Lucky Me
2001
It hit me this morning that I am such a lucky son-of-a-Canuk.
My daughter remarked to me yesterday that she knows many band directors who use solfege with their bands nowadays. And yet in her college ear-training classes they do not use solfege. Hold that thought, I may come back to it...
First of all I'm really lucky that I get to have high-level conversations about music with my daughter. That is just awesome, because I am such an introverted music nerd that it is what I like to talk about the most.
And everything has sort of come full circle in that regard - and it all revolves around singing, which is the other lucky thing.
When I was growing up, my earliest remembrances of singing were of my mother and of myself. My mother learned how to play the banjo as an adult and would sing folk tunes for us as children. She also purchased LP records of Pete Seeger for us to listen to, and I would spend hours listening and singing. I still have some of those songs memorized now.
Nevertheless, I don't really consider myself a singer. I was never a huge holler-band person. I was in choirs on-and-off starting in 6th grade. But I was not a choir jock - I was a band nerd. At the same time, I always came back to singing - even participating in the Choral Union at the university level. (We got to sing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra!!!) I considered earning a degree which included choral education and then dropped the choral part because I just never thought I sang that well and it didn't seem to hold a special attraction for me. That is - not until I discovered solfege and Kodaly-inspired music teaching.
Next lucky break - I sort of fell into this manner of teaching. I sought professional development coursework when that thing called Life required me to look at a career shift after my children were born. There happened to be a Kodaly class taught in my hometown - where my mom could watch my children - so I shrugged and said "okay". I had no idea of the paradigm shift I was about to experience.
I became crazy about singing again.
Rewind to June 2001: I was in Denton Texas for my Level One Kodaly class. It was raining and all of a sudden someone said "Do you hear tornado sirens?" I had actually already heard them but when no one else said anything I just didn't think about it. However, at that point we all went to the window and looked out to see people rushing around back and forth to get out of the rain. Then, a custodian came to the door and said that we should go to the new building (we were in the old building - lots of windows). Well, someone TOLD me he said that; I actually missed that little announcement. So when we got to the door and all my classmates (native Texans) started RUNNING through the rain, I thought "whoa now - these are TEXANS running because of a tornado siren - - - omgomgomgomg". [*BEGINS RUNNING] We gathered in a basement practice room and shared nervous chit chat for a little while, and then someone began singing "Angels Watching Over Me".
And I mean: Singing.
It was glorious singing! I don't think I've ever heard such beautiful harmonizing as I did on that late June afternoon in Denton. I was so JEALOUS. It was so organic - the vibrations were mesmerizing - sitting all crowded together on the floor as we were. It truly touched my heart and my soul. I vowed that day that I would learn to harmonize that effortlessly. What a lucky stroke to be there that day.
Thankfully, no one was injured by those tornadoes - they passed through a rural area.
I was able to share this story with my daughter just recently. She understood it. Fully. She wants to be a music educator.
I just think it is very cool, and exciting, that perhaps her band students and many others of this generation will have teachers who help them become complete musicians - not just a cog in the wheel of the band machine. And singing does that for you, especially using solfege as a tool to better musicianship.
And I didn't mention yet - that after taking that class in 2001, I thought - - "oh my goodness I have to sing MORE for my daughters!" (...although I had actually been singing lullabies to them since they were born.)
They both sing great. They both play instruments well. But one gravitates toward singing because it's her nature, and the other gravitates toward instruments, kinda like me.
Truly that subject is a post for another day. But that's another thing I'm lucky to have - two wonderful daughters. Very. Very. Lucky. And blessed.
Until next time - practice singing an awesome song that you'll sing to your babies. You will never regret it. You might get to make impromptu silly videos like this - I spared you the outtakes :D Credit for "Dooley" goes to the Dillards: Rodney and Douglas Dillard, Dean Webb and Mitch Jayne, my "Uncle Mitch". <3
