Yeah, enough with the corniness. But, as Sulli said, the anniversary of the blog is coming up and we wanted to take some time to share what music means to us, and how it's wormed its way into every corner of our lives (whether we planned on that or not!). If you have any stories of what music does for you, feel free to share in the comments or email them--who knows, we may even share them as a post!
Music is a very large part of my life. I could write a dozen books on all the ways music has changed my life and even saved my life, but if I had to boil it down to one word... what does music say to me?
It says family.
My first introduction to music would have been when my mom was pregnant with me, and she would lay on the couch while my dad sat on the floor playing guitar and singing with his back up against her belly. He did this for all of us 7 kids, so we came out pretty much ready to go music-wise.
Of course, like all good kiddies, we took piano lessons (with various amounts of enthusiasm) and since our piano teacher was also a choir director, occasionally we would work up something to sing for church. As a family. When my sister was 5, and I was 12 or so, she became obsessed with the violin. She would put whatever was in her hands at the moment--a building block, a dinner plate, a book--under her chin, and sing, "Under my chin, like a violin!" And because we did everything as a family, we all took up strings.
Because we were homeschooled, we didn't have a ton of extracurricular activities. We weren't running around to drama club, soccer, softball, chess club--something different for each kid. We made music together, and that was all we needed. Over the years we sang together, played the county fair circuit for a couple of summers as a Celtic group, organized and hosted a youth orchestra, and formed a professional string quartet for weddings and other sundry formal gigs.
For some people, music means playing the clubs, beer and friends. For others, it means concerto competitions and seat challenges. For me, it means getting done with playing for a black tie banquet and going to Meijer in our tuxes at midnight and riding the penny horse with my brothers. For me, it means getting all giddy when we hear our favorite violin concerto on the radio while riding in the car with my sisters.
And because to me, music means family, if I make enough music with you, you're going to have a special place in my heart. In these last couple years of making music with new friends here in Charlotte, my family has grown more than I would have ever thought possible. I'm getting sappy and I know it, but hey... I think that's the point here. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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