Music

Music

Rick Daniel reminded me recently of the role that music plays in my life.  It seems like ever since high school music was never more than a foot-tap away.

I recall taking a music aptitude test in sixth or seventh grade.  “They” would play notes side by side and ask if the second note was higher or lower than the first note.  I didn’t have a clue what that meant.  Nonetheless, thanks to my good friends Richard Miller and Jerry Smith I found myself signed up for band.  The band director put us in a practice room and told us to come out and join the band when we felt we were ready.  That was pretty much the extent of my first and only music lesson on the cornet.  After a few weeks of practice we were feeling pretty sure of ourselves so we made the mistake of coming out of the practice room.  The first piece of music we attempted to play was the William Tell Overture.  I don’t recall if we finished before or after everyone else, but we headed back to the practice room.

Time passed and we eventually did make our way into the last seats of our respective sections.  Jerry played the tenor saxophone and Richard and I played cornets.  While Richard excelled I floundered.  I think that is why the band director switched me to French horn where I could focus on playing after-beats and not do anything else more complicated than that.  He also let me swing the baton around and conduct music once in a while.  I think both band directors we had in high school felt that they had to give me something that I could handle.

Rick Daniel, Jerry Smith, and Richard Miller and I formed a part of a Dixieland Band.  The other founding members were Mike Shaddy (clarinet), and Gary Bruce (baritone saxophone).  I understand that Mike has since passed away.  Rick played a wicked trombone.  Since there was nothing left to play I picked up some drumsticks and beat on an old drum (trap) set.  We called ourselves a couple of different names.  Because we all wore glasses except for Gary Bruce we first settled on The Four-eyed Five Plus Two.  Then Gary found a pair of cheap reading glasses or non-prescription glasses and wore them with the rest of us.  That’s when we called ourselves the Foresights.  I must admit that we were pretty good.  We played a few gigs that kept us feeling important and even got our picture in the local newspaper.  However, it was playing Dixieland music that got me to learn to love that style of music.  Al Hirt, Louis Satchmo  Armstrong, and Bent Fabric (yes, that’s what he called himself) became my musical heroes.  I remember feeling like I had died and gone to heaven when Richard and I met Louis Armstrong.  He had a gold mouthpiece for his trumpet and seriously calloused lips.

It wasn’t just Dixieland music that moved me.  Word got out at church that I could lead music and as a result I found myself frequently substituting for our church chorister.  Later in my adult life I was our congregation’s chorister and choir director.  The highlight of my church music career was to lead our congregation’s choir “at the Civic”.  (That would be our small community’s high school civic auditorium, but it was still “the Civic”.)  I am still called upon from time to time to fill in for a chorister.  While I enjoy swinging my arm around – directing music – I must admit that I find it embarrassing that I cannot sing and therefore find it very difficult to pick a starting note for singing when we lack a pianist or organist.

Rick reminded me of the music of the 60s and 70s.  Those were the days when you could understand the words to the popular music of the time.  Those were the days of the Beatles, Beach Boys, Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, Peter and Gordon, The Buckinghams, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and the Detroit Sound (The Four Tops, Supremes, The Spinners, etc.). 

Speaking of the Detroit Sound, every music center had its own sound and you could tell if a song was recorded in Detroit or Memphis or Los Angeles or New York just by listening.  Then there was Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound.  I remember hearing that for the first time and thinking to myself that music had entered a whole new era.  Anyway, my friends and I could sing along with all of them, pretty much like kids can do today.  But, there was other music besides the rock ‘n roll.

There was this thing called folk music.  I’m not sure that it was so much folk music as it was ballads that were being played.  We’re talking about groups like the Kingston Trio, The New Christie Minstrels, Peter, Paul, and Mary.  We’re talking about Tom Dooley hanging his head down and Peter, Paul and Mary asking where all the flowers had gone.  Was it Puff the Magic Dragon that took the flowers?  I don’t think so.  Those were the days of the Hootenanny.  Those were the days when it was first acceptable to sit cross-legged on the grass and sway back and forth to the music and to sing along.  You see, there was this little war going on in Vietnam and there were a lot of protests against the war and much of the music of the time was anti-war music.  It was a perfect combination.  We were a bunch of idealistic and impressionable teenagers caught up in the music and lyrics of the day.  And yet, there we were – a bunch of young teenagers from middle class America in its heartland, one of the most conservative states in the Union at the time.

