Look to your past and find your musical genealogy

Knowing and understanding our past helps us in the present. Making sense of moments in world history, we learn from humanity’s past mistakes and strive to do better or, just differently, in the future. We can also learn from the successes and continue that which was beneficial.

Genealogy, the study of family history, is a more personal way to understand the past and thereby know ourselves more completely. This knowledge of the past helps us be more fully present in our daily lives.

Visiting in the parlor room

I enjoy a phone visit with my parents each week. We live 3,000 miles apart and the phone line has become our parlor room. Our weekly calls enable us to maintain a rich, loving relationship. Our conversations often lead to stories of the past, whether it is a story about mom’s grandmother or dad’s great uncle or some other ancestor.

Singing and playing musical instruments was quite common among my forebears. One hundred years ago, music was an integral part of family life. Children sang in educational and sacred settings, and took piano lessons. Adults played in community orchestras and bands or sang in casual groups. I suspect when you ask your parents and extended family about their musical experiences, you will hear some great stories. Today, I learned a little more about my musical genealogy.

On my mother’s side…

My great grandmother had five children and encouraged, well, made them each take up an instrument. That’s them in the photo above. The eldest, my grandfather, played violin and sang soprano in a boys choir. The youngest, my great uncle Hans, played the saxophone. Great uncle Tony played the trombone.

My grandfather then passed that love of music on to my mother and all her siblings. Uncles Bob, Fred, and Allen all sang in community variety shows and in college glee clubs. As a matter of fact, it was in college glee club where my uncle Allen became friends with a young tenor named Jim.

Allen and Jim became friends and went out on double dates together. On one of those double dates, Allen invited his sister, Loretta, to be Jim’s date. Loretta and Jim hit it off pretty well; well enough to continue dating and eventually marry.

And that’s how my parents met; brought together through music. Not only do I have many ancestors with musical backgrounds, you might say music gave me life! If not for glee club, … well, I don’t want to think about it.

And on my father’s side…

There is a fair amount of music experience on my dad’s side too. Not only did Dad sing tenor in glee club, he also played violin as a boy. His aunt Alice was a music teacher and a Catholic nun. When Sister Rose Madeline visited my family, she would pass out sheet music to us kids and conduct us in song. Since my sister, Mary Beth, and I both played instruments and had some musical experience, Sister Rose expected us to be able to sight-read the harmony part. But we couldn’t. At least not yet.

Let’s Have A Singalong!

Family gatherings of all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins always had some singing. After a meal, song lyrics were handed out, sometimes some sheet music too, and we’d sing. As Mary Beth and I got older, we accompanied the singers on flute and saxophone.

Mission Possible

Alright, readers, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to explore your musical genealogy. Ask your parents, grandparents, cousins – any living relatives:

1. What musical experiences did you have growing up?
2. Which instrument (or voice) did you play?
3. Tell me a story about music when you were in grade school.
4. What’s your most intense musical memory from your twenties?
5. What is your favorite song or piece of music?
6. What song did you dance to at your wedding?

For my parents, it was Wonderful One by Paul Whiteman. At their 50th anniversary party, Mary Beth and I performed a vocal and sax arrangement of this song for them.

Comment now

What’s your musical genealogy? I invite you to share your stories with me and the readers of Musician’s Motivator. Make a comment on my blog or drop me an email: meg@meggrace.com.

Thanks for reading! The next edition of Musician’s Motivator will be out on Wednesday, February 24, 2010.

If you liked this, you may also want to read:

• The Amateur Of Music And Beginner’s Mind
• Blueprint to Brilliance
• Who, Me? Creative?