It’s funny how passing the half-century mark can prompt a person to think about what is most important to them. As I look back on 50 years of life, there is no more important thread woven through it all than Singing. And I have committed to singing a faculty recital this September- my first in several years- to celebrate exactly that. And wonder of wonders, I am already planning the recital although it’s a whole five months off. This is absolutely unprecedented for me and just underscores how much I’m coming to appreciate the place of singing and song in my life.
I suppose one might say that my singing career (and in particular my career as a church singer) began on the day of my baptism when my Aunt Marvel, evidently believing that it was improper to be baptized with a pacifier, plucked mine right out of my mouth just before the moment of sprinkling. I had been happy and quiet as a clam until that moment, when I expressed my displeasure with an ear-piercing scream which gave some indication of the ample lungs with which I’d been blessed. It wasn’t too much longer before I was singing along to the Sunday morning liturgy at the top of my lungs (I remember mom saying that I seemed to especially like the Kyrie with its rising melodic line on LO-O-O-ORD HAVE MERCY!) And not long after that, I was a frequent vocal soloist at various functions at church (I would have been four years old at the time) where I would sing songs like “Jesus Loves Me, This My Toe” – usually standing on the piano bench (like a podium) next to Joyce Farr, who would play for me- and the only stipulation from me was that there be no applause, because the sound of loud clapping stressed me out. (That’s an aversion which I’ve since outgrown.)
I started piano lessons when I was four – and was dabbling in organ by the age of seven – so singing started to be a bit crowded out by those other musical endeavors. (although singing was still important to me.) But it became front and center for me again when we moved to the town of Atlantic the summer after 8th grade. Little did I know that in that little town would be an extraordinarily gifted voice teacher, Cherie Carl, who would unlock the voice that I’d been given. I had some sense at the time that I was fortunate, but only much later did I profoundly realize that it was not commonplace for a first-class private voice teacher to reside in a little town of 8000 in the middle of Iowa. That she and I crossed paths as we did changed everything for me – and a life filled with singing ensued, a life for which I am tremendously thankful.
I love singing – and I am glad to have all kinds of people in my life who share that love, who inspire and delight me and remind me all over again what joy is to be found in singing. There are my siblings. There are my voice students- not only at Carthage but also the high school students I’m blessed to teach and who sing with such gusto. There are the singers in my senior choir at church . . . the singers in my Musici Amici group . . . my wife Kathy and her best friend Kate. . . my father-in-law and all of his barbershop buddies. . . Polly and her wonderful choirs at Tremper. . . and on and on the list could go. But I reserve a special place of honor for my nieces and nephews, who appear to love singing every bit as much as I do. Both my nephews, who are far more energetic, athletic boys than I ever was, are also wonderful singers- and I hope that as they grow older, they won’t fall away from singing the way so many boys do. (If I had to bet money, I would bet that singing will always be a part of their lives.) Aidan’s exploits have been quite remarkable for someone of her age, including the title role in “Annie,” among others- and there seems to be no limit to what she can do as a singer. Her younger sister Anna is a little shyer about singing but actually no less gifted and I hope we will hear much more singing from her in the years to come. And Lorelai’s singing has grown to include off-the-cuff composition. The other night I heard her over the phone as she spontaneously composed her own melodies to the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein. . . and just this evening I heard her improvise a lullaby for the “sick” stuffed dog that she and I were doctoring during a visit to her grandpa’s condo.
I used to think that the clearest, surest ticket to being a happy and fulfilled person was whether or not they loved to read- but now I’m starting to think that equal in importance is love of singing. As as someone who spends an incredible amount of time either singing or reading, I ought to be the happiest guy on earth. . . and I think I am! And when I sing my faculty recital this September (which I’ve just started to plan) I want it to be a commemoration of my lifelong love of singing and of the many reasons why I love singing. . . and why I always have and always will.
pictured above: this is a still from a very cute video of my nice Anna from a number of years ago, which happens to date from the time when her older sister Aidan was starring as Annie. Anna pretty much had all of the music in the show learned herself, and this video shows her singing a couple of her favorite songs for Randi. The funniest thing about the video is that she keeps getting stuck while singing “Tomorrow” – going back to the first verse over and over again instead of going on to the last verse and the big finale. It’s a good thing Randi managed to prompt her to finally jump to the finale or she might still be sitting on the Spencer’s lawn, singing “Tomorrow” in an endless loop. Anyway, what I remember more than anything about this video is the sheer joy with which she was singing.