Sneak Peak!

I am singing at a recital on Monday, July 13 at 7PM at the Mennonite Church in Normal. The recital is a fund raiser for the Van Leer Scholarship Program at Immanuel Bible Foundation, and is also being used as a research project for some doctoral students at U of I. One of the projects for research was to write a vignette about how taking music lessons has changed your life. The following is going to be read at the recital while the stage is being changed before my piece:

How taking music lessons has changed my life...

Taking music lessons was a rite of passage in our busy home. My parents created an environment where music was not only a source of fun, it was a respected aspect of our education. I am the 3rd child in a family of 8 children and early on each of us had a required 2 year stint with the local piano teacher. Some of us did pretty well and continued far past that time, some of us did not; but the message was clear: Music is important.

My parents sacrificed so that we could take lessons. My parents both loved music and changed my life by making it a priority in our home.

It was destined to be, as they first met in high school chorus when Dad pulled Mom's ponytail. Thus began a soundtrack of highschool sweethearts: He the marching band drummer, she the drum majorette with her high stepping white go go boots. Later, he the rebel drummer in a rock and roll band, she the oratorio singing chorister. And not too far after that, they were married and created a home of their own. As a child, I was equally exposed to a steady diet of eclectic extremes. Mom jamming to the Beach Boys in the station wagon, turning it up ridiculously loud, Dad discovering the New Testament and being touched by Handel's Messiah, introduced by Mom. We danced to Three Dog Night in our socks, trying to not jump too hard thus causing the record to skip, and we sang in close harmonies on the way to church. Dad drummed in a dance band to pay for all of our piano lessons initially, and then continued as we all started various instruments at school. Mom had music playing at home on a regular basis, and in seasons: Brandenburg Concertos in the fall, Vivaldi Four Seasons in the spring, James Taylor, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Beach Boys in the summer. And at Christmas, we listened to Messiah, all the way through. Saturday nights were for the Muppet Show and Austin City Limits, Sunday morning was for Sounds Of Faith on the radio.

Dad was encouraging by being present at our recitals and by talking philosophically about music as it related to faith and life. Mom was encouraging because she listened and helped shape practice time, she organized our schedules with the piano teacher, and went to bat for me when I wanted more musical information from my lessons. She had a plethora of books about history and the arts, and she gifted us with new music at birthdays and holidays. Both of my parents told us how much pleasure they got out of hearing us play piano, or drums, or flute, or trumpet, or trombone, or oboe, or saxophone, or singing, or guitar.

I am blessed to be the 3rd daughter in this family where so much more than pop culture and outside life was celebrated in our home. Our relationships with each other were the priority, and of course things were not perfect. But we had a true gift in the attitudes led by my mother and father in their love of music.