The family that sings together

So, as it turns out, we seem to be kind of a musical family. Not the Von Traps, or even the Mandrells, but when we get together, at some point, often enough, someone busts out the piano, the beatbox, or, this year, the clarinet.

I'm so proud of Sidney. She started playing clarinet this year, and she's really good.

And I'm so proud of...Dave? Who still remembers how to play the clarinet after Jesuit High School shut down the band program his junior year of high school? Who knew? I really do believe Dave has some untapped musical talent. He doesn't have a bad voice, and has a huge music collection. He was in a band back in the 90s, when he was a bachelor with a million hobbies. When Anneke is old enough to take piano lessons he wants to study alongside her, which makes me very happy.

The Texarkana family started a big old' Christmas hymn sing. I suggested getting an early start on Lent with a Lenten hymn sing, you know, for a little Lenten comic relief, but no one else was dorky enough to think this was funny. Emily sang harmony since she's a better musician than this Soprano one-trick-melody-line-singing pony, and my uncle sang a beautiful tenor. We threw in "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" for good measure, and I found out that it's my and my cousin M.L.'s favorite hymn. I love this, especially since we're ten years apart, we grew up with some fairly disparate Protestant music traditions, and, although we don't talk about it, are on way different ends of the political and sometimes theological spectrums. Still, I have a feeling we love that hymn for very similar reasons, and that also makes me happy.

Then, at the Louisiana family get-together all the grandkids were trotted out to the piano to show off their budding talents, and Sidney gave us an encore. My cousins Lori and Lisa do more of a country/gospel vibe, and they're total altos to my and Emily's sopranos. Once again, very different politics and theology and all that if you want to stop and focus on those details. But loud, funny, fun, and family, and who cares when we can all get together and sing?