Songwriter sings what's in her heart

Music is such a part of Tammy Simister Robinson's life that she can't imagine who she'd be without it.

"I sometimes wonder what would happen if I lost my voice. Music has so shaped who I am. I'm sure I'd be a totally different person."

Music has always been there, she said. Family stories tell how she went along to her older sisters' dance lessons and then would go home and sing and dance the routines they learned. "My mother told me I was humming melodies on key before I could talk."

Her mother recognized Robinson's gift for music and encouraged it. "When I was 2 1/2, I took second place in a local talent contest. I've been singing from then on."

Robinson grew up in Coalville. She went on to major in music at Weber State, and she taught music in junior high school before turning to private lessons "to save my sanity."

In 1986, she released her first CD, "but then life took over. I got married, had children," and although she still sang and taught, her recording career was mostly on hold.

But now that her children are 10 and 14, she's back writing and recording. Her latest CD, "In Thy Hand," two years in the making, has just been released by Sounds of Zion/Inspirational Music Showcase.

Robinson's first two CDs were released independently, "and that's very hard. You have to be the creative person, the administrator, the promoter."

Still, she didn't want to give up total control on "In Thy Hand," and ended up co-producing the CD with Greg Hansen. "No one person can claim complete rights to anything. On every project, many minds, many hands, many hearts have to work together."

The CD contains mostly her own compositions — some rousing anthems for women, some tender tributes, several songs that have received awards in music competitions — as well as a few songs from what she jokingly calls "the sealed portion of the hymn book, the songs we never seem to sing in church."

They are mostly songs of praise and joy. "Music brings so much joy. It is a way of saying thank you. It makes you feel blessed and grateful. It touches a part of us that other stimuli don't. It evokes places we've been before. Regardless of our trials — and I like to complain about them as much as anyone — at the center are opportunities to grow." And that's what she likes to sing about.

She also enjoys teaching. "It's fun to be in contact with youth one-on-one. But what I love most about teaching is what they teach me."

Whatever gift you are given — and everyone has gifts, she said — "you make it better by sharing it." She loves the first time students realize what they can do with their voices. "The day their voice opens up, something wonderful happens. You watch the light come on. It's very, very satisfying." On the other hand, nothing is quite as frustrating as watching someone who has a gift not use it, she said.

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