Between yesterday and this morning a wonderful memory returned to me.
In spring of 1st grade I wrote a song. No, I composed a song at the piano. I didn't know yet how to write it down. All that year our wonderful Mexican-American teacher gathered us around and we all sang while she played guitar. We sang songs we all knew. We learned new songs, including a number of songs in Spanish. Making music together was an integral part of every school day.
When I walked in the classroom one morning and confided to Mrs. Green that I had made up a song, she gave me a big smile and asked if I would share it with the class. Just like that. Mrs. Green asked me to print the lyrics on the board. That was already a thrill. The song was my version of The Sugar Plum Tree, using just the first two lines from the "real" poem, then making up the rest of the words, and then finding a melody that seemed just right.
When all the children had arrived, we started the day with me plunking out the tune at the piano while teaching it to my class. And then we all sang it together. Wow. I have similar memories of other children piping up with an idea and our teacher encouraging the child and the idea to bloom, that we might all share. Mrs. Green, I love you. (I was so happy, fifty years later, to have a reunion with Elena Green and to be able to share vivid memories of my time with her. We even sang together again!)
What are the forces that gather in our world today to diminish the opportunities for young people of all ages to be primary creators? Don't get me wrong. Recreation is vital for us all. Soccer and swimming and playing tag and playing pretend, these are key ingredients for learning and healthy growth. Yet, when we sing together, we're making music. When a child picks up a musical instrument and gets some help with those mighty first steps of drawing real music from the instrument, something unique and of lifelong importance happens.
When we stand together and, with music in hand and head and a leader to guide us, raise our voices in harmony, we are sublimely human. And then, when we attend live performances of music pro's -- be it a rock festival or the philharmonic-- we are more than consumers, for we then know that the music is within us all. The invisible sound waves quiver our innards, we resonate both physically and emotionally, we are brought together.
Yes, I'm grateful for my headphones and earbuds. Sometimes I want to experience (with my ridiculously eclectic taste) music that those sharing my space might not choose. I can dance around the room, croon along or just close my eyes and dwell utterly in the music.
We need to make more music. In families. In classrooms. At sports games. At rallies. In church. On the bus! I believe that the positive effects of vibrating together, of blending and listening and joining in, clapping along, humming, singing out --- this all is being in our world, as one, right now, for real.