I’ve never strayed far from music.  I am not like some of my friends, like Clarice Snyder (aka Jane Engleman during those school days) who is over-the-top musically talented, but I do tap my toe when I hear a tune that I like or that brings back memories.  Sometimes I tap my toe when I’m the only one who can hear the music.  And I like just about all genre of music (opera excepted – well, light opera is acceptable). 

I was never really proficient at playing any musical instrument and I certainly have not done anything to improve that situation.  To my credit, I encourage my grandchildren to take an instrument in school and to stick with it.  All five of our children played in their high school band at least for a while.  And, I’ve been plucking on a guitar and ukulele, thanks to Roger Wickers from about 40 years ago and Holly Baxter most recently.  Roger, if you are reading this you will be pleased to learn that I have callouses on my fingertips.  I still am not any good on barre chords and I am beginning to learn how to get into an F-minor and B-flat.  Or is that a B7?  I don’t know, but I really like the sound it makes.  The rest of the B chords are beyond me. (Roger, FYI –  I’m trying to learn how to stretch my fingers apart.  It’s hard.)  Regardless, I’m getting to the point where I can play a handful of songs without looking at the fingers on my left hand.  Not bad for an old guy.  Susan mentioned a 12-string the other day.

Just to show you how warped I am and the influence music has had on my life let me share a simple example with you.  While teaching at the college every now and then a phrase would come out of my mouth that would be the same as a few words in a tune I heard years ago. With little or no notice to my students I would break out into song in class in spite of the fact that I cannot carry a tune in a…well, you know.  I loved the looks I got from befuddled students sitting in front of me, but what were they going to do?  They were a captive audience and had little recourse but to sit and take it.

We have Sirius XM Radio in one of our cars.  It is tuned in to 60s on 6.  I enjoy listening to Phlash Phelps and Cousin Bruce and Pat St. John.  (I can’t stand Peter Noone on the weekends.)  I enjoy traveling down the highway singing along with whoever is singing at the time.  When I’m in the pickup, which doesn’t have the XM radio, I have it tuned in to a 50s and 60s station.  Most of the time Susan is not with me in the pickup so it is not unusual for me to sing a touch louder.  The nice thing about it though is that when I pull up to a red light I see others either singing along to their radios or bobbing their heads in time with the music.  It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who has a thing about music.

Where was I going with all this?  Oh, yeah, I remember now.  Music.  It has been a part, a big part of my life since my early teen years.  I cannot imagine life without music today.  It reflects so much of life, so much of the feelings and experiences at different times in life. 

Karen and Richard Carpenter sang a song that describes what I’m talking about.

When I was young I'd listen to the radio
Waitin' for my favorite songs
When they played I'd sing along, it made me smile

Those were such happy times and not so long ago
How I wondered where they'd gone
But they're back again just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well

Lookin' back on how it was in years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad, so much has changed.

It was songs of love that I would sing to then
And I'd memorize each word
Those old melodies still sound so good to me
As they melt the years away

Every sha-la-la-la
Every wo-o-wo-o, still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling, that they're startin' to sing's, so fine

When they get to the part
Where he's breakin' her heart
It can really make me cry, just like before
It's yesterday once more

Songwriters: JOHN BETTIS, RICHARD LYNN CARPENTER
© Universal Music Publishing Group

You see, there is music for every emotion, for every person, and for every event in life.  Whether it’s on the Eve of Destruction, or the Last Date, there’s a song for that.  If your sweetheart has Lost that Lovin’ Feeling or if you and your date fell asleep at the drive-in movie and you are in trouble deep, there is music go help you get through it.  Should it be the Little Old Lady from Pasadena or if you are Getting Around in your Little Deuce Coupe, you can rev up your engines to the beat of the west coast sound.  When you are trying to tell Michelle, Mary Lou, Peggy Sue, or Oh, Denise that you love her true, there are words and melodies to see you through.  When you experience those tender moments when you are in wonder of How Great God is (How Great Thou Art) or you want to send God’s blessings with a friend Till we Meet Again, someone felt inspired to put those feelings into words and music.  You can always Catch a Falling Star and Put it in your Pocket or Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain to music.  If you are looking for an Octopus’s Garden or want to help Rocky Raccoon, you’ll find Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr (Starkey) to sing you through it.  If there is any doubt in your mind, I still Dig Rock ‘n Roll Music, but I still like Butterfly Kisses and I see Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain all the time.

Music still makes me want to say “What a Wonderful World”. 

Oh, yeah (or Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yea-a-a-a-a-h).