Son #2 is learning how to talk. And in learning how to form words, he’s doing his best to sing, too.
His favorite song is “Silent Night,” although when he sings it, it sounds like “I die, Whole die.” Then he reaches up in his higher register and pulls out a falsetto sound that will pierce your soul. And eardrum.
He loves music.
I started playing bluegrass the other day, a certain live album. He was entranced. That album is one of the best, in my opinion. After you listen to it, you can’t “Forget About It.” I consider myself one of “The Lucky Ones” to have this album. And every time my boys don’t finish what they start, I’m going to play “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn.”
Anyway, He is learning another song. It goes like this, “Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord.”
When he sings it, it sounds like this, “Hal-ya-you, Hal-yuh-you, Hal-yuh-you, Hal-yuh-you-yuh. Pay ye da Lay-orda.”
One of my goals in raising my family (besides keeping them in church) is to ensure they learn to play an instrument well. And if they play more than one, that’ll be good too.
I don’t know about you, but I like traditions. In our area of the country, smack dab in the heart of the USA, folk music is intertwined into the very fabric of our being. I intend to continue weaving it into the tapestry of my own family.
And by folk music, I mean homemade music. Acoustic music. The kind of music families can make with handheld instruments taken from a hard outer shell case. Front porch pickin’.
The piano is a good instrument to learn. Although, the only kind you could hold would be an electronic keyboard. There ain’t nobody picking up a grand concert piano out of a case and holding it on the front porch.
I’m not against other styles of music, although I could be if I tried. I’ll admit it takes talent to create music, whether you’re strumming strings, pressing buttons on a screen, or blowing air through a brass tube.
4ettttfg2wsx` qqqqwsssttjgin. (This is Son #2’s contribution to my writing tonight. After which, he pushed the lid down and ran away.)
As I was saying, talent abounds in many different styles and musical tastes. But there’s something about coming together as a group and uniting in music and song.
Holding glued together tone-woods, taut strings, and plectrums, combining sounds to generate something worth hearing.
I want our boys, and all children, to be able to grow up with musical instruments as a part of their daily lives.
They might not be the next Ron Block, Dan Tyminski, or Jerry Douglas, but that’s okay. Not everyone is destined to be the next Sonny Osborne. And it may not be their sole purpose in life to make music. But they should at least learn to keep a beat, that way they can clap their hands without ruining a good concert.
I consider playing music a gift that gives to everyone — those who listen and those who play.
to those learning,
– Caleb
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