Music Paints Pictures & Often Tell Stories

 

                

Music has been in the core of my soul for as long as I can remember. I remember listening to music from the sun as a very small child around 3 or 4 years old. The person who put music into my life as far as teaching me how to play an instrument was my dear neighbor Mrs. Pearl Kelly. She started teaching me piano at eight years old. Of course, I've always loved listening to music. I remember being fours years old and listening to my cousin's first 45 record of the Beatles. She loved the Beatles and I loved dancing to their music. Then there was the influence of my Abuelita and her cumbias. I remember her cumbia music coming on the radio and she would come out with her apron with the numerous safety pins hanging off her left shoulder and her holding up her house coat and apron, with her black shoes and rolled down beige stockings dancing into the living room stomping into the hollow sounds of the wooden floors with every boomp of the tuba and music beat. She always had the biggest smile on her face. All of us cousins used to love seeing her so happy and dancing.

I'll share a little snippet of my own music making that probably wasn't the kindest act of performing on my part, but it was effective. There were times where my Mom would just gripe about everything in general. A lot of times her frustration would be aimed at me and sometimes I just couldn't escape her negativism. So to block the noise out, I would play my piano. As she escalated her voice, my music would get louder than her and eventually she would leave or slam the piano lid on my hands. Either way, she usually would leave me alone. Often times in her own stressed out world, she would actually invite me to play the piano for her to calm her down, so it was a two way street.

When my Mom married my step father, they used to love to listen to country music. I remember the sounds of Tammy Wynette and George Jones coming out of our stereo. I also remember one time they ordered a set of numerous albums off of a TV special of all the songs of the 40's and 50's. Those albums would always be echoing through our house. I remember their song was by Anne Murray -- You Needed Me -- and they would always slow dance together to that song. Funny how music can trigger memories.

My first album that I ever owned was a Donny Osmond album. In fact, several of my Osmond albums are sitting next to my bed in Los Banos, because recently, I got nostalgic and listened to them on a record player. I remembered when I would just go into my room and close my door and just listen to their music for hours on end. My room walls were adorned with pictures from Tiger Beat magazine of Donny Osmond and the Osmond Brothers. Later came David Cassidy and the Jackson 5. However, I had a cousin the same age as me and we both adored Donny and his brothers. One of my older cousins who owned a car and had a full time job knew how much my cousin and I loved the Osmonds and got us tickets to our first concert at Anaheim Stadium on September 8, 1972. My cousin and I were 12 years old. The Plan by the Osmond Brothers came out in 1973. That was truly one of my favorite albums. There were some songs on there having to do with their religious belief system. There must have been a brochure or something that indicated if you wanted to find out about their church -- The Mormon Church -- you could write to an address. So I did, and one of the older brothers either Tom or Virgil Osmond responded to my letter with a personally written back letter. I wished I would have saved that letter. In the letter he wrote who he was and gave me some encouraging words and a simple overview of their church. I just thought it was so wonderful that I received a response back. I saved the letter for years in my memory box. I don't remember what happened to that box. To this day, I still adore Donny Osmond, but unfortunately only attended that one concert. I wanted to attend his residency in Vegas most recently, but never got the tickets. However, I still listen to his music on my Apple Music App.

It's a good thing that Donny and his brothers were good examples and I loved their music, because I had very over protective parents and if I got questionable music that wasn't appropriate, my parents would break the albums and not let us listen to that Devil Music. There was a time when the Beatles were brought into our album collection. I used to love to look at the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band album as I listened and read the lyrics. As an adult, I found out what amazing music I was missing that my peers were able to listen to and appreciate. I learned to appreciate different genres of music that were popular during that time later in life.

Following are concerts that I remember attending in my lifetime thus far: Osmonds, Jackson 5 with Michael Jackson, Ronnie Milsap, Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Chris LeDoux, Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers, Keith Urban, David Crosby, Michael W. Smith and JoDee Messina. I remember I attended several Harvest Crusade events that had many of the Contemporary Christian artists that to this day are my absolute favorite genre of music. Because my parents were Seventh Day Adventists, I also remember attending a Heritage Singers and Bill Gaither event.

God has used music to get me through some of my darkest times. You could say that it was my escape from reality. I remember, I would listen to music and just daydream about all kinds of happy thoughts. Thus, I chose the title of my blog from a John Denver song, because quite often the music does take you to other places and can create a whole new story in your head. Some of those places are actually your own memories that the song playing invokes. A lot of times it just takes you to a place of comfort and peace. As I got older into my 40's through now, my musical influence was mainly Contemporary Christian and Worship music. I listen to other music, but rarely do I deviate from K-Love and Air1 or my Apple Music App with many of the Christian Artists in my library. Nothing puts me closer to God than Worship music. In fact, my favorite part of Harvest Christian Fellowship is the Worship prior to listening who I think is the most wonderful pastor and evangelist alive, Pastor Greg Laurie (Jonathan Laurie) and his staff. I've enjoyed the worship teams of many churches along my church journey.

Recently, I witnessed. the latest Harvest Crusade when the audience that filled the stadium sang "The Blessing" song a cappella. It sounded like heaven had come down to earth. I actually have a goal of experiencing being in heaven's choir when I get there. Now if we the love music we experience here, can you imagine the music that will happen there? I can't wait.

Revelation 14:2-3 "The 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth sing a new song that no one else could learn, a song like the roar of many waters and loud thunder, played on their harps."

Revelation 15:3-4  "Here, those who have conquered the beast and its image sing the "song of Moses" and the "song of the Lamb," praising God for His great and marvelous deeds." 

Ephesians 5:18-20 "Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Samuel 16:23 (NIV): "Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him". 💗