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Interview of Rodena Marie Preston (Williams) , pianist and arranger, 2008

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Title	Interview of Rodena Marie Preston (Williams) , pianist and arranger, 2008
Description	Interview with Rodena Marie Preston. Rodena is a pianist and the director of Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA). She is the daughter of Robbie Preston Williams, also a pianist. Rodena was born in Houston, Texas on April 7th 1938. Her parents moved to Los Angeles in 1947. Her mother became a pianist at the Metropolitan Baptist Church located at 42nd Street and Hooper. After approximately 1 1/2 to 2 years her mother moved to Victory Baptist Church and was a pianist there for 35 years. Her father moved back to Houston when she was 11 years old and did not see him anymore. Rodena's father passed away in 1989. Rodena followed her mother and learned from her. Rodena played for the Junior Choir. She began playing gospel music at the age of three. It wasn't until she moved to Los Angeles at the age of 9 that she began playing in churches.; The interview covers her upbringing in the church and choir in Houston, her favorite gospel group, the Sallie Martin Singers, early stages of the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GWMA), and the history and change of gospel over 40 years. She began her relationship with Sallie Martin and Cora Martin by watching them sing at their gospel music store. Rodena had the opportunity to travel with the Sallie Martin Singers in the summers to the Gospel Choir and Choris Conventions. She had the opportunity to learn the old gospel songs by being around them. In the interview Rodena plays pieces of gospel music on the piano. The songs she played were: "Just as I am", "Total Praise", "I've Been Through a lot, I've got to Press my Way Through". "I'm so Glad Jesus Lifted me", "Precious Memories".
Style or genre	Contemporary Gospel Traditional Gospel
Subject	Gospel music; Arrangers (Musicians); Gospel Music Workshop of America; Interviews
Subject (corporate name)	Sallie Martin Singers
Subject (personal name)	Preston-Williams, Rodena
Geographic subject (city or populated place)	Los Angeles; Houston
Geographic subject (county)	Los Angeles; Harris; Fort Bend; Montgomery
Geographic subject (state)	California; Texas
Geographic subject (country)	USA
Geographic subject (region)	West; South
Coverage date	after 1938-04-07/2008-01-24
Coverage era	The Golden Age of Gospel; Era of Contemporary and Hip Hop Gospel
Contributor	Moon, Haeyong, videographer; Flory, Richard, videographer
Creator	Preston-Williams, Rodena, interviewee; Walker, Daniel, interviewer
Editor	Moon, Haeyong
Publisher (of the digital version)	University of Southern California. Libraries
Date created	2008-01-24
Type	video born-digital material
Format (aacr2)	1 video file (61 min. 50 sec.) : digital, mp4 file
Format (aat)	streaming video
Legacy record ID	gmha-m2
Part of collection	Gospel Music History Archive
Rights	USC Libraries Special Collections
Access conditions	Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343.
Repository name	USC Libraries Special Collections
Repository address	Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189
Repository email	specol@usc.edu
Filename	gmha-preston-interview
Archival file	gmhapubreload_Volume4/gmha-preston-interview.quicktime

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Interview of Rodena Marie Preston (Williams) , pianist and arranger, 2008

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