Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004 - 10:29 a.m.

Lead me....

...to the Rock that is higher than I. That is such a beautiful song. The girls have sang it often as a duet. 1s with her true full alto, and 2d with her pure soprano. They blend together well, and have always been able to harmonize. 1s could harmonize too, and he was a tenor as an adult. He thought he was a bass because 'that's what guys do' but he had a beautiful tenor voice once he found it was ok to do that.

2s and 3s have only sang the melody lines. 2s is probably likel his paternal Grandma in the music department as he didn't do too well with his trumpet or piano either. 3s played trumpet well, but never had to confidence to do it alone. Singing may have been the same way. We all sang together in a little group when they were young. 800 can sight sing and has always sang bass. I cannot sight sing at all. I know the alto harmony to a few songs, but cannot do it naturally. I know a few chords on the guitar, use a capo proficiently, can hear when the chord changes, play righthand on the piano with left hand bass octaves, and can play the banjo and autoharp a little.

The grandkids show varying degrees of musical proficiency, but none has much desire. 2d probably is as good as she is because there was not much else to do. In any case, she can pick up an instrument and in a week or so can make music with it. Grit and determination play a big part in that, with lots and lots of musical technique added to the mix. None of us are prodigies. E is most likely to have the natural ability, but may never have the discipline to do anything with the talent. Her daddy plays the violin, accordion, guitar and I don't know what else and sang and played in a little band in England when he was young. Mostly in pubs, he said. He left his extra violin with them on a trip through last year, and 1s has been working on it. She hated all kinds of violin music for a while.

2d would like to get ahold of a viola and give it a try. She is likely to to pick up any instrument she sees that is at a yard sale and give it a try. She has a trombone 800 got for $40 and is fooling around with it a little. The orchestra she plays with would probably give her opportunity to do about anything she wanted as they are mostly made up of stringed instruments. She will be playing with her former violin teacher at one of the hospital Christmas tree festivals next week. Just some fiddle music as that is what ex-teacher likes best. The new violin teacher is more classically oriented and I could hear the difference Thursday when she played for me. Of course, I like gypsy and Gaelic violin style.

EE's devotional

newAutumn Leaves

previous - next