Anchors in time

These songs are so firmly intertwined with specific points in my life that when I hear any of them, I’m immediately immersed in the past.

Christopher Cross—any song from his first album but especially Sailing. I was married, pregnant and living in another country and my husband had moved out. I pretty much can’t listen to this album any more because when I hear it, I'm 20 and alone and scared to death.




Michael Jackson—Billy Jean. I was 23, pregnant with my second child and seriously wondered if I was too old to be liking this song and album the way I did. Yeah, at 23.




Supertramp—Breakfast in America. I played this album on auto-repeat all summer that year. I was stationed in New Jersey near the shore, and went there every chance I got. I still know all the words to all the songs.




Andy Hunter—Exodus, especially this song, Go. I got into Andy’s music through Pandora the summer of 2009. Fortunately, his music isn’t tied to us being flooded; instead I found his songs comforting and uplifting without being at all preachy. That’s a hard line to walk.




Fleetwood Mac—Rumors, specifically You Make Loving Fun. My sisters loved the opening bars of this song and that’s what I think of every time I hear it.




Achy Breaky Heart. I know, I know. But I learned to line dance in 1993 to this song, and I had a blast line dancing. I still don’t care for country music though.



Debby Boone—You Light Up My Life. This is a two-fer. I played this song as part of my prepared audition piece when I auditioned for the Army band. Yeah well I was 17, so that explains that. The other reason this one sticks in my head is that I had to sing it at a dear friend’s wedding in the mid-1980s. I’m not sure why my friend wanted that song so much, but she did and so I sang it.




And one final look back. This one is from Atlanta Rhythm Section and I adored this song in high school. Also it's a good palate cleanser after Debby.

My mother gave me music

And she may not even realize it.

I have vivid memories from my childhood of my mother playing Scheherazade Op. 35.

She, my little brother and I would dance like fiends—she’d told us the story behind the music, so we knew the movements were stories. I especially loved the first movement (The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship) but would dance to all of it.



Being so little, I didn’t know the names of any of the instruments; I remember asking my mother what made that smooth sound, the one that went like so (and I moved my hands back and forth horizontally). I’d never seen a violin, so I didn’t know about bows or strings or anything else. I just knew the sound was smooth.

I didn’t care for the clarinet, but loved, loved, loved the flute—so much so that when I was a little older and could join band, I chose the flute. I didn’t yet know about the oboe and wouldn’t for a few years yet, but I never regretted playing the flute.

Later on, the fact that I knew how to play the flute saved me from having to march with cymbals when my Army band marched in parades—that’s the normal fate of double reed players and I’m here to tell you that cymbals are heavy, boring and hard on the hands. I played piccolo instead, and that was an absolute blast.

Anyway—I don’t know that I would have been so insistent on playing flute without that early exposure to music. Years later, I did much the same thing for my kids and I’ve always wondered if they remember hearing Scheherazade and if it’s as good a memory for them as it is for me.

Hope I'm not the only one

When I find a song I like, I tend to play it over and over and over. I dissect each line of harmony in my head and sing it until I get it completely. I did that with Super Strong by Max Sedgley (on the Jalapeno Funk Vol 2 CD) because the bass line absolutely enthralled me. I couldn’t and still can’t get enough of it. That bass line is amazingly good and addictive. Here’s an unofficial video so you can hear what I’m talking about.




My current obsession is—of all things—Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Marrs—and wow. I have just started that deconstruction process and there’s a ton in there. I just love this song and I hope you enjoy it too.

Sounds of the season

What is your favorite Christmas song? Mine stay fairly constant year in and year out, and are almost always traditional. Past contenders have included Breath of Heaven, usually a version of Carol of the Bells and if it’s particularly clever, then something traditional done with a twist.

My top three this year fall mostly in the traditional category.

First up, this amazing a capella version of Carol of the Bells by the group Straight, No Chaser. Their voices and harmonies give me goose bumps every time I hear it.



Next is this non-traditional version of O Holy Night. I can't exactly put my finger on why I love this version so much; maybe it's the way the line  and the soul felt its worth comes out. I am moved every time.



Finally, the one everyone’s been talking about—Mary, Did You Know? Pentatonix did this and if you aren’t familiar with their music, go Google them on You Tube and prepare to be amazed. I also like this song and this one.



And just for fun, here’s Straight, No Chaser’s version of the 12 Days of Christmas—makes me laugh every time.

A few of my favorite things

One of my friends on Facebook asked what our favorite Christmas songs or carols are. And I couldn’t just give a title. There are reasons these songs make my tops list,

Little Drummer Boy. In 7^th grade, I switched from playing flute to oboe which was probably the best musical decision I ever made. I know I’m not the only one to believe that personalities and instruments have to match. If you like being in a group, you should play something like flute, clarinet, violin or viola. If you don’t mind standing out, or even positively want to stand out, then consider the double reeds – oboe, English horn, bassoon. So the oboe was a good fit for me.

Every year, the junior high advanced band would play Little Drummer Boy at the Christmas concert (this was when Moby Dick was a minnow so the concerts were still called that), and that arrangement had an oboe duet right at the beginning. Now I’d only been playing oboe for about six or seven weeks so I was still really learning what it meant to be a double reed player, and I wasn’t in the advanced band, I was in the beginner band. But the advanced band had just one oboist so I was tapped to play second oboe in that piece. I’m sure we sounded like dying ducks but I was so exhilarated by playing that piece and so convinced of my pure awesomeness on the oboe that I never looked back.

Breath of Heaven. I heard this piece about 20 years ago on Amy Grant’s second Christmas album and along with most CCM listeners, was captivated by the words and the melody. Amy has said before that she’s not the best singer and knows there are other artists out there who are far more talented than she, but to me her voice fits this piece perfectly. I love that she’s singing from the perspective of a young, scared, very pregnant Mary wondering why she was picked to be the mother of Christ and whether or not she can actually do it.

‘twas da Night: Take 6 did an amazing version of this old favorite which made me laugh out loud the first time I heard it and hasn’t stopped being entertaining since. Plus they’re just amazing vocalists.

Carol of the Bells. I flat out love this song whether it’s done as an instrumental or vocal version.

Chant Noel. OK, this isn’t one song, it’s an entire Christmas CD put out by the Benedictine Monks about 20 years ago as a follow up to their first CD. I don’t know Latin at all but I still love this CD and it’s on my Christmas playlist.

And here's something I posted on Facebook yesterday, which is well worth the four minutes it takes to watch:

What about you? What are your favorite Christmas songs?

The School of Music

I stumbled across this link about the Navy School of Music; it covers not only the Navy's music history but also the Marines and Army. The Air Force and Coast Guard aren't included because they don't send their members to any of the joint schools. When I enlisted, the SOM was at Little Creek, VA and so was the amphibious warfare school. Talk about a contrast in military purpose! The course also lasted six months, although I was able to advance out.

The structure then included an incoming audition, an audition halfway through and a final audition, and they were scored on a four point scale. We also took ear training, theory and of course a lot of performance. I did OK on the incoming audition (took me years to get over audition nerves) but I blew the mid-term one out of the water. That qualified me to shave two months off my time there since I achieved higher than the required final score on that mid-term score. But I had to cram three months' worth of theory and ear training into four weeks plus prep and play that final audition.

Unlike a lot of my friends at the SOM, I had learned no theory before joining the Army. Ear training was not hard at all but the theory was all new to me. So it was a very busy last four weeks.

Reading over that article made me appreciate my time in service even more. It's kind of cool to think my military service connects me to Percy Grainger (Lincolnshire Posey, ah how fun you were to play) and Arthur Fiedler.