Amazing Grace
Notes written by Dr. Lyn Schenbeck

Grace is amazing all by itself. There are many arrangements of this song, mostly accompanied vocals. This one is different. It shines with simplicity. Diane sings it so sensitively that it doesn’t need an accompaniment. The story however, is far from simple, particularly sad, but beautiful.
“We were all in our twenties on top of this beautiful mountain in North Carolina, close friends who loved to hang out together. One of our friends asked me to sing “Amazing Grace.” I did, and it turned out to be a shared, spiritual experience.
He had not said a word to any of us that he was sick, with HIV AIDS. It was so new; I didn’t know anyone who had that disease. We were all shocked, devastated, and so sad when he passed away shortly thereafter.
He had asked me to sing “Amazing Grace” at his funeral. In his grand style he arranged for three singers, a cabaret singer, an opera sing and me.
I arrived at the service. I was raised in the Church. I certainly knew “Amazing Grace,” and planned to sing it. When it was my turn to sing, I looked out over the huge crowd of people, and felt overwhelmed with emotion.
I sang the first line “amazing grace;” the next line didn’t come to me, so I played with the melody and sang “amazing grace” again. No lyrics came to my mind, so I sang another twist to the melody “amazing grace….how sweet the sound!” Thank God I finally remembered the next line. While I was singing it, I decided I had better tag it at the end just as I had begun, so no one would catch on to my blank, nervous mind. I finished with three improv melodies on ‘amazing grace’ just as I had sung at the top of the song. The moment was beautiful!
After the service people were raving about the arrangement and saying that it was exactly what he would have wanted. It was his own arrangement.
We got in the car, my friend looked at me, and she said, “Couldn’t remember the lyrics, could you?” “Nope” I said. She laughed “Let’s just let that be our little secret.”
I truly believe that it was his wonderfully ornamented arrangement—Irvine’s “Amazing Grace.”