Singing for the Old Timers

It is much more fun singing for the old timers than it ever was singing in bars. I sang in bars during a pretty big chunk of the 70s, when country was still country, not pop and not AI. I sing once a month for some older ladies, mostly widows approximately in their 70s. I sing a lot of old country love ballads like The End of the World and Together Again, and these ladies know all the words and it is truly a delight to meet with them every month. So, tonight I'm dividing my time between writing to you and going over music for Monday night. It is such a treat to be able to pick only songs I love. I don't have to sing any songs I don't like or are embarrassing or distasteful to any degree. I can sing my heart out and these ladies are right there with me. Music has been my friend for a very long time. My brother's and my piano lessons were a source of comfort and a great distraction from the pain of our parents' divorce and subsequent changes in our lives. I will be forever grateful for Mrs. Durein who lived in a lovely three-story home on Quincy Street which they tore down to add to the downtown post office parking lot. She had pianos on the ground floor with candelabras where we had recitals, a library with pianos and a harpsichord where we had our lessons and a winding wooden staircase connecting the levels. When we had our lesson on Saturday we had lunch in her kitchen. She had a woman who worked for her who was also an angel in disguise. We often had tuna sandwiches and Grapette to drink before Dad came to pic us up. Her library was on the same level as our piano lesson (in the same room, actually), so when my brother was getting his lesson, I would look at the National Geographic and Mentor magazines in her library that I would spread out on top of the huge round table in the middle of the library. It's really a shame they had to tear that house down. But it lives in my memory and I have had dreams in that house. I guess I probably always will. It was heaven on earth. And I expect to see Mrs. Durein and her maid in the real heaven someday. Anyway, it's Friday night and I'm going to go play a little music right now. Well, I'm back and I've been thinking there's a lot of different dimensions to playing and singing. There's the self-expression part and the learning to play and accompany yourself, and then there's the entertainment part, maybe getting paid to play for people to dance and drink while you sing and play, then there's the being whatever level of success you want, and then there's just the wanting to bless people's heart part and that's where I'm at right now, and truly, it is the best of all those others. Now that I have become a believer, there is worship and that is really where the heart is truly open and the voice is fully engaged and the playing becomes something that does things you never thought up or never practiced, but are simply divinely appointed, and that's when you discover the truest representation and the highest purpose of music, like the music that David composed and played in the tabernacle. A lot of classical music was written for the church, written to or for God and for his glory, which is who we are ultimately singing and playing to and for, that "audience of One." I wanted to play like Jerry Lee Lewis for a long time, but never really achieved that. Now I prefer the quieter music--country love ballads, old gospel songs, and, anyway, music is a gift from above and I love to share it with the old timers because they really appreciate it. The enjoyment goes both ways and I much prefer the venue. And that's all I have for you tonight. God bless you.