Thank you for the Music

By Susan

What do you remember about your childhood? Trips to the seaside? Visits to relatives?

Some of my earliest memories are of my parents singing. Whether it was at the kitchen sink, in the church or at concerts my Dads clear tenor voice harmonised wonderfully with my Mam’s beautiful soprano and their lives were lived in harmony too and were still in tune as they celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary in 2013.

I also remember me and other younger members of the family standing at my Grandma’s door singing “ Away in a manger.” My Grandma died when I was 9, just before Christmas, and al these years later I still get emotional when singing this carol.

When I was about 8 my parents sang with Blaydon Choral society and I used to go along to rehearsals. The musical director noticed that I was singing along whilst engrossed in my colouring book. After chatting to my parents he asked me if I would like to sing in the performance, so at the tender age of 9 I sang in Handel’s Messiah. And from then on I was completely hooked. Although I was an extremely shy child, I found an inner confidence when singing with a group of people.

I continued to sing in the society and also the school choir. When I was 12 we moved to Leeds because of my Dad’s job. It was a very difficult time for al of us and one of the ways that helped us was to join the Church choir and a local amateur dramatic society, where we put on many concerts and shows like Desert Song, Orpheus the under and lots of Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Imagine my embarrassment, as a teenager, when my Dad had a leading role in the Mikado and had to wear tights and a short tunic. Funnily enough Dad had no photos of that performance!

In the early 80’s I moved back to Newcastle with my husband and when our children came along I encouraged them to enjoy music. When my son was about 10 he joined a group of youngsters who looked at all the aspects of theatre – performing, lighting, and sound. He enjoyed it and consequently he, my husband and myself joined a local amateur dramatic society where we put on a summer shows and pantomimes. When we joined, David was the smallest but by the time he left, aged 19, he was one of the tallest with a lovely bass voice.

Over the years I’ve sung in many lovely buildings including Leeds Town Hall, Civic Theatre and recently Newcastle Tyne Theatre.

Music has always been a big part of my life and has helped me enormously through some very difficult times. The music, the people and the enjoyment have been wonderful so I am grateful to all I have sung with over the years, but, especially to my parents, I would like to say “thank you for the music.”