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Have you listened to any music? Have you sung a song or hummed a tune? You really should....
I didn't post a blog last Thursday....
You were on my mind, dear reader....but I had a MAJOR performance.....my first BIG SINGING GIG in a VERY LONG TIME.....I got to sing with THE MOST AMAZING TENOR EVER....No....not Placido Domingo.....but Bill Junker.....You haven't heard of him?
Bill Junker is the man who taught me to sing through life!
He's my dad....now 91 years of age....and he can still sing!
I don't remember much about my childhood....do you?
I do remember that my dad was always singing....He often sang hymns....and to this day I don't know how he knew them....he sang Protestant hymns like How Great Thou Art and Just a Closer Walk with Thee. We didn't sing those at Mass on Sundays.....
He sang Show Tunes....like....You'll Never Walk Alone and Climb Every Mountain.....
There were 8 children in my family....it was always noisy....and music seemed to be coming from some corner of the house throughout the day....Everyone played at least one instrument....During the 60's all of the kids and my parents would often gather in our LARGE living room to have a hootenanny.....Does anyone even know what that word means today?????
Instead of watching TV or playing video games....we sat together and sang--accompanied by the elder sisters on piano, guitar, banjo, and ukelele.....folk songs, mostly....
Singing was a usual form of expression and communication for me....doesn't everyone sing....every day....all the time????
It is COMPLETELY normal for me to burst into song in the middle of a sentence....Some of my colleagues in the ministry have deemed me The Singing Preacher.....not because I sing a song before I preach (like most NORMAL preachers who sing)....I burst into songs as I preach....
Music is a form of praise......God likes us to sing to Him....and to sing about Him....Psalm 69:30 says I will praise the name of God with a song.....
I have sung myself through life....Singing praise to God.....and singing the songs of life.....
Songs of life....I sang songs to put my kids to bed, to wake them, to ride in the car....I wrote songs for them to memorize Scriptures....I even wrote a song for one of them to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution!
Music made learning easier....
It made dealing with the problems of life easier too........when I have needed to "buck up" and deal with difficulties, I have often found myself singing songs in the shower that I learned from my dad.....
You'll Never Walk Alone (From Carousel)
When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm is a golden sky, and the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone.
I've burst into tears more than once while singing "You'll Never Walk Alone"......but it always encourages me....that God is with me and I will make it through whatever storm I may be facing....
When I was facing insurmountable odds....I would sing Climb Every Mountain from the Sound of Music....It would inspire me to push forward....keep moving....don't stop...don't look back.... Here's a clip of my dad and me singing that very song last week at the Care Facility....(I only wish I could've sung those high notes more pianissimo.....I'm out of practice!)
There are lots of psychological studies that prove the power of music....it affects your mind...your emotions....your soul......
I encourage you, dear reader....to sing!!!! Sing songs of praise to God....and sing the songs of life!!
Your emotions will calm, you soul will be encouraged, and your mind will be sharpened!
Music will empower and embolden you to do things that you never thought you could do!
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra said, “He who sings scares away his woes.”
I concur.
