Jamming with the Generations

Image via Wikipedia

I come from a musical family. My mom, Isabel, played the piano, accordion, trombone, and violin. She sang solos at church. When she was younger, she was in a Gilbert & Sullivan production of the Pirates of Penzance. My dad, Don, met my mom at a Bible camp. He heard someone playing the accordion and followed the sound to discover my mom there.

Image via Wikipedia

My mom came from a musical family. I remember listening to her sister, Elsie, singing with a Sweet Adelines group. One of my mom's prized possessions was an ornately carved upright piano. This piano was inherited by her dad from his father (B. P. Richardson). Since my great grandfather died in 1910, the piano is more than 100 years old.

As I was growing up, I took piano lessons and practiced on this beautiful piano. My five younger brothers and sisters also learned to play with this piano. Each of my siblings also learned to play another musical instrument (euphonium, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and flute). We would gather around the piano and play and sing. My mom was so delighted with her musical children.

Once I stopped taking piano lessons (when I was 15, in Grade 8 of Royal Conservatory Music), I continued to play the piano. I turned from playing classical music to popular music and church music. I practiced more once I ceased piano lessons than before. I was now playing whatever I wanted to play. Over the years since then, I have discovered such solace and comfort in playing the piano.

When we had our three children, I wanted them to learn to play the piano for their own enjoyment. All three took piano lessons. They also learned to play other instruments (trombone, flute, saxophone, and tuba). This year, when my daughter went to Ambrose University in Calgary, she took her flute with her. She joined an orchestra and began jam sessions with a small group of students. Prior to this, she had only played the notes on the page. Now she has learned to improvise.

When my daughter came home for Christmas, she kept asking us to jam with her. Finally we sat down to do this. My husband got out his guitar (which he hasn't played for over 20 years). My daughter played the flute. My son (the tuba player who doesn't own a tuba) and I team-played the piano. I sang. We ended up singing and playing our way through the entire Reader's Digest Christmas songbook. It was so much fun.

In the last few years of her life, my mom (who died in 1998) had difficulty with singing and playing the piano. She said that she was looking forward to playing the piano in heaven.

The other evening I thought of how delighted my mom, her father, and grandfather would have been to see the fruits of their musical gifts being expressed in joyous song in my living room. Maybe they were playing along in the heavenly realms (jamming with the generations).

Joy to the World. Merry Christmas to you. May you enjoy the gift of being with your family and loved ones at Christmas.

Music in my Life

Joni Mitchell via last.fm

A few years ago, I was driving down an Ontario highway and listening to CBC Radio. The DJ played two versions of Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell. Joni hails from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan although she has lived for many years in the United States.

This song is beautiful. I love the lyrics and the music. In the first video below, Joni sings this song in 1970 or so.



Joni sings the same song, Both Sides Now, in 2000 after thirty more years of life and living. Her voice is much rougher (I believe she is or was a smoker) but the depth of emotion and feeling is incredible.


That day, driving down the highway with my Dad, the DJ played both versions. What did I learn? "Life changes our song."

Earlier this year, in the early morning hours of May 8th, I sat at the bedside of my Dad, Don Sanders. Dad had just turned 86 a few days earlier. For the last 20 days of his life, Dad was in the hospital and we knew the end was near. My Dad was a man of faith who knew he was going home to see the Jesus he had served for most of his life. He was at peace.

On May 8th, my husband and I sat beside my Dad. I was playing a CD that my sister, Dorothea Dantouze, had made. (She now has some songs up on YouTube.) We were singing along with In the Sweet By and By.

Image by Ivan Makarov via Flickr

"There's a land that is fairer than day. And by faith we can see it afar. For the Father waits over the way. To prepare us a dwelling place there." "We shall meet on that beautiful shore." "And we'll sing on that beautiful shore. The melodious songs of the blessed."

My Dad's breathing was growing more and more shallow. Half-way through the song, my Dad stopped breathing. I've told many people, "Dad heard the beginning of the song with my sister (on CD), my husband and I singing here on earth. He heard the end of the song up in heaven with the angel choirs singing on the beautiful shore."

Last night we had a family birthday party for my daughter. We were gathered in the backyard around the firepit roasting marshmallows. Someone suggested that we should have a s

Image by JelleS via Flickr

ing-along. I started with Kumbayah. Then my daughter led us in a cool echo song. Next she suggested that we sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat as a round. I led out, then came my daughter, and lastly my son. Grandma, aunt, and cousins joined in. It was a beautiful summer evening and our harmonious melodies rose up to the stars.

Music plays a chord within me that nothing else can play. The best of music drills down within me to touch my soul--mind, emotions, and will. Music gives me a way to express my fears, joys, and sorrows.

How does music touch your life?