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Playing piano just like riding a bicycle for Metchosin woman

After years without playing, Margie Humphreys is inspired to create beautiful music
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Margie Humphreys still doesn’t consider herself a musician


Margie Humphreys doesn’t consider herself a musician, but she does have an album out.

Aside from taking piano lessons for a couple years in her teens, Humphreys only ever sat on her piano bench to play Christmas carols with her family.

“I only played for two winters when I was 15. It was not a big deal. My parents just wanted me to be able to play a couple songs for company,” she said.

One night three years ago, she was drawn to her piano out of boredom and played a few notes of “Lara’s Theme” from the movie Dr. Zhivago and went to bed.

“I hadn’t played in 50 years,” the 66-year-old Metchosin resident said. “The next morning I woke up and I had a song in my head. I had a compelling force to run down to the piano.”

At first the song was only three chords, but she stayed at her piano – a childhood gift from her parents – and wrote an entire song by noon. She played it for her husband, Bob Humphreys, who told her how beautiful it was.

The song, titled “I Love You,” was composed in December 2010 and the following July it was played at the wedding of Margie’s son, Owen Milburn.

“It was a very special time for him and it was a very special wedding,” said Humphreys, the proud mother.

Eventually she was coerced to play the song for a musician friend, who was so pleased he offered to pay for her to go to Oakstone Sound in Victoria and record a CD.

“I would have never taken it that far,” she said. “I don’t feel I created the music, it just came through me.”

Since the initial recording she has written three other compositions and created a four-song EP, also entitled I Love You.

The CD can be purchased for $10 at The Metchosin Country Store, 4398 Metchosin Rd.; Metchosin Community House, 4430 Happy Valley Rd., and the Coast Collective art gallery, 3221 Heatherbell Rd. All profits go towards HIV research and the Metchosin Community Association.

charla@goldstreamgazette.com