Music and Family

 For this Music and Family blog, I chose to interview my mom. She is in her 50’s and was able to experience the famous 80’s and 90’s first hand! I had an amazing time with this interview and I am excited to tell you about some of the things I learned. So, first of all, my mom played the flute both through her middle school, high school, and college years. My mom was part of the marching band at her school and at one point played the piccolo. She explained that it was a release of her stress when she played her instrument. In fact, when I was in 5th grade I was also interested in playing the flute and I was able to play hers. Being able to play the flute that she played was special to me because I knew I was playing for her. 

Secondly, my mom explained that her music taste has definitely changed throughout the years. When she was younger, she loved Journey the most. She actually went to tow of their concerts and had the time of her life. Now, as she has aged her preferred music to listen to is country or the music artist Daughtry. Some of her favorite country artists are Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, and Carrie Underwood. However, one of her favorite songs that we make sure we always play during the Christmas holidays is Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg. (the song is linked underneath) Now, this song means a lot to me because it brings past memories back to life. One year, my sister who is a music therapist learned to play it on the piano and we were able to all sing it together as a family. 

While growing up, my mom said that her family was not really musically inclined. Although, her Great Uncle Sherman had a harmonica, and that is where she found her love for music too. He would always play it with her. In fact, he taught my brother, who is the oldest, how to play the harmonica, and he still has the harmonica Great Uncle Sherman passed down to him. 

The last thing that I want to talk about is a tune that my entire family knows and we do not fully know where it comes from. The score for the tune is attached below. The below notes are from a whistle my mom’s dad always performed whenever he was doing any work, or just walking around the house. To my family and cousins we just call it Popie’s melody and for so many years my mom and us grew up around this tune. So, when my grandfather passed away, my sister was able to score the music and she sent the notes to all of my family. This has been one way that music has affected my family. Whenever we are stressed, we are able to hum or whistle this tune and it kind of resets our life. So, even though music is not a huge part of my mom’s life, it still holds a lot of power like this melody.