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Here are just a few of the stories people have shared as I've been telling them about the Sing With Our Kids Project. Of course, I have paraphrased. But maybe reading them will touch a memory inside of you...
"There was always music in our house, records playing. But I don't remember ever hearing my mother sing. Now, when I think about my grandmother what a perfectionist she was, I can imagine my mother was told not to sing. So she didn't... that's so sad..."
"I hadn't thought about it until now, but I realize I have always made up little songs to entertain my baby as I tend to simple tasks like changing a diaper or giving him a bath. And it always keeps him from getting fussy! How did I know to do that? It's funny that I didn't even realize I was doing it until now!"
"I remember my mother singing show tunes, very loudly. I wanted to be embarrassed, but it was just too much fun! Now I am so grateful, and find myself, too, singing just a bit too loudly! Thanks, Mom!"
"My father wasn't very physical. He didn't hug us very often, and seemed very uncomfortable when he did. But we would be in the car and he would sing songs! He always sang the same songs, and those songs became like old friends and we felt like a real family when we all sang. I always felt comforted at the sound of his voice. I guess songs were his way of hugging us!"
"I was at a large conference when voices singing from the workshop next to ours drifted through the walls. The group was singing a song from my childhood in Japan. I hadn't heard it since I was a child, and I immediately started crying. It was so powerful, and took me right back..."
"I sang the same song to my son the whole time I was pregnant with him. When he was about fourteen, he walked by the laundry room where for some reason I was singing that song for the first time since he was born. He stopped and told me he knew every word, but had never heard it! How was this possible? I had totally forgotten about singing to him while I was pregnant. Wow! It was an amazing moment for us!"
Singing touches us in so many ways. Sometimes it's just the listening; listening to recorded music or the radio, or to others singing. And sometimes it's our own voices singing. The really important thing is the doing it together part. Sometimes it's the only language we can all share, no matter what our ages or life experiences. Because music is always there for us, just waiting for us to use and embrace it. And that is what we need to be sure our children know!
"There was always music in our house, records playing. But I don't remember ever hearing my mother sing. Now, when I think about my grandmother what a perfectionist she was, I can imagine my mother was told not to sing. So she didn't... that's so sad..."
"I hadn't thought about it until now, but I realize I have always made up little songs to entertain my baby as I tend to simple tasks like changing a diaper or giving him a bath. And it always keeps him from getting fussy! How did I know to do that? It's funny that I didn't even realize I was doing it until now!"
"I remember my mother singing show tunes, very loudly. I wanted to be embarrassed, but it was just too much fun! Now I am so grateful, and find myself, too, singing just a bit too loudly! Thanks, Mom!"
"My father wasn't very physical. He didn't hug us very often, and seemed very uncomfortable when he did. But we would be in the car and he would sing songs! He always sang the same songs, and those songs became like old friends and we felt like a real family when we all sang. I always felt comforted at the sound of his voice. I guess songs were his way of hugging us!"
"I was at a large conference when voices singing from the workshop next to ours drifted through the walls. The group was singing a song from my childhood in Japan. I hadn't heard it since I was a child, and I immediately started crying. It was so powerful, and took me right back..."
"I sang the same song to my son the whole time I was pregnant with him. When he was about fourteen, he walked by the laundry room where for some reason I was singing that song for the first time since he was born. He stopped and told me he knew every word, but had never heard it! How was this possible? I had totally forgotten about singing to him while I was pregnant. Wow! It was an amazing moment for us!"
Singing touches us in so many ways. Sometimes it's just the listening; listening to recorded music or the radio, or to others singing. And sometimes it's our own voices singing. The really important thing is the doing it together part. Sometimes it's the only language we can all share, no matter what our ages or life experiences. Because music is always there for us, just waiting for us to use and embrace it. And that is what we need to be sure our children know!
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