Sharing Memories Week 15: A Special Song

Sharing Memories is a series of weekly prompts to help all genealogists (including me!) with writing up memories of our ancestors and our childhood. 

We all love to find a diary or letters written by great grandma or grandpa where they talk about their lives and share their memories. Think how excited one of your descendants will be to read about your memories and your stories! These stories will be lost after a few generations unless we preserve them. And what better way than in a weekly themed post. 

This week's prompt is "A Special Song", a song you loved as a teenager. What music was popular when you were young? What did your parents listen to? What bands or groups did you ooh and aww over? 

We didn't have a radio or record player until I was about 9 or 10 years old as my mother always wrinkled her nose in disgust when she heard music and would emphatically state to anyone who would listen, "I hate music!" After my father bought a player, he got several 33LP records (remember those?) of musical show such as Oklahoma and South Pacific. I soon learned all the songs and my favourite was "Happy Talk" from South Pacific. Dad also had lots of Irish crooners and an album by George Formby which he listened to constantly. I loved the song on that album "Does your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavour.."

When I was 10 I chose to have my own record player rather than the bicycle which was tradition in our family. At the age of 10 each of my siblings got a bike but I wanted to be able to listen to music. My mother was shocked but she begrudgingly went along with my choice. I was so thrilled when my little plastic record player with plastic records arrived!
My bedroom became my haven and I'd sit and play my records over and over. 

I was a teen in the 60s so of course The Beatles were a huge impact then! But I have to be honest and say I preferred The Rolling Stones.When I was a young teen I started off listening to folk music - Ian and Sylvia, The Mamas and Papas,  and other similar groups but it didn't take long before I was heavily into The Stones, Jefferson Airplane, The Animals, The Doors and other "edgier" groups.  

I still love music and even though I'm a "senior" I try to keep up with what's new and what's happening in the music world. The gals where I get my hair done chuckle over my iTunes songs in my playlist as it's quite a mixture of songs by such artists as  Shinedown, One Republic, Dashboard Confessional, Adele, Ed Kowalczyk, Pit Bull, Walk off the Earth, Flo Rida, Hedley, Hawksley Workman, The Killers, Jazmine Sullivan, Lady GaGa, Elton John, Maroon 5, Mary J. Blige, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Santana, Shawn Mullins, Sting, TIna Turner, Sublime, Velvet Revolver, Melissa Etheridge, Green Day and many more. 

Credits: "Music Card" by digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Oompah, Oompah, Oom pah pah....

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is “Musical Instruments!”

Do you play a musical instrument or did one of your family members? What instrument did you or they play?

This Carnival seemed intriguing. I started thinking about my ancestors and realized I had no idea if any of them played a musical instrument! My father played harmonica, and I used to love sitting and listening to him. But did his parents or grandparents play anything? His grandfather whittled a wistle from a piece of wood and that whistle was passed on down in the family.

I figure that someone somwhere way back did play because I could hardly wait to get into High School so I could take Music and play in the High School Band. I'd been desperate for piano lessons since I was very little and a friend's mother taught me a few simple songs one week when I stayed at their home for a summer holiday. What a joy that was to me! But I never got to take those lessons as we were very poor and there simply was not any extra money for such things.

In High School I took French Horn. I wanted to play drums but that was only for the boys, so I opted for that shiny beautiful brass instrument. I have to admit I was somewhat disapponted as all the French Horns got to play was the alternate beat. Oomp. Pause. Oomp. Pause... and so on.

But I played for 6 years and was in the band. We travelled all over, won some competitions too. I can still remember the notes for some of the songs. In my last year, we made a record - an L.P. 33RPM. Wow, talk about dating myself! I still have the record!

I took guitar lessons - classical as well as folk, when I was in my late 20s. I didn't want to play classical but my guitar teacher encouraged me to do both and once I started, I loved it! I eventually dropped folk and stuck with classical. I was never much good but I sure loved playing. That stopped though as my arthritis worsened, it was too difficult to move my fingers fast enough or far enough to sound decent.

When I was in my 30s I decided I'd try the recorder, so I taught myself to play. We've all heard the screeching sound of a woodwind badly played by children, but if a recorder is played well it is quite pretty. Recorders were popular in medieval times - perhaps one of my English ancestors played one! I wanted to play duets so I learned the alto recorder too, then taught my husband to play the soprano recorder (usually what we hear if only one is being played). We made some great music together!

I never did get to learn piano but music has been a pretty part of my life. No one else in my family plays or is interested in playing any kind of musical instrument so I have to believe that one or more of my ancestors did play an instrument. I just wonder who it was and what they played. I have a vague memory of my father playing the spoons and I like to imagine my Irish McGinnis ancestors sitting around playing the spoons or a fiddle, neither of which I was able to master!

I think musical interest and talent is genetic to some degree, as my son is a very talented guitar player. He started lessons at age 13 (classical and instrumental) and at the age of 15 he was hired by a local restaurant to play Classical guitar for their customers once a week. He began composing classical music and bought his own recording equipment to record his songs. My cousin is also a very talented guitar player and singer whose band is doing well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talented at all - but I do love making music. My son and cousin however must have some genetic musical DNA from a distant musically talented ancestor.