The Father Who Doesn't Appreciate Music...

John was, by force of habit and tradition, the member of his family who understood music least, even though he had spent long years at his studies — but only to learn that a man's place is in his work; and this led him to the inferiority complex that denied him the blessing of success in the field of music. And how his disappointment grew whenever his teachers discovered his new inclination toward light, entertaining music.

John's — or Father's — development was slow, but it reached a turning point that entitled him to take part with complete freedom in giving opinions about music, and sometimes in playing as well. This step came of his suppressing his mockery of himself, and of his conviction that only the few are capable of innovating and laying down the modern rules in any branch of culture, especially the universal ones such as music.

And so Father began to regain his confidence in himself and his sincere enthusiasm for the thing he had so long loved in secret — though he had thought he had given it up. And today he will not be daunted, even if his wife and his accomplished children fight him.

Father's musical education began by way of records and the radio. Often the effect of popular music with its marked rhythm, and of light songs, found an echo within him. He discovered that every daily happening can be found paraded in the classical works of the past, and nimbly he made of himself a musical adventurer. He still laughs at himself whenever he recalls the hours he spent among the great musical pieces; and so the word 'classic,' and everything classical, lost its awe in his mind. He found himself listening not to Tchaikovsky alone, but to other world musicians — Grieg, Chopin, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Shostakovich — and he found in their music something of modernity.

One day Father found himself arguing with enthusiasm at one of the gatherings at the club; after listening to the various opinions clashing over Wagner and Brahms, he entered the discussion in praise of Toscanini.

The discovery of Father's gift of voice is a long story. He does not shrink from joining in the singing of military marches and popular songs, and he may even manage to sing alone — but only under the shower in the bathroom. He saw no particular fault in his voice, especially when the other voices drowned it out.

Singing in the bathroom had long been the family joke. Mother once said that if Father and the bathtub were carried off to some theater, he could very creditably give a concert for everyone in town!! Among the things that inspired him to trust his voice were its artificial echo and his solitude.

With the coming of the children, Father was gradually transformed

from a private singer into a singer for the public, for Mother insisted that music be a part of their lives from the very start. The children had a special turning table of their own, from which they picked out their records before they could read their names. The children could sing the songs of infancy and kindergarten before they learned to talk. The parents could not but join in with their children, having found in them all these encouraging musical signs.

Father's share in the singing went according to the children's ages, for Mother gave him her advice: 'If you can learn the songs a short while before they come to appreciate their worth, you can keep step with them to the end.' Nor was she surprised at anything when he added the songs of Brahms to his collection. The children grew used to asking their father for a song exactly as other children ask for a story.

When Father discovered that he could recognize a piece and follow its singing by ear, he began to use this musical faculty at home first — where no one would criticize him — and then at the club. In every song he would begin by following the melody itself at first, then try to sing all the parts of the chorus. In a short while he became a regular member of the singing club, sitting at rehearsals pretending to read the score and following the conductor for the sake of good expression in his singing. He often dreamed of trying out his voice before a jury of musicians.

For lack of time, he cut down his singing at home; but he tried all the while, in cooperation with Mother, to see that all their children's parties and gatherings with their small visitors always turned to singing and dancing. His ambition was to influence all the neighboring families.

In this period the radio and the gramophone became useless, so he brought home a small piano. From that time on he has been thinking of the possibility of being a player and a singer. No one criticized him at the beginning as he tried out all the tunes and the musical keys, for he took care to play without noise or clamor. Often Mother and the children helped him by singing along with him, and then he would feel magnificent.

Father had bought a book entitled 'Fun with Music,' and this book taught him to play on three chords only. He found them enough to help him with the songs he knew, and discovered after a while that all songs and tunes can be played from any key; nor was it beyond him to add something here and there to the tune. Up to this point his musical education had needed no special teacher. But when he decided to bring in a music teacher for his children, he wanted to make sure that they would not play music merely to show off with it; he wanted them to sing and play for fun, in the easiest of ways.

The piano was the foundation of the musical band in Father's family. He brought one of the children an accordion and another a harmonica, and after a short while they were able to join in on the guitar and other instruments. And when the neighbors came with their records to make recordings, they found the violinist straying in his playing from the rest of the band; but the din was enough to disperse that annoying scratching.

This is the story of the father who successfully led his children's lives toward music. It is rare in other homes — though many parents have discovered the music of recreation in the same way, they do not hasten to nurture it and bring it to success. And so the old inferiority complex vanished entirely.

From the magazine House Beautiful
Translated for 'The Woman's Voice' by Karam Tanir