Profound keyboardist, music, and creative art director, Pastor Graham Tugume on the Groove Cafe yesterday revealed that music comes visually to him, enabling him to play almost any instrument.
Pastor Graham, during a phone interview with Crystal Newman, said that he discovered his talent when he was only 5 years old. He recalled seeing the music visually as it played in his father's room.
Pastor Graham admitted that as strange to everyone else and him, he acknowledges it is a rarity bestowed to him by God.
“I don't tell this to many people, but I will tell you how it is. The way most people understand music is through hearing. But I see music in a mathematical sense, and it is a gift God gave me. I can see its formation, I can visualize it. That was from around the age of five. I could hear and see the music,” he emphasized.
He narrated that during his high school, whereas other students would toil to understand music, it was a swift thing for him to do.
“As others kept on practicing again and again for the exam, I would let them do the hard work and bring my superpower to the examination room. During preparation for the exam, I would ask someone to play the music as I visualized it because I would see it, and when the examiner came in, I would replicate it note for note and even turn the pages on cue without reading. I could just see it, and so I scored highly all the years I spent in school doing music,” he narrated.
He explained that the first instrument he learned was the piano, adding that its keys make it easier to learn and to transform the knowledge to other instruments.
Pastor Graham says that with his gift, he can play almost every musical instrument including; drums, bass, acoustic, and electric, among others.
With his love for music, Pastor Graham recalls joining Watoto Church in 1999. The church was singing and playing contemporary music then. He joined the worship team, but even though he was still a boy in his teens, he got a chance to play the piano during his time on holiday.
During University, he and a team of other individuals with expertise in playing different instruments formed a band that trained developing musicians to play musical instruments such as those at other Watoto Church campuses.
By 2010, he was appointed Worship Director and Pastor managing the Watoto Children’s Choir, which is famous for its world tours and now preaches at the newly created Mbarara campus.
In his closing remarks, the pastor disclosed that one of his mantras is to according 100 percent of his time to everything he does, be it ministry or family. He says it is better to dedicate the best attention to everything one puts their hands on than to do multiple things with little attention to each.
The Groove Cafe with Crystal Newman airs every Weekday from 4-5 pm on RX Radio.
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