, he does, and he's always been like that. He was taking up the offering when he was 5 or 6 years old.”
Frederick's other instrumental interests include the bowed psaltery and hammered dulcimer. He recently participated in a psaltery-playing festival at an Alabama state park and was named the 2005 Youth Division Winner.
“I didn't even know I was competing,” he said, explaining that the competition for younger participants had not been labeled as such. “I was surprised when they told me I had won.”
Frederick is also a Boy Scout with aspirations of one day achieving the Eagle Scout rank. He attended his first National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia at the end of July.
He has also appeared in four Birmingham Children's Theater productions. Between those activities and his church duties, Frederick doesn't have much time for a lot of typical teen pursuits, but that doesn't seem to bother him.
“There is some stuff I have to turn down,” he admitted, “but I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. And all the glory and honor goes to the Lord.”
Frederick's parents are understandably proud, but their desire to keep him grounded and on the path God has chosen for him comes before all else.
“I'm proud of him — not because of his music, but because of the young man he is,” Kim Frederick said. “I want him to always do what he does for the Lord.”
— June Mathews is a correspondent for the Alabama Baptist.