As America celebrates Memorial Day today, I’m reflecting on how live music has disappeared from most of our social gatherings. Many of my older (70-85 year old) piano students remember a time when someone, an aunt, an uncle, or cousin, invariably brought their guitar or accordion to family gatherings and livened up the event.
They played pop songs of the day, traditional tunes from the family’s cultural background, and perhaps even a dance or two (The Tarantella, Twist and Shout,etc). And the gathering often included a singalong. (Can you imagine that happening today???)
Now I’m no Luddite (as I type this on my desktop), and I certainly don’t want to set back the clock to the “good old days,” but wouldn’t it be great if we brought some of this musical life back into our family gatherings? Especially on holidays?
Let’s plan ahead: Visualize your next holiday and make a decision to play a little music when everyone’s together. Don’t force it on anyone. You don’t even have to turn the TV off 🙂 Just find an appropriate time to sit down at the piano and play a few tunes. Or take out that acoustic guitar you have lying around and strum a few chords. Or play your flute or saxophone. Perhaps a young niece or nephew will take and interest and sit down beside you. Perhaps an elderly relative will relax to your beautiful sounds. Maybe your cousin will sing along on the chorus. Either way, it’s a win-win situation, guaranteed to make your holiday even more special.
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