Who doesn't like a parade? I am a parade's biggest fan. I am ready to hop on that bandwagon and play along with them! Ditto a band in general. I love bands, love orchestras, love choirs, and mostly, LOVE to be in them. There is nothing finer, let me tell you, than getting together with some fellow musicians and having a great time making music together!
My family is chock full of musicians. If we put together the full Reese-Webster contingent we might possibly be able to rival the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (Certainly in spirit.) At Christmas time, we like to gather and sing Handel's Messiah. Not the Hallelujah Chorus, silly, the ENTIRE thing. It takes upwards of 2.5-3 hours (depending on food and visiting in between). It is a marathon that is not always popular with the inlaws and inlaws-to-be, but it's just something we do. Period. For years my sister Barb would play the entire piano accompaniment for us. (More on my gifted sister Barb in a future writing...) After she passed away, the CD accompaniment was never quite right. But we go on.
Bands, orchestras...we (Paul & I) required of our three kids that they must take some sort of music every semester in high school. I loved it! Orchestra and choir concerts every semester. And now they have graduated. I hope they continue in their musical skills and interests.
A very generous gift was sent our way this weekend, and Paul and I attended the Symphony in the Flint Hills. Once a year, some ranch in the Flint Hills region of Kansas (Google it!) hosts the Kansas City Orchestra on their ranch property. This summer the concert was at the Doyle Creek Ranch near Florence, Kansas. 3000 people in attendance. You must sit and try to imagine the logistics of the people and parking, and all other human problems. The site was amazing: tents on the 30,000 acre prairie, rolling hills, gorgeous 80 degree weather, food and drink, families, music enthusiasts, ranchers, and great music!
For those composer enthusiasts out there, we heard Grofé, 2 Copelands, Dvořák, and Bernstein. Out beyond the orchestra shell there were cowboys riding the range for our visual aid to the music. It worked! To hear The Red Pony and see the horses out loping in the grassy hills made the evening such a bouquet of imagination!
At the concert, husband Paul & I were settled in our seats when a trio came and sat down beside us. I pegged them immediately, being married to such: the man was wearing a pair of boots peculiar to Australia (and to our tiny Armstrong neck of the Wabaunsee woods..). After the last song, I turned and asked them where they were from? Australia was the answer. Ah! I was right! A fun evening commenced. It turns out this fellow and his wife are Aussie ranchers in WA (Western Autralia) and were visiting ranches here in Kansas for two weeks. They use helicopters to ranch their 3.5 million acres!
A few months ago I overheard a conversation between grandfather (the former band director) and granddaughter (the violinist). He was telling her to keep up with her violin and her music. She took his wise admonishment to heart, and also took her violin back to college with her the next semester.
As for me, I haul out the flute on occasion. (ALWAYS on the 4th of July to play the piccolo part of Starts and Stripes...makes my family crazy.) Our piano is there for the playing. The guys play their guitars regularly. I cannot imagine what it must be like to not know music.
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done
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