Music and Memory

Times when I most miss my father I search out some form of keyboard music, either piano or organ, and listening eases my feeling of loss and helps re-establish a sense of connection. We always had a piano in the house and later on into my teens Dad treated himself to an organ as well. It made for pretty cramped quarters as the house wasn't all that big.

Dad was a blue-collar guy who had his own sheet metal business and to relax at the end of a day he would often sit down and play for a half hour. In focusing on his music he could lose the cares of his work day. For quite a number of years he was also the organist at a couple of churches and sometimes choir director. He never thought much of his own playing abilities because he always compared himself to others of greater natural talent, technical ability and overall musical sensibility.... but it didn't stop him from putting himself out there.

A couple of years before he died, while my niece and her husband were living in Dubai, Dad recorded a 60 minute tape of himself playing selections from a songbook and talking to them. Following his death they were kind enough to make duplicates of the tape and give them out to the rest of the family. I pull it out once or twice a year to hear him enjoying himself, playing and to hear the sound of his voice once again.

I don't know that this piece would be to Dad's taste but I'm sure he would appreciate the composition of it, the mood it conveys and the talent of the woman playing it. It's what I was listening to tonight (along with other Philip Glass compositions).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imbwn6iVryQ

Cheers, Dad. Miss you.