McCalla 13-year-old serves church with music

In many ways, Grant Frederick is just an ordinary kid. The 13-year-old McCalla homeschooler enjoys music, watching television and hanging out with the kids in his church youth group.
   
On the other hand, he’s not impressed with pop culture — his tastes run more toward southern gospel and Andy Griffith — and he has a special place in his heart for senior citizens.
   
“They have so much wisdom,” he said, exhibiting rare insight for someone his age.
   
But the thing that really makes Frederick stand out from the crowd is his talent for playing the piano — a talent that recently earned him the position of pianist for Sparks Gap Baptist Church, Bessemer, in Mud Creek Baptist Association.
   
“(His talent) is just amazing. He’s really a blessing to our church,” said Pastor Johnny Thacker. “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 Frederick of McCalla. The family also includes his 2-year-old sister, Allison.
   
Frederick 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.
   
“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 Frederick 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 musical interests include the bowed psaltery and hammered dulcimer. He recently participated in the Down Home Psaltery Festival at Tannehill Ironworks Historical 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.”