Music

Whew I was three, I got tonsillitis, and the antibiotic they gave me (it was later discovered) can cause nerve deafness—which it did in my left ear. My next memory related to music was at 12, when while singing in the choir the choir master came very close to me. I sang loud and proud. He winced, and said, “Shhh, don’t sing, just mouth the words.  Horrible voice.”  I was told I was tone deaf, and stopped singing. I learned the recorder, then the flute, and when I played, I literally couldn’t sing but they became my metaphorical “singing voice.”  In my 60’s I read some research that nerve deafness in one ear doesn’t necessarily cause “tone deafness.” So, I took singing lessons! Particularly so I could sing “rounds” with my wife Johanna, who has an amazing, angelic voice.* Below are several musical snippets, including Joie and I singing Hava nashira  (Let us sing a song of praise. Halleluia) as well some classical flute songs (Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Bach’s 3 movement in B minor). Also, when each grandchild was born, I composed a flute song for their birth. All are enclosed below