Sarah Hall
Salisbury Post
This was to be Sandy Hoffman’s first Christmas back in his hometown of Salisbury in nine years, but the weather ó and airline ó had different ideas.
He and his family members would be coming on four different flights. Daughter Lauren with husband Brian were coming from Humboldt Co., Calif., as were son Nicholas and wife Missy on a different flight. Youngest son, Nathan, currently a linguistics major in Graz, Austria, was flying in with his girlfriend, Rebecca. They all arrived on time.
But Sandy and his wife, Julie, spent Christmas Day in the airport in Albuquerque, N.M., as their already re-booked flight was delayed three times, then canceled. They drove back home to Santa Fe that night, then returned early Wednesday morning to try again.
They flew out, but got grounded in Houston, and spent the day in various planes and airports, finally making it to Salisbury 32 hours after their original Christmas departure time.
This was a lot to endure, even for someone who has traveled as much as Sandy Hoffman. For the past 26 years, his music ministry and teaching have taken him to Fiji, India, Singapore, The Netherlands, Hungary, Spain and all over the United States. Most of his international travel has been as an instructor for Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Schools of Worship and Schools of Music in Missions.
Since leaving Salisbury in 1991, he has lived and worked in Texas, Colorado, California and New Mexico. He currently serves as minister of worship arts for The Grace Community Church in Santa Fe.
During all this, Sandy has managed to author instructional books for worship music (see www.EssentialWorship.com), and he also writes a regular column called “Tips For Tight Teams” for Worship Musician Magazine.
Sandy was influenced early on by his musician mother. He got his first guitar at age 7, and taught himself to play. His first formal music instruction came in school a few years later when he studied cello with Albert Chaffoo.
The photo in a Salisbury Post article from January 1970 shows 12-year-old Sandy rehearsing with the Salisbury Symphony in preparation for a Young People’s concert where he was featured as cello soloist in a work by Corelli.
Sandy also taught himself to play piano and drums, and had already formed a band while still in elementary school. He played with other bands that came and went, but achieved most of his high school success in a duo with schoolmate Graham Carlton, now a Salisbury attorney, still singing and playing guitar. The two even recorded an album together.
The Hoffman house was full of music. Sandy, his brother, Marc, and sister, Diane, all pursued music professionally. Marc is a composer and performer, living in Salisbury. Diane lives in Myrtle Beach and sings with the band Endeavor.
Sandy had music studios on West Innes and then South Main streets in Salisbury offering music instruction and recording services. He performed frequently as a guitarist, vocalist and recording artist, and also played cello with the Salisbury Symphony and the Salisbury Arts Trio.
In 1991, Sandy saw an ad in a magazine for the School of Music Ministries started by Jimmy and Carol Owens. He decided to pursue this opportunity as a student, but after only a few weeks he was invited to be on the faculty.
He has been an instructor of music and worship ever since. In 2008, he will serve as instructor for conferences in San Francisco and Sacramento, Getzville, N.Y., and Redmond, Wash., in addition to in his home base of Santa Fe.
And in spite of all the headaches of travel, which Sandy says are getting worse all the time, he will be going to India in May. There, he will be reunited with several of his former students, who are now leading the YWAM school in Lonavala, Maharashtra.
Sandy says his children spent most of their lives “being dragged all over, from Fiji to Amsterdam and all over the U.S.” But they must have liked it, because all three now lead worship teams.
Sandy will have a new CD coming out in February, titled “Sereno.” (This name was inspired by the Santa Fe street he lives on, Sereno Loop.)This will be an all-instrumental guitar album, each piece inspired by a different place he has been in the world, ranging from “Plaza 1-B” named for an address in Spain to “Roundabout Rag” inspired by the mountains of North Carolina.
Music from his Sereno CD will be largely featured when Sandy performs this evening at The Inn. He will also be performing contemporary worship songs and some of his own “oldies” that hometown folks remember from his days here in Salisbury.
When asked if he has considered moving back to Salisbury, since he and Julie both still have their families here, Sandy said he thinks about it a lot, but with two of their children living on the West Coast, that makes it more complicated.
And besides, they like Santa Fe. It has thriving ministry opportunities. Sandy calls the city “a good fit” for them. They will be returning there in a few days. Hopefully, it will be sooner than nine years before they return for another Christmas in Salisbury. (But Sandy is considering buying a trailer.)
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Sandy Hoffman performs tonight at The Inn, 1012 Mooresville Road. Doors open at 7 p.m.
For more information, call 704-213-1467.
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You can hear Hoffman’s music and view his schedule at www.myspace.com/sandyhoffman.
nnnContact Sarah Hall at shall@salisburypost.com, or call 704-797-4271.