VOLUME VIII: Piano Lesson, Columbia, Missouri

"One, two and three. One, two and three," Helen Warren counts while Natalie Powell works her way through the first piece of the lesson. "OK. Right now," she urges at the start of the second verse, "now put some feeling into it!" The next time through, they sit side by side, Warren playing the left hand and Natalie playing the right. This is their weekly ritual and has been for a year and a half. It was the church that first brought them together, back when Natalie was a baby. Warren worked with the choir at the Powells' church. She taught Natalie's father how to use his beautiful bass voice. "Ever since she was a little bitty thing, she'd watch me," Warren recalls. "When we had practice, she'd be there. She loved piano." Later, Natalie's minister - who now has to both preach and play piano - asked Warren if she would teach the girl to play. During the lessons, the church and its music are never far away. After Natalie sight-reads a new classical piece she asks, "Sister Warren, do you know how to play 'There's a Leak in This Old Building?'" "Sing it," Warren answers, and Natalie starts out, a cappella: There's a leak in this old building, and my soul has got to move. My soul has got to move. My soul has got to move. There's a leak in this old building.... A shy smile steals across Natalie's face as her teacher moves on to another gospel song. "Do you know that one?" Warren asks her. Oh-Oh-Oh Pe-ter, she sings, looking over at Natalie and urging her to take over. Then Warren plays "Jesus is the Answer," and Natalie, in a sweet, silvery soprano, sings: If you have some questions on your mind, traces of discouragement, peace you cannot find...Jesus is the way....

Hear "Jesus is the Answer:"

Warren is preparing her student to do what she does herself - play for her congregation. She is organist and choir leader at Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, and she hopes that someday Natalie will play for her own church, Sugar Grove. Warren says piano lessons can be strictly about music, and that she normally doesn't set out to give her students more than that. But with Natalie it's different. "I know that she knows the Lord," Warren says, "and the church really needs her. The church really needs Natalie."