Kathy Brigman Haupt:
Author and Composer: Welcome Home

This song, "Welcome Home," is in the Contempory Christian Music (CCM) genera. Two very different arrangements of it are provided by TortoiseClimbing Audio™:

1. A version close to the simple original one, written for solo vocal and acoustic guitar performance, and
2. The larger production arrangement, created for the album, Hymns and Songs of My Mother.

This jewel of a contemporary christian song was written and composed by Ms. Kathy Brigman Haupt the day after her grandmother died, on September 17, 1985, for her grandmother's funeral service. (She very slightly revised it in 1998 when she recorded it with David on her way to sing this song at David's mother's memorial, Kathy's great aunt. The version of words and melody used on this recording are from her 1998 revision.)

The first arrangement was recorded over the Labor Day weekend in 1989 when Kathy came to sing this song for mother's memorial service. Kathy played her acoustic guitar and sang. David added a simple duet to the refrains, and a simple bass guitar part underneath.

TortoiseClimbing Audio™ worked with the 1989 recording to produce the first arrangement included on the mini-EP. That arrangement is close to the simple solo version Ms. Haupt has sung for memorial services.

The larger arrangement created for the album, Hymns and Songs of My Mother. includes a new, more involved acoustic guitar part, a rythum acoustic guitar part, and string bass. It also replaces the simple refrain solo with a womens chorus, and includes duet snippets with Ms. Haupt from the 1989 recording.

Both arrangements are included on the mini-EP. This mini-EP is offered separately because this folk style Contempary Christian Music (CCM) song is a different genera from all the other traditional, classic hymns and songs on the album Hymns and Songs of My Mother, and therefore has its own appeal and audience.

Until release of these recordings, only Ms. Haupt's simple, solo folk version has been heard by a very few, on the occassions she performed it for family memorials. Happily, she granted TortoiseClimbing Audio™ permission to create a new arrangement and recording of this song, which are now available:

• On the album, Hymns and Songs of My Mother; (Store Access) and
• As the mini-EP (Store Access).

Very heart felt thanks to Ms. Kathy Brigman Haupt for granting permission to TortoiseClimbing Audio™ to:

• Create the new arrangement and recording of this wonderfully expressive song; and.
• Make both arrangements publicaly available.

Why This Song Is Included on Hymns and Songs of My Mother

Althought this is a contemporary christian song, i.e., not a traditional hymn, David's mother wanted it included as one of their favorite songs. She had strong emotional feelings about this song, which flowed from it being both a hauntingly beautiful song, plus being written by their dear friend and her sister's grand-daughter for her sister's funneral.

David's mother was very taken with the personalness of this song. When Donna (another of David's mother's grand-nieces) sent his mother a framed copy from Alaska of the original words, she hung them in a very visible, personal place on her bedroom wall, where they remained until she died. (David now has that framed copy.)

A few years after writing this song, Ms. Haupt made the trip from South Carolina to Maryland to sing this song at David's mother's memorial service in Annapolis. As part of that trip, she stopped at Bias' studio and recorded her simple version, with David adding a simple duet harmony. That, together with the hand transcribed sheet music commissioned by Kathy's cousin, Ms. Donna Hicks, which David obtained from Ms. Haupt, served as the references for development of the arrangement on the album.

How the Song Came to Be

Some years ago before she married, Ms. Brigman was recruited from her church in the Ballentine-White Rock-Chapin area, northwest of Columbia, South Carolina, by David's father to become Youth Minister at their Southern Baptist church in Annapolis. She accepted and served in that capacity for a year. (She met her future husband there.)

While serving as the Youth Minister in Annapolis, Ms. Brigman Haupt lived with David's parents. During that year her paternal grandmother, Ms. Fern Brigman, as part of her lifelong role of helping others, went to help out another granddaughter, Donna, who is a cousin to Ms. Brigman, in Alaska while that granddaughter had an operation.

Ms. Fern Brigman died very suddenly and unexpectedly while on that trip in Alaska. Because Kathy was very close to her grandmother, she wrote the words and music for this song as a tribute for her grandmother's funeral service, David's aunt.

It was Ms. Brigman's cousin Donna in Alaska who:

• Obtained a recording of this song from Kathy and had it transcripted to sheet music; and
• Had a few framed copies of the song's original words artistically prepared, one of which she sent to David's mother.

Ms. Brigman Haupt's Feelings for Writing This Song

She recalled her feelings at the moment of being notified her grandmother had died unexpectedly, as being – 

When I was told grandmother had died while in Alaska helping my cousin Donna, it was sudden and shocking. As I sat in my office at church the morning after her death, I was filled with sorrow. Looking out the window at a beautiful, crisp sky, I began to think about how things must now look from Grandmother's point of view. I was so sad, but grandmother was in the presence of God. I began to scribble my thoughts on paper and put them to a tune.

I thought of her joys of flying above and beyond our human body's limitations; no more aches and pains; hearing the voice of God call your name, not in a fearful way, but as a beloved child He has been waiting for to come home. I thought of all my grandmother had done for the Lord in her life, and her sincere love for God. God had showed me his love through her life, and I could imagine His joy at her well lived life. And so, the song became a tribute.

After Writing the Song

After a year as the Youth Minister in Annapolis, Ms. Brigman Haupt returned to Columbia, South Carolina, where she returned to being:

• An elementary school teacher, and subsequently a middle school teacher;
• Ministering with her church youth groups (she often used her music as part of youth ministry activities);
  • (She discontinued her youth ministry activities just in time to be available to assist her mother in her last days;)
• She continues to teach middle school; and 
• The gentleman from the Annapolis church who had dated her while in Annapolis, followed her to South Carolina where they are married and live.

Changes for the 2^nd Arrangement On the Album

Ms. Brigman Haupt's version of the song was written for her to perform solo with acoustic guitar. Thus the original version was for:

• A solo acoustic guitar played by her; and
• Vocal sung as a solo by her.

The expanded arrangement created for the album made the following adaptations:

1. A new more dynamic acoustic guitar accompaniment was written;
2. Harmony parts for Acoustic guitar and string bass were written and added;
3. The verses remain mostly solo, representing the person who is sad to have lost a loved one -
   • The words and melody for the verses use the slight revisions Kathy made when she recorded this song with David on the way to sing at his mother's memorial service in 1998; and
   • We included tit bits of Kathy from the 1998 recording in 3 places in the new arrangement.
4. The refrains are a multi-harmony women's chorus, symbolically representing heavenly hosts joining in welcoming the loved one to heaven.

The artists who worked on creating the new arrangement greatly enjoyed the opportunity of creating the arrangement and recording this jewel of a song.

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