Music is important to me because it makes me remember old times or new memories, depending the song I play or hear.
Playing music with Melody in the summer of 2013 in Moncton.
How the music I listen to makes me feel is as follows.
When I listen to both Huey Lewis albums we used to listen to it makes me want to go back to the years we were in Hillsborough with the Volvo 240 wagon, the Datsun pickup, and the Ford van.
When I listen to the big Dirty Dancing CD that combines both tapes I think of myself back on a camping trip with the McGrath family and our dogs playing my guitar.
When I listen to The Big Chill and Stand By Me soundtracks I picture myself in the Boston and Halifax hotels we stayed in as kids, swimming in the pool, enjoying the hotel and city’s great cuisine and shopping, and just enjoying the drive.
When I Discovered Music
On my first visit to my Mom’s house before my adoption (see full story in my Adoption Story) I saw the house had a Mason & Risch piano.
I opened it and played a few notes. Melody taught me which key corresponds to which note.
When I went to school there were so many pianos. One, in the adjacent room to my classroom, was a whole note flat, so if you played a C chord you get a B flat chord.
The music room also had a Yamaha piano.
There were a few in the hallway, and there were 2 on stage in the gym: one upright and one grand.
When the music teacher played O Canada and got us to sing it I picked it up, and the moment I got home I went to the downstairs piano and played it exactly like I heard it.
I had a ukulele and was playing this a lot.
The summer between grades 1 and 2 I noticed mosquitoes would buzz in the same note at night when they attempted to bite my ear, an F#.
One day I went to school…and came back home to a surprise: Dad had bought a new piano: a Tadashi upright that looked identical to the Yamaha in the music room. Now we had 2 pianos: The Mason & Risch in the downstairs room…and a Tadashi in the living room where the woodstove, stereo, turtle tank, and Christmas tree were.
In addition to playing music on these instruments and singing and in school, we listened to tapes with music: Huey Lewis & The News’ Sports and Fore albums, Mike & Michele, Sharon Lois & Bram, Raffi, both Dirty Dancing soundtracks, the Big Chill soundtrack, the Stand By Me soundtrack, and Lionel Richie Dancing on the Ceiling album.
From grades 11 and 12 on I was singing in church choirs and still am.
I can now play popular songs like Frozen songs, stuff from the local radio stations, and the Sister Act up-tempo arrangement of Hail Holy Queen and lots of church anthems and hymns.
Music is a huge part of my life now. I sang in 4 church choirs in Moncton. In Saint John I am part of 2 choirs: the Key Industries Choir and the Our Lady of the Assumption Church Senior Choir, and I have sung lots of songs away, including 50 Fest in Halifax, retreats both home and Nova Scotia, and the Atlanta 2012 Assembly. (See this story in a future Blog.)