From my first memories, there was music in our house. Dad was very proud of his record collection and always had a state-of-the-art system to play them on. It was not unusual on any Saturday morning to hear the sounds of Scottish Highland Bagpipes, the cannons booming in 1812 Overture or other classical music being played loud enough to not only wake up everyone in our house, but many neighbors as well. We were introduced to instruments with the classic Peter and the Wolf. And we also had a 78 rpm record of the Nutcracker Suite with words to the songs - something that I've not heard since.
We used to love one particular record that was molded in several colors of swirling vinyl. We called it the "color record" and it was actually a demo of a new technology called Stereo. When placed on the turntable, waves of sound would bounce around the room as an announcer proclaimed "THIS IS STEREO-O-O-O!!" Then the sound of a huge freight train would chug from one side of the room to the other, blowing it's loud whistle and steam as it sped by. I don't know what comprised the rest of the recording, but it was played so often I know I'd know it if I heard it.
As I mentioned before, my Dad traveled for business a lot when we were growing up. One positive thing that came of his absence was that sometimes his trips took him to New York. He would often go to see the latest Broadway show, and bring the soundtrack album home. Dad would gather us to listen to the music as he narrated the story taking place between the songs (G-rating the seedier parts, of course). We all became familiar with many musicals including The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, The King & I, Camelot, Flower Drum Song, Carousal and South Pacific. Imagine Mom's dismay as we marched around the house singing "don't get caught, that's the crime" from Irma Le Douce or "be kind to your parents, though they don't deserve it" from Fanny. As movies were made of these and other new stories, albums were added including Oliver!, Mary Poppins, Bye Bye Birdie, and Funny Girl.
During the week, we would play all this music as much as possible, even though we weren't supposed to touch Dad's stereo. In our minds, we were a modern day Von Trapp family. Most of us knew the words to every song and sometimes we'd even act out the story. We certainly had enough players to cover the main roles of any Broadway cast.
I remember acting out Mary Poppins for my parents and Grandma Homcho. When we got to "I Love to Laugh" Ricky (about 5, playing Uncle Albert) got them laughing so hard they were crying, and I'm not sure my normally prim and proper Grandmother made it to the bathroom in time.
The favorite gift my parents ever gave me was a little portable record player. Now I could listen to records without fear of hurting Dad's equipment. It also brought new music into my life, as the British Invasion was in full swing. I loved the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five and the non-British Monkees. I would spend several hours a day learning the words to even more songs and practice singing to music new and old.
Of course there was always singing in church and when I was in about 6th grade, I joined the choir. It was made up of both children and adults and we sang beautiful harmonies to the otherwise dry chants and responses of the Catholic Mass. Since Dad had to drive me to rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, he also joined the choir and brought his beautiful bass harmony to the group. To this day when I hear certain pieces of music, especially at Christmas, I can hear Dad's strong, clear voice.
Dad also taught us many songs, serious and silly. We were each assigned to sing an instrument line for a piece called The Orchestra Song. Dad modified a few lines so even the smallest of us could have a part. When it came together it was magic (even if most of us had our fingers in our ears to keep on track with our part). The song was eventually retired until Barbie went to college and tracked down the sheet music. It was used in the background of the movie "You've Got Mail." We never got to sing that song with Dad again, but it was revived for his CT memorial, with every person in attendance taking part.
To this day, music is part of our lives. We still sing anytime we are together (when appropriate). Singing Edelweiss at Mom and Barbie's memorials, or the Orchestra Song at Dad's is certainly unconventional, but it brought us together in our memories of these wonderful people and showed our children how a big family can find peace even in sad times. Edelweiss, Edelweiss, Bless my Family Forever.
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