A pianist’s service: everything with excellence

The capable, sensitive fingers of Marilyn Reist over a piano keyboard accompanied me to work on many of this winter’s dark mornings, and then back home again in the dusk of the afternoon.

The pianist, a member of Grace MB Church in Waterloo, Ont., provides 18 lovely renderings of old favourites such as “His Eye Is On the Sparrow” and “Great is Thy Faithfulness” on her latest CD, “Piano Praise.” (Six of the pieces include a flute obligato by Steve Baradash.)

Reist began playing piano at five and she’s been playing ever since. She does solo work as well as accompanying and has won a variety of awards. Her performances have included a tour to South Korea in the 1980s and three recordings with a soprano soloist.

She also raised three sons, is a grandmother, and does interior decorating on the side.

Marilyn Reist

When Reist and her husband Elmer moved to Waterloo in 1991, they began attending a Mennonite Brethren church. The couple was then involved in the founding of Grace MB, a new congregation with a “traditional” worship service style.

“We do a blended service,” Reist says, “with a song leader and piano, which I play for most services.” She makes sure there is special music at each service, sometimes contributed by people within the congregation, sometimes from outside.

After the congregation purchased a seven-acre property, Reist came up with the idea of having a concert by classically trained musicians to raise funds. Called “Echoes of Grace,” several artists accompanied by Reist perfomed hymns and also classical numbers. The two-hour concert sold out and one concert turned into five. They raised more than $43,000 for Grace’s new facility.

The concerts have been “a real highlight” for the church, and have also attracted people to the congregation, Reist says. “We tried to do everything with excellence, as unto the Lord.”

That same spirit marks the music that often danced out of my car’s speakers this winter. Reist tells me via email that others say they enjoy the CD while driving too. It is also being used in venues such as funeral homes and nursing homes where instrumental Christian music is needed for background. (Information available at marilyn.on-the-net.ca.)