Yesterday I
woke up from a dream where I was singing Islands
in the Stream. Today, I woke up dreaming
I was playing a black and white cowhide guitar.
Don’t ask me! I don’t know where
these dreams come from! What I do know
is that music has been a part of my life ever since I was a child. I guess it seeps out in my dreams every now
and then.
I believe I
inherited my musicality from my mother and my father. Dad was a guitar player. He didn’t play much but he had a pretty nice acoustical
guitar and he would bring it out at every birthday we kids had and serenade us
with the birthday song. He would also play
some Latin music when he was on a roll and he would sing to us in Spanish. I miss that.
Those were happy times.
Growing up
in the Bronx, we had a piano in our apartment that was given to Mom by a friend
of hers. Mom could play a little. I remember her playing the beginning part of Beethoven’s
Moonlight Sonata. I loved it. It has such a haunting melody that has stayed
with me all these years. When I hear it,
I think of Mom. I always enjoyed when she
played it. I thought she was good.
Mom was
musically inclined. Her stepfather tuned
organs for a living and as a young girl he taught her how to read the notes on
a music sheet. When she was around
twelve, he signed her up for lessons with a music professor, but he eventually dropped
her as a student because she didn’t take it seriously and didn’t practice,
something my mother regrets to this day.
My oldest
brother, Bill, purchased a small organ when he returned home from the
service. I would go up to his room and
play. It had different colored cheats on
the keys that matched the notes in the song book that came with the organ. Even with the cheats, I wasn’t very good but I always enjoyed playing. However, like my mother, I didn’t take it seriously.
Two of the
things on my “I want to learn how to do this before I die” list, besides
learning to swim and learning to knit, are learning to play the piano and the
guitar. I don’t know if I will ever
accomplish either, but they are still part of my dream. I think my fingers are too short and now with
age, they are a little stiff with arthritis.
But I haven’t given up the dream…yet.
My main
contribution to music has been through singing.
I love to sing. I was always part
of the chorus in grade school and it continued on through junior high
school. Singing was always something I did
in a group. I was too shy to sing by
myself, unless I was alone or with Gail, my best friend back then. When we were together we would sing out like rock stars.
In the early ‘90’s, I joined the choir at the
church I attended and have sung in several church choirs since that first time. When I lived in Pittsfield, Illinois, I was
part of a women’s gospel group, WinGS (Women in God’s Service) at Calvary
Baptist Church. We ladies got together
weekly to practice and we would sing at church every so often. I sang soprano. On occasion, we sang at other
churches in the county. We also sang at the local nursing homes and for the shut-ins from our church. It was very rewarding to bring joy into these
people’s lives.
Being in
this group gave me the confidence to step out of my comfort zone and sing solos
and duets at church. It’s amazing what
you can do if you do it for God. The Bible says, “O come, let us sing unto the
Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” Psalm 95:1. I like that I can make a joyful noise for God. No matter what I sound like, I know He is pleased.
If I did
inherit my musicality from my mom and dad, then just maybe I passed a little
along to my granddaughter, Lexi. She performed
for me when I was in San Diego one time singing and playing the piano. I recorded it on my phone and it is something
I will keep and cherish forever.
Lexi is
heavily involved in dance (she's good too!) and I believe that is where her passion lies. Her singing and playing are just two of the
many talents she has. They will always
be something she can fall back to or do just for her own enjoyment.
I am glad that I have something I can share with my mother and my granddaughter. So many times the generational gap is too wide to bridge, but music spans generations and the beat goes on...even if it is to a different drummer.
What will
the next generation bring?
Another Beethoven, perhaps?
~ P
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