The gift of music

Ever since I can remember I've always had a love of music. My sisters and I would put records on the stereo and just dance around the house to all the different kinds of music we had. When we were smaller we only had our parent's music: Neil Diamond, Olivia Newton John, John Denver, a few soundtracks like The Sound of Music, Camelot and My Fair Lady. It was delightful fun. Later, as our musical tastes matured we began buying our own music and other than a very few pop-music must-haves of the early 80's (Thriller for example) my older sister and I began to grow an appreciation for classical music and that was the primary genre that we spent our money on (I had a LOT of cassette tapes).

I remember taking piano lessons at a young age, and promptly quitting as soon as it required actual work. And, like most children who went through that kind of an experience, I'm kicking myself now for not sticking with it. Later I played clarinet and bass clarinet in the band through Jr. High School and up till my freshman year of high school. I hadn't realized it then, but those early music experiences colored my life with a love of music that never really abated, but unfortunately lay dormant for nearly a decade.

Despite loving music and listening to it (especially my beloved classical music cassettes) all the time, I never really had much to do with music. It wasn't till after my mission when I really started college that I really began to develop my talent for music into something I could really take pride in. It is hard to describe the sense of loss that I feel knowing how much more I could have done with my talent if I had only been less lazy and rebellious as a youth. But, at least I did something with it before it was too late.

As I've mentioned before I sing in two different choirs these days. They both meet on Thursday night, one at 5:00 and the other at 7:00, with the 2nd choir ending at 9:30. It is truly a great experience to be able to take the talent and love I have for singing and express it in a fun and challenging environment. I've worked very long and hard to develop my talent and it is fantastic to find outlets that let me continue to grow and develop.

I suppose that it could become a recurring theme for my posts on Thursdays to be about music, but I can't help myself. It is the day that I get to express my love of music in a very physical and practical way. It is physically and mentally exhausting to sing in two choirs back-to-back - and I love it.

I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for giving me such a wonderful talent, and for having provided me with the opportunities to expand that talent and help others grow theirs as well.