Do you like music? Do you let it touch your heart and get deep into your soul?
This time of year the sounds of the season are everywhere. Perhaps the piped in stuff in the mall and the store’s sound systems are not exactly optimum musical enjoyment, but I hope you are able to recognize the melody most of the time.
I love all the music (well almost all…not the Grandma…reindeer one) whether it is disjointed or symphonic. With a daughter who took dance from age 3 until high school, I’ve also had the pleasure of attending performances (not to mention the pre-requisite rehearsals) of The Nutcracker probably close to a hundred times.
When I was growing up, learning new music for the Christmas programs was very exciting. Music class was devoted to learning new songs. None of us read music, so it was a matter of repetition. Sister Judith would play the melody then we’d repeat, repeat, and repeat some more.
We had programs every year from elementary through high school. At Sacred Heart Elementary, our programs followed the story of Joseph and Mary on their journey to Bethlehem. Usually my brothers, sisters and I were in the choir, or maybe even angels on stage. A few times I got to be Mary cradling Baby Jesus, really my Tiny Tears doll, wrapped in swaddling clothes. My favorite songs today are the ones I learned for the children’s programs and performed for the cold drafty auditorium filled with friends and family. Only hours before, in the same auditorium where we’d been eating fish sticks and peas, our cold drafty auditorium was transformed into a celestial oasis.
What sort of music are you creating this season?
