Who Teaches Us to Sing?

I don't have anything new to say about the music of Aretha Franklin that others haven't already said, and usually in a much better way than I would have done.  Her music always seemed to be on the radio when I was a child in the 70's.  I loved "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" of course.  Once I would have said that was my favorite song, but as the tributes have rolled across the airwaves, I've realized how many Aretha Franklin songs might be in the running for favorite.

As I've listened to stories about her life, stories that always start with her singing in the church, I've wondered how people learn to sing these days if they don't go to church.  There's singing along with music in the car, of course, but that's not real training.  And I do realize that plenty of people don't get that training in the church choir either.

I know lots of horror stories of how singing in the church choir can turn one off of singing forever.  But I know far more people who got basic musical training in the church.  I'm guessing that the opportunity to get that training exists less and less in public schools these days.  The church fills in the gaps, as it always has done.

It would be interesting to look at the history of all sorts of music, especially popular music, to see how many of those artists come to us out of a church tradition, even if they've moved away from that church tradition.  I suspect it's more than we might think.

In a hundred years, as we look back, will people even know how to sing anymore?  As we have more and more technology that can change the way we sound, who will bother to learn?

When I learned some ukulele basics a few summers ago, I was startled to realize how little music theory I know.  I can't take a song written in one key and transpose it to another, the way a true musician can. It's a skill that fewer and fewer people have.

This week-end, I'll go to church and rejoice in the opportunity to sing together.  I'll say a prayer of thanks to church choirs which have nurtured such a range of talent.  I'll also take comfort in the music of Aretha Franklin, which I expect to hear swirling around me.