Music -- The Universal Language

Ever since I can remember, music has been in the core of my soul. Even before I heard it coming from the sun. Probably my earliest remembrance of music was when we were traveling from New Hampshire to Los Angeles via a Greyhound bus. All along the route, when we would stop at the bus depots, there was always music playing very loudly. I'm thinking I might have been about three years old at the time.

As a little girl, I used to love to dance. Of course, these were during my lucid moments when I wasn't walking in endless circles in the middle of a floor captive in my daydreams of running through meadows. At weddings and at my Buelita's and Aunt's houses, they used to have music playing. I remember family members enouraging me to dance in the middle of the floor. They used to love to watch me dance. They would always say that I could really dance and that I had natural rhythm. All I know is I loved music. I've always loved all genres of music.

It wouldn't be until I was about eight years old when I would get my first taste of learning a musical instrument. An elderly lady from across the street had noticed that I was a latch key child and one day approached my parents that if she would be able to give me free piano lessons. I took piano lessons from this beautiful angel from 8 to 16 years old. My piano teacher's name was Pearl. Everyday during the week, she would give me piano lessons after I got home from school. I can't recall if I took them during the summer or not. But I loved playing the piano. She played beautifully as well. As God would have it, she was a Seventh Day Adventist woman. So, many of the songs she played for me were from hymnals. My favorite song that she would play and I would try to sing with her was The Little Church In The Wildwood. She would pound that piano as she played the chorus and I could feel the music in my stomach.

Pearl had a sister Maude and together they were characters. They would often bicker in front of me. She would always call out to her, "Maudie?!?" I loved going over to their immaculately clean home. I sometimes would take naps there and she fed me delicious treats. She made a delicious chopped salad of stewed tomatoes, avocado, black olives and pickled beets with Italian Dressing. It was the best salad I had ever tasted and to this day I will make it and remember her. This is just a side note paragraph about her character.

As she taught me piano, I started memorizing the notes and she knew I wasn't reading the notes. It used to irritate her. So she would put me on new songs to learn and she would see my struggle. When I would miss a note, out would come a Red Fuller Brush Man letter opener. She used to smack that across my hands when I would miss a note or when she could tell I had memorized and wasn't even reading the notes. Of course, I would cry and she would regret her smacking me. She'd go in the kitchen and get me a nice red apple or delicious cookie and ask me not to tell my Mom she smacked me. Too funny. After I became an adult, I went by her house to see her. She was really elderly by this time. Maude had informed me in a whisper that Pearl had clogged arteries now. I asked Pearl to play How Great Thou Art and I would sing to her. As she played the piano and she listened to my now trained voice sing, I could see her eyes well up with tears. I was glad to let her experience what her love for a child and giving her a love for music had produced. I know she got an extra jewel in her crown for having such a love for me.

While in high school, I took a guitar class and that is where I had a teacher, Mr. Griffin, who would bring out my singing ability as he wanted me to sing as I played the guitar. When he first heard my voice singing Tom Dooley, he told me I had been given a gift to be able to sing. And that's where it all began. Through my high school years I would play guitar and piano along with singing for church. I was in choir and chamber singers and madrigals. I took drama classes, so then I was in musicals in high school.  I did a lot of solos and would win talent shows. My brother and I had developed a love for music. He was much more talented as a musician and could write songs that would knock socks off. He was impressive. In my senior year, I had a wonderful teacher, Ms. Cook who helped me to vocalize better. I also had a handsome boyfriend who could play the piano and he taught me how to improvise play piano. To this day, that is the way I prefer to play piano. Using chords with my left hand and then playing the melody on the right. Between the piano and the guitar, I always had instruments when I sang. I loved when I had musicians who played for me, because then I wouldn't have to think about messing up on the instruments as I sang.

Some of my best times were singing for a church group with my brother -- we named ourselves the Agape Group. This group included other members of our youth group. We sang in church and at convalescent homes. Our relatives used to always ask me or/and my brother to play our music. My Mom used to love to hear us sing and play our instruments. She used to always sit me at my piano to sing and could listen for hours. God has always used me as a vessel to sing and perform for others well into my 60's. My favorite genre of music to sing was always hymns and worship music. Folk and country were my second favorite genre to sing.

I had always wanted to sing in a Worship Group, but it just wasn't my calling. I did lead children church and earliteen music worships. The Lord used some other talents I had to serve in other capacities. Music was always a part of it. To this day, hearing a child sing makes me cry, because it reminds me how much I loved music as a child. There is something about a child singing praises that puts me to my knees. Music is a universal language that hits people in different ways and according to what they might be experiencing at the time. I'm so thankful God gave me the gift of music and singing.

Psalm 147: 7 "Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God." (NKJV)