The Way We Were

You know how hearing a song takes you back to a time in the distant past? 
You almost feel like you are there?
Yesterday I edited some digitized cassettes of my daughters’ music in high school and college.

Concertos with orchestras – Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.  That took hours.
So I took a break and edited a little reel-to-reel tape from 1976. 

Suddenly I was back in the living room of our little ranch house.
Jeanne was 6, Karen was 3 and Bobby was a baby crawling around.
 
Jeanne was practicing on our spinet piano adding her own commentary in her little girl voice.  It was usually about the music
“Scales and contrary minor” - “I can do The Entertainer” - “Here comes the one I always wanted” - “America 76 – the WHOLE book”

But my favorite was the sisters’ interchange with baby Bobby squealing in the background
Jeanne – “Quiet Karen, the tape recorder has to have me on it, not you”
Karen – “Now it has me on it, not you, ha ha”

We lived our lives right on top of each other – in the LIVING room.

This Christmas photo some years later gives an idea of our confined space

We had no idea where all this would lead.  We kept adding instruments

Fortunately, they got along well and as teenagers the girls accompanied each other’s concertos. Saved me a lot of money at competitions
By then we had 3 pianos – a Steinway Grand that we bought used (instead of the new car we needed) a Baldwin studio and the old spinet.

The Steinway took up a huge part of our living room.
The other 2 were in an alcove off our bedroom. 
Jeanne also played electric bass with a church group and its HUGE speaker took up another big chunk of the room

Trumpet, flute and trombone were their band instruments.

Follow-up note: Only Jeanne was a Music Major.  Karen became an engineer although in 1992 she was the first non music major to win the State Concerto Competition.
Bobby played piano too.  He was very good but quit before high school.  It wasn’t what boys did and he did have 2 hard acts to follow.
 
When his son was old enough for music lessons, he bought him a drum set  LOL

September 22, 1956 - 65 Years ago

 I remember when my Dad took me to "Make a Record" (78 rpm)

I sang a popular song & repeated it
Que Sera Sera

Then I sang a hymn (like a good Catholic School girl) Twice

Daily Daily Sing to Mary

I was 9 and was so happy to go home with a 78 rpm record of ME.

“Que Sera Sera” was a popular song at that time.

The date is especially significant since exactly 13 years later our daughter Jeanne was born.

“What will be, will be!”

I wanted SO MUCH to sing and do stuff – music, sports, travel.
It just wasn’t possible.  Organized sports (like the PAL – Police Athletic League) were boys only. Even the church childrens’ choir was “boys only”
There was a neighborhood “Boys Club” too.  Lots of stuff there that I heard about and wasn’t able to participate in.

At least the gender barriers have decreased over time. 
However, still today, lessons, activities, access to facilities and the ability to travel requires money and an environment where it is encouraged and opportunity provided.

So many still face those barriers. 

A Voice from the Grave

 The most emotional moment of my entire music project

I’ve been editing over 100 newly digitized files from cassettes of 3 decades of my children’s music

I discovered one tape among my Dad’s things. He died in 1997
My kids recorded 45 minutes of music (songs with piano & guitar) for his 66^th birthday in 1983
They were 7, 10 & 13 at the time.  I have no memory of this.  My voice is nowhere on the recording.

Not only did Dad save the tape from 1983 – 1997, but at the end he recorded his own message to them
and sang 2 songs himself.

Maybe it’s national & world events but one song the children did is haunting to me

This the chorus of “One Tin Soldier” –

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away

This is the how the children sounded.  10 year old Karen is playing the guitar.
It’s only 4 minutes long.

One Tin Soldier

This was my Dad’s message

Thanking his grandchildren

If you read this far and listened, thank you