Musical Family

OK this turned out a lot longer than I expected....

We have had music in our family since 21 June 1981... that is... at the beginning of the Harts #2 (see previous post about the Hart Hiearchy). Our musical tastes range all over... exceptions being country, hiphop, sleazy chicks, and at least for me...disco. So it could be said we are quite eclectic in our musical enjoyment. The kids have picked up on this are very varied also. Much of their music Lori and I enjoy... especially ska.
At least some musical enjoyment has been present in my family for 4 generations. My grandpa Hart played the "mouth organ"/harmonica before getting dentures made it too hard. Grandpa Minson was a saxophone player as well a little organ. GG(Grandma Minson) played organ and piano. My parents don't play any instruments, but fostered a love of music for my brothers and I through listening to music. They enjoyed musicals...movies and plays and always had the radio on. The supported us when we wanted to play trumpet(see Tijuana Brass post), clarinet, and trombone. David, John and I played together at Christmas and in school orchestras and bands. I got into choir at church and then in school my senior year. I even had 2 small parts in our musical... Sound of Music.
Church also had Road Shows for us to participate in. These were 15 minute plays which we performed at 4 locations in the same night while others rotated with us.
Marching band at Millikan High School was part of all of us. The competitions, the football games, the parades... I even got to march in the Rose Parade in 1975... that was a LONG 5.5 miles.
Lori's family was just as or more musical. Her mom sang and her dad was a really good trumpet player. Lori started playing clarinet and expanded to saxophone, tried flute and bassoon. She even was part of the pageantry during her time in the Long Beach Junior Concert Band.
Anneka has been playing cello since 4th grade(she is now 23). This talent has allowed her to play through high school and in community groups. She has taken lessons from a world class cellist and continues to play at church and with her community. The past few years she has been the principle cellist for the community production of Messiah in Logan.
Richard was taught to play saxophone by his mom and now plays alto, tenor, and baritone sax. He has also played around with the clarinet and is now teaching himself to play banjo. He has played in jazz bands, school bands and even in a short-lived ska band. He loves to listen to music as the condition of his MP3 player attests.
Meg is our violin player and has taught her cousin Michael to play. She is in love with singing and would like to sing opera. She even took voice lessons in Italy this past year. As a 15-year-old girl Meg sang in the Mozart Requiem and the Messiah in the same semester!!
Charles plays cello and in the past couple of years added bass...both string bass and electric. He attended the Sitka Fine Arts Camp this summer and played in a rock band, a jazz band and an orchestra.
All of the kids got to attend the Utah State University Music camp in Logan. They would spend a week playing 8+ hours a day and learning tons about music.
I have had the chance through a community choir in Logan (NUCS...Northern Utah Choral Society) to sing Beethoven's Chorale from the 9th symphony, Messiah, and Mozart's Requiem (twice).
Anneka, Meg and I performed with John Ribera in a community production called the Multi-Cultural Messiah. This is done at Easter time and about 2/3 of the whole piece is done. Anneka, as mentioned before, was a cellist in the orchestra, Meg sang alto, and I sang tenor.
Our home is always filled with music of some sort. Charles, Richard, Meg, and I all have MP3 players that each have over 3000 songs that we carry with us. What makes this unique is that not only is the music performed with 80 member choir, soloists, and full orchestra, but the whole thing is signed with American Sign Language, part is sung in Spanish, and visually there are 140 slides of classic paintings depicting the life of Christ. Dr. Ribera is a professor in the Communicative Disorders College at Utah State and a musician. One of his sons drew this picture of the Messiah for the program this year. As the Lord told Emma Smith in the LDS scriptures Doctrine and Covenants 25:12"For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."