Randall Murphree

AFA Journal editor

December 2013 – Earnestine Rodgers Robinson had high expectations for her life. But musical composition, Carnegie Hall and a concert in Prague, Czech Republic, were nowhere among them. In fact, she had no natural inclination toward music and describes herself as least qualified for a musical career. When asked about her amazing gift she has one simple, yet powerful, explanation – “God likes glory.”

Sitting poised and graceful, Robinson brushed her fingers lightly over her arms, chiming the bracelets on her wrists in a delicate accompaniment to the gentle rhythm of her voice. She spoke softly and simply, joy illuminating her face as she shared her story at AFA Journal offices. 

Singing Scripture
Robinson claimed no early interest in music; in fact, she avoided musical activities as she pursued a career in mathematics and later as a medical ethicist. But one day, in a last minute review of an Easter program before going to rehearsal at church, she opened her mouth to read and inexplicably found herself singing a beautiful, original melody, an act over which she had no control. 

“I started to read the very first thing on the program, John 3:16,” she told AFAJ. “But instead of reading it, this melody just came up and flowed out, and I was singing the Scripture! I could only think, ‘Wow, what happened? What’s going on?’ So I sat and tried to compose myself and then decided, ‘Let me try to read the next one.’ I started to read John 3:17, and the same thing happened. I sang the Scripture; it just flowed up and out of me. When that happened, that was the end. I couldn’t go any further.” So she just closed her Bible, folded the program and went to church.

“When I got to church,” she continued, “I shared what had happened with a young man who was a musician from St. Louis. He said, ‘That’s a pretty melody. Why don’t you write a song?’ And I said, ‘But you don’t understand! I don’t write music! I don’t even play a musical instrument.’ He only replied, ‘Well, if God has given you two verses, I bet He would give you a whole song.’”

“Who could deny that?” she laughed, lifting her hands slightly. “So, I began to write music.”

Following God’s direction
Even as she completed The Crucifixion, an oratorio (a large-scale musical work for orchestra and voices, typically on a religious theme, performed without costumes, scenery or action) telling the story of the Passion of Christ, Robinson struggled to establish a niche for her sudden musical gift. Unable to locate a venue that could successfully perform her music, she attempted to proceed with earlier career goals in mathematics and philosophy. But, despite her willingness to surmount obstacle after obstacle, she continually found that the Lord was directing her into a different path. 

“Every time I tried to do something, I felt like I was blocked,” Robinson recalled. “I’d go to teach, and the brakes would go out on my car. Three times, I went to register for graduate courses in philosophy and was unable to complete registration. And then the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Why don’t you abide in your calling?’ As long as I wanted Him to be Lord of my life, I had no choice. So I said OK.”

As a housewife and mother of five with no musical training or connections, Robinson experienced tremendous difficulties in finding financing, performers and a conductor for her music. But the certainty that she had received this surprising talent from God strengthened her faith in the face of every challenge.

“I knew that He had given me this music because it was not something I had ever aspired to do,” Robinson said. “You can’t do what you think you want when you have been called to do something. And if you really want Him to be your Lord and Master, He’ll help you to achieve what He wants you to do. But you can’t let your vision be too small.” 

Performing with success
So Robinson enlarged her vision, and God led her to achievements beyond her expectations. From the first performance of Robinson’s oratorio, subsequent performances were scheduled before one concert was finished. Before her next composition, The Nativity, was even completed, it had been scheduled to premiere at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. 

And finally, Robinson’s music brought her to Prague for the performance of The Nativity by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. There, the soft-spoken lady born in post Great-Depression, segregation-era Memphis, Tennessee, mingled with European nobility and world leaders who complimented her on her music. But when they asked about her musical background, it was a question Robinson could not answer.

“Even my husband told me,” she said, “‘Earnestine, you may as well stop trying to explain how you wrote this music. I know you wrote this music, and I don’t understand it!’ All I could ever tell people is, ‘It’s a gift from God.’” 

Recognizing design
In fact, the style of music she writes could only come through a special gift. Described as medieval sounding and influenced by classical, gospel and jazz, Robinson’s music is distinctive and intricate, daunting even the most experienced musicians. 

“They tell me it’s like the classical masters because tempos change a lot,” she said. “It’s complicated from a musical point of view. If I had had knowledge of music, I might not have written it that way because it is hard.”

As it was, Robinson never realized she was writing masterful or complicated pieces. As on that first day in reading the church Easter program, Scripture passages set the tone for the music. 

“I just do what I feel for the story in Scripture,” she explained. “As I write music, I just feel how the story dictates the melody. Everything is controlled by the story; it gives you the tempo, time, mood. And every song will be different.” 

The realization of how God used her lack of ability to write music on the level of highly trained musicians showed Robinson why God chose her for the task. 

“I think God picked me – a person who never studied music – because God likes glory,” she said. “I can’t take any claim for it. And so all the music I write demonstrates God’s glory.” 

She delights in pointing out God’s design in directing and sculpting her life, preparing her for the calling He had for her. Above all, Robinson shares her story with a focus on the miraculous design God wrought into her life, with a reminder that every person has that kind of story to tell. 

As she writes in her autobiography, Driven by Faith, “Life is not dictated by random events but is a path worked out for you by God and everything that happens to you is part of that plan.”  

▶ In 12 songs drawn from Scripture, The Nativity tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. 
▶ Driven by Faith, the autobiographical story of Robinson’s life, and recordings of her music can be purchased at earnestinerobinson.com.