A Home Without Music
Last week as I watched the Eternal Word Television Network's (EWTN's) coverage of Pope Benedict's visit to Bavaria, Germany and listening to all the music that accompanied his various stops, I was filled with a sense of nostalgia.
I am of German heritage (Bavarian [Father] and Southwestern, German [Mother]) and music was an integral part of my family life. Music resonated through my home as a youth. My uncle who lived with us built a full size pipe organ, (the pipes at least), and installed it in the upstairs room he occupied. He was an accomplished organist who for years was the parish organist and at one time arranged and transcribed the church music for the Milwaukee Archdiocese. One of my elder brothers was an accomplished pianist who played the family pump organ. My dad had a powerful, resilient base voice--he sang in our parish male choir and in his early manhood sang professionally. My mom before she married played the harp. My sisters all had beautiful voices and before they married were member's of the Northwestern Mutual Life's choral group and finally all my brothers enjoyed singing.
As a youth I recall lying upstairs on my bed listening to my brother play the pump organ downstairs, or falling to sleep listening to my uncle play his pipe organ. The chore of doing the supper dishes was greatly lightened in our home as my sisters usually sang in harmony while completing the chore. Until I was old enough to help, I enjoyed just sitting there listening to them sing and giggle. My dad's brothers visited us on many Sunday afternoons. After a beer or two, they all would gather around the pump organ with either my uncle or brother playing the organ they sang the old barbershop type songs and old time love songs still popular at the time. When there was no one to entertain us, my sister and I often cranked up our family's old victrola and listen to the classic records my parents owned. As I grew older, in our boy's bedroom I listened to the "new" 78's, and 33 1/3 lps my brother purchased playing them on his portable phonograph. As a teen I began to collect and play the popular 45's of the day.
Music continually flowed through my childhood. Humorously, some neighbors even told us that hearing the pipe organ music flow out through the open windows into the night on the warm Milwaukee summer nights and hearing our family pray our evening prayers that they originally thought the house must be a church.
Already as a youth I found music soothing. To this day I find music, at the proper volume, welcoming and conducive to visiting, relaxing and reflecting. I am so blessed to have been raised in a home where the beauty and joy of music was appreciated, taught and shared. I am so happy that many of my siblings' children and grandchildren are being raised in this same atmosphere.
I feel sorry for those children whose lives are deprived of this exposure. I am convinced that children so deprived, will grow up with a great loss. They are missing one of the great joys of life. I hope your home isn't "A Home Without Music".
I am of German heritage (Bavarian [Father] and Southwestern, German [Mother]) and music was an integral part of my family life. Music resonated through my home as a youth. My uncle who lived with us built a full size pipe organ, (the pipes at least), and installed it in the upstairs room he occupied. He was an accomplished organist who for years was the parish organist and at one time arranged and transcribed the church music for the Milwaukee Archdiocese. One of my elder brothers was an accomplished pianist who played the family pump organ. My dad had a powerful, resilient base voice--he sang in our parish male choir and in his early manhood sang professionally. My mom before she married played the harp. My sisters all had beautiful voices and before they married were member's of the Northwestern Mutual Life's choral group and finally all my brothers enjoyed singing.
As a youth I recall lying upstairs on my bed listening to my brother play the pump organ downstairs, or falling to sleep listening to my uncle play his pipe organ. The chore of doing the supper dishes was greatly lightened in our home as my sisters usually sang in harmony while completing the chore. Until I was old enough to help, I enjoyed just sitting there listening to them sing and giggle. My dad's brothers visited us on many Sunday afternoons. After a beer or two, they all would gather around the pump organ with either my uncle or brother playing the organ they sang the old barbershop type songs and old time love songs still popular at the time. When there was no one to entertain us, my sister and I often cranked up our family's old victrola and listen to the classic records my parents owned. As I grew older, in our boy's bedroom I listened to the "new" 78's, and 33 1/3 lps my brother purchased playing them on his portable phonograph. As a teen I began to collect and play the popular 45's of the day.
Music continually flowed through my childhood. Humorously, some neighbors even told us that hearing the pipe organ music flow out through the open windows into the night on the warm Milwaukee summer nights and hearing our family pray our evening prayers that they originally thought the house must be a church.
Already as a youth I found music soothing. To this day I find music, at the proper volume, welcoming and conducive to visiting, relaxing and reflecting. I am so blessed to have been raised in a home where the beauty and joy of music was appreciated, taught and shared. I am so happy that many of my siblings' children and grandchildren are being raised in this same atmosphere.
I feel sorry for those children whose lives are deprived of this exposure. I am convinced that children so deprived, will grow up with a great loss. They are missing one of the great joys of life. I hope your home isn't "A Home Without Music".
posted by Paul Amrhein | 9:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home