A Singing Family

The only thing better than singing is more singing - Ella Fitzgerald

I was brought up in a singing family. I'm not talking opera. I'm not even talking always being able to carry a tune. I'm talking bursting into song and singing out loud together. Whether we were riding in the car, at home on a Saturday night with friends and family or busy doing chores, someone was always singing or whistling. There was music in our household and we made it.

Neither of my parents could read music, but they both played guitars, strumming tunes and changing chords. No sheet music, all by ear. So it was only natural, I guess, that though my sister and I both learned how to read music along the way and took various music lessons, it was the singing that survived.

There's something about singing that calms me; that moves me and makes me happy. No matter what my mood, I can always sing. My mother told me I couldn't “carry a tune in a bucket”, but no matter. I sing from my heart, carrying a tune is irrelevant (unless you're on the listening end!).

Lin's husband, Kerry, plays in a garage band. He's got a whole musical set-up in their basement and at the least amount of prodding, we can talk him into accompanying the Lemay Girls into pre-ordained medleys of songs, old and new. We sing pretty much anything and usually at the top of our lungs although the microphones work perfectly well. We probably disturb their neighbors for miles.

Though my Mom is not doing very well health-wise and her breathing is labored much of the time, we can still coax a tune out of her. Lin or I start an old family favorite and Bea chimes right in, singing the lyrics and the tune just as we did in the old days. She still reprimands us when the harmony isn't just right.

I downloaded a free karaoke program and lots of popular tunes and on occasion if we're in a very secluded anchorage, just us … I can get David to sit and sing with me. The captain doing karaoke … who ever heard of such a thing? I promised I wouldn't rat on him, so please, don't tell anyone.

Do you sing in the car, in the shower, while you're working? It's good for the soul.