Sing: is a verb that means to utter words or sounds in succession with musical
modulations of the voice; vocalize melodically. It is a talent to be enjoyed by
others, but that not many have. I have been grateful that of my five children,
four are very musical.
I always
enjoyed singing. We had a piano that my mother often played while we sang while
the canary there in the room warbled along. My father loved to sing, and we had
lots of sheet music. Some of the songs my father sang to us were: “Roly Poly,
Daddy’s little Fatty,” “Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch,” “Little
Purple Pansies,” “Running Bear” (a ballad about Running Bear and Little White
Dove, two Indians that loved “with a love that couldn’t die”). Our family
favorite was an old cowboy ballad, “Little Joe the Wrangler” about a Texas
stray who died in a washout. We would always end up crying when he sang that
song.
I remember when “Your Hit Parade”
came on TV. We would all watch it and sing along. I also had my favorite songs
that I sang to all the little kids I babysat and my own children years later: Frank
Sinatra’s “High Hopes,” and “Swing on a Star,” Doris Day’s “Che sera sera” from
the movie, Whatever Will Be, Will Be. Other silly songs were “Green Door,” and “The
Railroad Comes through the Middle of the House” (which we loved because it
reminded us of our house which we had to move from to make way from the freeway
--we joked that now the freeway ran through the middle of our house).
I also loved musical theater and I
had several long-playing
records of them. In fact one of my most
memorable Christmases was when my parents gave me an album of the “Carnival”
musical Theater recording, which I had wanted, but I didn’t think they knew I wanted.
I always sang along with the music, whether I was on tune or not—the records
couldn’t tell.
When I was
married and had children, I played music while we cleaned up and we sang and
danced to the music while we worked. I don’t recall watching much TV back then,
but we played an awfully lot of music because we knew all the music to all of
it. When we were in the car, we played cassettes of the music and sang along
(otherwise the children would fight—but if the music was playing, they
wouldn’t). I think we must have had music on all the time except when we were
eating; the only reason we didn’t then because we had a rule, “if you sing at
the table, you will cry in bed.”
I insisted
they all my children have music lessons (Marlowe had trumpet lessons, the rest had
piano lessons), so they would know music.
When I look
back at my life, I realize how ironic it is that we played music and sang with
it all the time, because I don’t have a good voice, and I can’t carry a tune.
But I doubt back then if my children knew that; the music drowned me out. We
just enjoyed the music. We had to
like country west music—we spent 12 years in Texas. We always loved musicals,
but we also liked comedy (The Smothers Brothers and some Hawaii Comedy Music).
We even liked “Roll on, Big Mama” one year that we drove a lot; Ed got the
music and we watched the truckers. We always liked Primary music (because we
always had someone in the Primary).
Marlowe
wanted to sing in the ward choir when he was a teenager and we lived in
Alabama. In fact we lived in the temple district when the Atlanta Temple was
dedicated and even though Marlowe was only 16 years old, he was selected to be
in the Dedicatory Choir from our stake. When our stake was chosen to be the one
to sing for the first session and the ground-laying ceremony, Marlowe was right
there.
Athena loved to sing and she was also
in the choir as a teenager, but when we moved to Italy, she often had to play
the piano because there wasn’t always a pianist available. But by then both
Marlowe, Athena and Marc were performing with the Community Theater in Italy
and in musicals, as well as singing in choirs. Marc had my voice, so he didn’t
sing in choirs or groups, but he loved music.
Athena had
developed her athletic talents all through high school as a gymnastic and
dancer; in Italy she won some fame with her gymnastic abilities and after one
event, one of the Italian Olympic judges offered to coach her in his local
Olympic coaching group at no cost if she was willing to put in the time—every
afternoon after school until late and every Saturday. She did it for a while,
but she decided she wanted to be an American high school student more than an Olympic
hopeful and gave it up. Then she could do her singing and dancing in the
Community Theater Productions, and be Studentbody Secretary, and date and do
all the fun things she wanted.
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| Marlowe in "Christmas Carol" |
When Marlowe went to college, his
schedule was so tight that he couldn’t take any band, jazz band, or music
classes as he had in high school, but he was always in the Institute Choir—he
wouldn’t give that up. But during the summers, he would come back to Centerville
and perform in theater productions, especially musicals. After he graduated
from college and was working and earning money, he performed in many theatrical
performances all over the Wasatch front, from Rodgers Memorial Theater, Grand
Theater, Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater, to Hale Theater (with Diana).
Athena continued to be in choirs in
college, and always church choirs, but Diana was the
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| Diana in "Scarlet Pimpernel" |
one who surprised us all.
We moved to Utah when she was in the 7th grade and she had a hard
time adjusting. In the 8th grade she took a choir class and enjoyed
it and the teacher mentioned she had a nice voice. So she tried out for Jr.
High Madrigals and made it. We were impressed and I suggested she take voice
lessons to help her self-esteem. We began to realize she had a real talent for
music and helped her develop it.
I worked full time from the time Bryan
was three years old, so I never had music playing all the time like I had with
the other children. But he was around Diana and her music all the time. Bryan
had sometimes performed with the older children in musicals; whenever they were
in a show and there was a need for a child, they “kidnapped” Bryan and put him
in the show. I was not a stage mom, and insisted if they took him, they were
responsible for him; I would never take
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| Bryan, Diana & other child |
him or pick him up or be involved; he
was their obligation. Sometimes I think they realized how tired I was and took
Bryan to give me a break.
Although I paid for Bryan’s voice lessons, he was
never as committed as Diana to practice. He had the ability, but not the
dedication to develop his voice. He was more interested in being an actor, a
comedian, and an improv performer.
Today Diana
still sings with “Friends of Harmony,” a group of women in Chicago who sing
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| Diana in Friends of Harmony |
for
nursing homes, and other non-profit venues. I am so glad she is still using her
talents.
I am so
amazed at the ability all my children have to listen to choirs and musical
groups and tell immediately who is on tune and who is not. Whether it is our
years of going to choir and band concerts, musicals and lots and lots of shows,
but Ed, Diana, Bryan, and Marlowe can tell if anyone is flat or out of tune. It
makes me angry because I go to a show to enjoy it, not critique it. I guess it
is because I can’t sing at all, and know that if I tried to sing, they would
make fun of me. I never try to sing in a choir because I know I am so bad, but
I enjoy listening to them.
All of my
children (even Bryan) are knowledgeable about many types and genres of music.
When we play games, they amaze me at their knowledge of names of music and
songs, even old-time songs. Best of all--they love to sing together.
In the Book of Mormon, in the chapter of Ether, the story is told of a people that lived in the time of the Tower of Babel. The Lord promised to lead them from there to a place where they could live without their language being confounded. When they had completed building ships according to the Lord’s instructions, their leader, the brother of Jared, realized that they would have no light in their ships or barges. So, he turned to the Lord and the account is in Ether 2 through 6 of the Book of Mormon.
