Music in My Life
After reading daughter Renee's blog yesterday I started thinking about music in my life. In fact I dreamed about it! I couldn't have lived without music. I'll bet my kids and Grands feel the same :)
Music for me started as a baby with my Mom bouncing me on her knee singing "Pony Boy", a tradition carried on to baby Evan (my Great Grandson). My Mom and her sisters and brothers had great voices....and this in the time of country music. I grew up listening to Lefty Frizzel, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash on WJJD out of Chicago. But I was so lucky to have aunts and uncles who played guitar and sang. Many wonderful family circles of music in my life.
Music leads to dancing and my parents opened our home to my friends who came on Thursday evenings to sing, dance and gather around the old player piano. My friend Lynn and I still belt out those old music roll songs like "Artists' Life" and "Bimini Bay". My Dad had the idea to make the player piano more user friendly so he hooked up the vacuum cleaner to draw the air and we didn't have to peddle. It worked but of course we couldn't hear the music!
I took piano lessons for eight years and played the organ in church. People said I played pretty well but I really had to work at it. I owned a Yamaha piano, an electric organ and a Roland Keyboard. They are all gone now. Playing never came easy to me well...except for the time I learned to play "Twittering of the Birds" by watching the keys as the player piano played the song. (This was a favorite of the family,..8 pages of waltzing trills).
I loved to sing harmony, still do, but it sounds better in my head than coming out of my mouth. I've sung with friends and family at weddings, parties and showers. My girls and I were pretty good!
Somewhere along the line listening to music took over. Part of my falling in love with Jim was knowing that we shared a love of similar music. We can go back in time just by listening to our favorites as we do on DJ nights. Remember when..."Kansas City", "Lady in Red", "I Will Always Love You"....and on and on.
I must admit that I'm probably stuck in music of the 70's and 80's. Maybe I need to expand my listening habits for a new lease on life...or maybe not. As Jeff Bridges sings in "Crazy Heart"..."I've been high, I've been low, I've been people that I don't know".....and music has always been there with me.