My brother's birthday was the past weekend. We have a tradition in our family of calling on the birthday and the whole family singing to the birthday person over the phone. I spent all day Friday reminding myself to call and sing when everyone was home after dinner . . . only to forget after dinner.
Boooo.
But! When I texted my brother to apologize, he said no worries, he had been at work anyway (he's an airline pilot) and wouldn't be celebrating his birthday until Sunday. Which meant we had another opportunity to sing.
To make certain that I wouldn't forget this time, I made a note to myself and stuck it on the refrigerator with a magnet.
My mother is a singer and always sang in church choirs, as did my sister. I did, too, when I was younger, although I never learned to read music or sing parts well like they can.
I feel like this is not as common as it used to be, however. Both A. and I were required to participate in elementary school choirs around 5th grade. I have never heard of this now, even in places much larger than here. A couple of my children are able to carry a tune, but not because of any formal training.
Do people not sing as much anymore? What do you think? Do you sing? Do your kids?
8 comments:
In NY, music is still part of the curriculum. But I was horrified to learn that Tucson elementary schools and Jr high have no regular choir. Reading music is easy, and I am a believer in singing, which is a great pleasure.
We sing in church always. I read music, but I don't know how to sing in parts. It's not easy for me to sing something other than the melody. My son, on the other hand, is majoring in music; voice is his primary instrument, and he can do the harmony thing well. At the church he attends, the many in the congregation sing in parts.
I only sing at our religious services and infrequently listen to music with words otherwise. I have to hear a song many times to be able to sing along and often can't remember tunes on my own. Parents tried with dance and instrument lessons when I was young but I couldn't pick those up, just not my skillset.
I come from a long line of singers and hummers. One of my grandmothers hummed all the time some tune only she could hear in her head. My mother sang with a trio in her teen years and taught me to harmonize with her when I was about 8. I still can recall words to songs I knew in my teens (some surprise me with their meanings that escaped me then!) I have sung in choir in church and married a man who is a very talented pianist. I sing along in aerobics class and in Hobby Lobby and anywhere Christmas music is played (and have been asked by my teens at times to not). My husband is a hummer and hums parts to complete symphonies in his head—sometimes it’s like being married to a John Phillips Sousa band, although he’s much quieter. Our adult children sing loudly to the radio and in the shower (the boys have very little ability to carry a tune but they carry it loudly, and our daughter is a talented pianist with a pretty voice). We have a couple of grandchildren who play guitar and one who sings With her air buds in her ears, which is interesting. We may not be terribly talented but we are loud and enthusiastic!
I grew up with many of my family members singing- choirs, musicals, etc. I have an okay voice that has gotten rusty over the years. I sing randomly during the day ( the entirety of Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat anyone?) or make up songs about my kids, squirrels, laundry, etc.
My kids have to sing for music class through 5th grade. Choir is an elective. Most of my kids have good voices and some musical ability, so it's a pleasure to go to their shows and concerts. It seems choir is more of an elective, but also gets serious fast ( just like sports) no one can do something just for fun once you're in hs.
Yeah. Our preschool through fifth-grade choir and band concert is tonight, and grades six through 12 next week on Thursday. We had a series of hiccups with music teachers for about four or five years, and during one of them, in which that teacher was going through a divorce and had an attitude that alienated the older boys, my son stopped playing trumpet. Otherwise, now that that is more or less smoothed out with yet another new teacher, the girls do all the things. I have hopes. (Total school census about 235, so a good bit bigger than yours.)
I sang tenor in an oratorio with a full orchestra in college and Bach's St. Matthew's Passion and Handel's Messiah are extremely sticky.
— Karen.
I was always grateful that, instead of spending the entire period singing, my early elementary music teacher taught us to read music. Like so many things, it was very easy to learn in childhood, it became a lifetime skill, and it greatly expanded what that music teacher could do with us.
I love to sing. I'm currently in two choirs at two different churches. The schools here still have choral music in elementary school. I was the only singer in my family but I still enjoy it very much.
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