Traveling through a Musical Time Machine


I thoroughly enjoy music.  I associate many memories with the sounds of a very specific melody, tone or rhythm. In a way my life has a soundtrack; it's just that I don't always hear it in the moment.

Some of my musical tastes evolved because I was that younger sibling of nine older children.  Yes, I grew up with the rock and roll of the 70s. The Moody Blues exemplify one band that my peers didn't know. But for me, one note of "Tuesday Afternoon" and I am a young boy again and dancing around in my childhood home.  It's better than the movies, because I am there; the closest thing to a time machine we can get.

In elementary school I thought my family might have been the only one who liked the band  STYX.  But one day during a Reading Is Fundamental party, Suzanne Arndt brought an album with "Sing for the Day."  I don't think I was brave enough to dance or anything, but I am fairly certain I was singing along with the joyous mandolin strumming and the two of us persuaded the teacher to play a bunch of songs from that album.

In junior high school I really got into playing the trumpet.  Jazz will always be music to my ear rather than the local basketball franchise. There were assemblies, solos, marching bands and bus trips.  I especially remember our school musical "The Mikado"; wagering with the music director that I could handle a more difficult original passage rather than a more simple arrangement he had put together.  I was so surprised when he gave me $5 when I did get it together.

Later in life, my now wife, then acquaintance, invited me to an All-Mozart Utah Symphony concert.  She was kind enough to allow me to accompany her again to a couple more concerts.  You could almost say that the magic of the Juilliard quartet playing Mozart, Carter and Ravel moved me to marriage.  Unless of course, you meet my wife who deserves the real credit.  But the music that makes the soundtrack of our lives certainly played a role.

I am grateful for quiet, patient and non-fighting children while we travel.  A big factor in familial harmony comes because we share the love of music.  Many are surprised when they accompany our family on trips.  We have never invested in a video player for our vehicles because we sing instead.  Now it is "Frozen", but "Les Miz" and the Beatles have all had their turns.  And though my wife cannot count "The Little Drummer Boy"as a favorite, "The Roches" version could help one of our boys find peace. He went from screaming to silence in 10 measures flat.

I'm glad my soundtrack lives in the form of memory and find great value in so much music.  I invite you to join with me and get out a record and relive a wonderful moment.

You will find your own time machine.


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