Music Soothes the Soul  

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My 12 year old son is in choir. He had a "concert" this evening for the last time in 6th grade. He has a wonderful voice, but has decided that he doesn't like to sing around the family. He only sings at choir practice and for performances. I'm not sure what brought about the change, but he has been that way for a couple of years now.

He was 5 years old when we realized he had a really good musical ear. He has great pitch and actually hits the notes he is trying to hit unlike his father who couldn't sing his way out of a paper sack. Cameron used to sing country songs for us and dance while he was singing them. He was quite the entertainer. At 6 years old he had memorized a dozen Toby Keith Songs and could sing them at the drop of a hat. He would try to get everybody to gather around in the family room and then he would bring out his cd player or the karaoke machine and blast out "Wanna Talk about Me", or "Beer for my Horses". He knew other music as well and developed a taste for listening to classical music. He told me that he wanted to play sax or guitar. As of now he has a guitar but hasn't learned it. He lost interest in learning to play music but has kept his interest in learning songs from his music teacher.

So tonight was his teacher's final concert. After 42 years of teaching music the guy is retiring. He deserves a break and although he will be sorely missed, we are happy for him. So the choir sang their songs one of them being "Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. They did a commendable job. It's very relaxing for me to hear a group of people sing in tune. Of course it's also nice if you can actually hear the kids singing.

I have raised 3 boys and understand that when children are young they can be cranky, messy, noisy, whiney, smelly, gassy, and every other "y" you can name. BUT that doesn't mean that everybody else should have to share those things with my child. When my kids got to being noisy or irritating they would be outside with me until they could calm down and not disturb the other people that came to watch their children perform. I call that common courtesy. Just because I wanted kids, doesn't mean that the person sitting next to me wanted my kids too.

Tonight there were a lot of people that decided everybody should get to enjoy their child's noisy nature. This was of course at the expense of missing a good portion of the program. I couldn't believe that people are that unconcerned with anyone else but themselves that they couldn't take the few minutes it would have taken to walk their child outside to calm them down. I guess things are different.

So my kid finished his program and he was happy and excited that he got to do it. I look forward to the years ahead as he has already told me he wants to continue with choir and has even considered drama. I didn't take drama in school because I thought I was too cool. I have held that regret for years. I tell my kids not to worry about what other people MIGHT think. They should try it if they think it might be interesting. So here's hoping for many more years of choir and maybe band and hopefully high school drama class!!

BTW...I have not had the time to get my pictures from 6th grade camp downloaded yet. I will do that this weekend and give you guys some pretty pics of some great landscape (hopefully).

This entry was posted at Thursday, May 27, 2010 and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

10 comments

All my kids had beautiful singing voices. They allowed me to hear them, until they got self conscious. (usually around Jr. High) I miss that. Now it's the grandkids and I love it, so much, even when it's off key!

May 27, 2010 at 10:04 PM

I also cannot sing so I feel ya! I hate that people cannot have the common courtesy to excuse themselves and their child until manners can be practiced.

May 28, 2010 at 2:31 AM

How very cool that your son is a singer! Maybe he will have a lucrative career out of it, so that he can support you in the manner in which you are accustomed to in your old age.
Or, more importantly, that he has a career that he really enjoys!

May 28, 2010 at 7:33 AM

Kids that sing are the coolest! Sounds like he had quite a teacher.

May 28, 2010 at 3:22 PM

The singers always get the chicks too!

Any video of the performance?

May 28, 2010 at 4:00 PM

In case you haven't noticed...I'm not much on the whole video or picture thing....It's not that I don't enjoy watching them again..It's just that I get too absorbed into the show to remember to record...

May 29, 2010 at 9:04 AM

One of my best friends was in choir, she loved it and looks back on the experience fondly.

I've noticed that more and more, people don't seem to give a crap if their kids are disruptive... It is annoying. I know they're going to make some noise, I know I did, but it's an epidemic these days.

May 30, 2010 at 5:45 PM

My daughter is like that. She and her high school choir went to the state finals and she had a marvelous solo. But ask her to do karaoke at home and fagedaboudit! I guess I'm too intimidating! LOL!

May 30, 2010 at 6:15 PM

"Just because I wanted kids, doesn't mean that the other person wanted my kids too" that is SO funny and well-said! I wish I had your son's perfect pitch, because singing-wise, I think I'm a lot more like you..like I said before, we should try a karaoke duet someday!;)

May 31, 2010 at 3:53 PM

It really bugs me when I go to a school concert and people bring small, noisy children with them who scream and shout their way through the performance!

June 1, 2010 at 10:59 AM

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