SING OUT, Louise!

Music has always been an important part of my life. I grew up surrounded by music. Both of my grandparents sang in the church choir, and I cannot ever remember a time that I have not sung. From age 3, I started in our church's cherub choir. My grandfather taught me all of the songs from The Sound of Music before I ever began school, and I sang my first solo, Away in a Manger, as a kindergarten student at St. Catherine's. I love music, and I love singing, and luckily, I have been told I have a talent for it. This statement must be true because I have actually been paid to sing on several occasions. The point is, music, and specifically singing is a huge part of me. All parents secretly hope that their children will like what they like, follow in their footsteps, so to speak. When my children were very small I wondered if they would possess this same talent and love for singing. Their father is also a very talented singer, and I imagined how awful it would be if they were not good at singing. All their lives they would be asked, "Can you sing like your mom or your dad?" and they would have to answer, "No" Fortunately both of them can answer that question in the affirmative. They both love to sing, and they CAN. My youngest, however, has a passion for it that one rarely sees in someone her age. In the words of her older sister, "She sings like an angel." I have blogged about her voice before when she had the opportunity to sing O Holy Night at the Christmas Eve service this past December. She has an amazing ear, and can pick up harmony in a snap. I had to know she was going to be a passionate singer because when she was very little, just shy of 3, and just starting to go to the bathroom on her own, I could hear her in there singing, never a recognizable song, just something she made up. To the delight of everyone whose heard her, she decided to expand her venue beyond the bathroom. As a 4th grader she was asked to sing at the dedication of her school's auditorium, she had two major roles in musicals before she ever left elementary school, and as a freshman in high school earned the highest score in the District as a second soprano. As she began high school this past year, she only wanted two things, to make the honors group in the school, Madrigals and to make the school's female Barbershop group, Beauty Shop. She accomplished both, and that's pretty rare for a Freshman to do. She is off on her first adventure today to attend Harmony College, a Mid-Atlantic conference for 4 days that brings together all things Barber Shop, with her other three Beauty Shop members. She will perform for the first time with the group on Saturday, and I wish I could be there, but I know that she will have an amazing time and I can't wait to see what other doors open for her. So "Sing out, Louise! Mama's rootin' for ya!"