[Dialogue] question to ponder

Fri Jun 26 14:27:26 CDT 2009

Thanks, Marge,

For the memories - (I'm channeling Bob Hope.)

I have some of the same memories - not so much of WWI songs, although I
think some were "recycled" for WWII. Wasn't "Over There" initially WWI?  My
brother and I sang WWII songs. We dressed  in our little soldier and army
nurse uniforms and sang to help sell War Bonds.  Whenever I hear "Off we go,
into the wild blue yonder"  I see images of my childhood. My brother
especially loved "From the Halls of Montezuma". Of course, we learned all
the church and Sunday School songs. Yes, we sang at school assemblies. And
in the Forties and Fifties we sang all of the Broadway tunes and the great
songs of the Thirties. And as you said, after TV came along in the Fifties,
we didn't sing so much. 

My father loved to sing and he sang a lot of time, working,  around the
house, in the car. He taught us songs and we would sing from the back seat
on trips. He had a gorgeous tenor voice, was asked to sing at events, did
solos in church services - although I didn't realize that as a young child. 

Much of my life, I've had music going in my head - without the need for an
mp3 player. J The music, usually a song, would just be in the background of
my awareness, and from time to time, come forward to my conscious awareness.
I noticed that during treatment for my cancer that disappeared. Thankfully,
a few years ago it came back. It is amusing to me when I become aware of the
tunes in my head, the different genres they come from. Sometimes it is a
Sunday School song : "Jesus loves me this I know" or one from the Cokesbury
Hymnal which I called the Sunday Night hymnbook: Whispering Hope. Or the
more majestic hymns we sang in Sunday morning service: A Mighty Fortress.
The aspect of this that is amazing is that, after all the years of our
singing in the OE/ICA, it is the church hymns that pop into my mind most
often. And of course, I have to do a translation of all the old 2-story
language.   

Pat

Patricia R. Tuecke, Sierra Circle Consulting

Facilitating Consensus & Collaboration 

        www.sierracircle.com

775-333-6998   pat at sierracircle.com

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Marge Philbrook
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 5:53 AM
To: Colleague Dialogue
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] question to ponder

It is my memory that before TV, etc. everyone sang more.  As a family we
sang, when we gathered at my grandparents home we sang, they had a old pump
organ.  We sang "church" songs that we all knew and songs from the culture
as well.  Music was more everyone did it.  In the first world war there were
songs: "  What do you do the infantry, you march, you march you march."
"Some day I'm going to murder the buggler, some day their going to find him
dead,  I'll amputate his revelle  and step upon it heavily, and spend the
rest of my life in bed."  How do you spell revilee?  Then my memory tells me
we sang at school whenever there was an assembly, we sang World War II
songs.  about the army, the navy, the marines and the air force. And the
"movements" of our time sang as well. We always sang in the civil rights
movement.  And It's also the story that in South Africa the apartheid
movement moved by song across the country.  When there was an event a song
would be createad and sung across the country by black people to transfer
the news, like on trains, etc. and soon events were known across the country
and led to the ending of apartheid gradually.   I think it would be more of
a surprise if we didn't sing in the order.  I think singing was one of our
wellness exercises although we didn't know it at the time.    I also observe
that the current ICA is not singing.

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 11:48 PM, Nancy Lanphear <nancy at songaia.com> wrote:

Dear Ones, 

WHERE DID OUR SINGING AS AN ORDER COME FROM ?  WAS IT THE CHURCH?  WAS IT
FROM MOVEMENT BUILDING ACTIVITIES?  One of our Songaians asked that question
of us - he had given a tour today and was asked?  Please respond with
answers or just your own stories.  I would love to hear from you about a
spiritual practice that has opened so many hearts and places of energy, and
at times literally kept us alive.

This has been a big week here at Songaia!  The national Cohousing conference
is being held in Seattle this year and the executive director lives here.
He has enlisted most of us to contribute in one or many ways during the
week.

On Monday night we hosted the International Summit group from the conference
which translated into 38 folks from the group at dinner in our common house
along with the 30 of us Songaians.  Of course we were our authentic selves
and had singing, introductions, a birthday celebration with questions, and a
fantastic meal -  a joyful time was had by all.

I led the singing and included Consider Yourself, This Little Light of Mine,
and Oh, Mr. Sun and Russian Hymn for the Earth - the first was a song of
welcome and the others, in acknowledgement of Summer Solstice and the wonder
of gathering as Earthlings.  We ate in honor of communitarians and those who
had not yet found themselves enveloped in a welcoming community.  

Following the meal we celebrated one member's birthday.  His name is Nartano
and as he has been so moved by the ritual around each members birthday, he
wanted to share the ritual with our guests.  Fred asked the questions of him
and then shared words that recognized Nartano's role in the community.  

We closed the evening by singing the Irish Blessing to our guests.  They
left with tears and smiles of joy and hope that if we could share the values
of our community lifestyle with the world, it would be a more peaceful place
to live.

Yesterday, Fred was awarded the Geoph Kozeny Award for a life of
communitarian activities.  Our friend Geoph died a year ago with cancer.
Fred was so honored to be the first recipient of the award.

Today, we hosted 40 people who were on a cohousing community bus tour.  They
came for lunch and a tour of Songaia.  Again, we sang before lunch, they
joined in with great gusto!

Fred continues to be his spirited, wonderfilled self.  The huge limitations
of movement and dextarity frustrate him but he keeps finding new ways to
type - he now uses his thumbs and a voice activated computer program.
SINGING here at Songaia and at church is a lifeline for him.  Somehow with
his breathing capacity greatly diminished, he still sings with joy and twice
as many breaths.  At his ALS diagnosis 1 1/2 years ago, he promised me we
would still be together to celebrate the journey of the 2 of us and the life
of our family. We are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary on July 4th
with family and our community. 

We are so very grateful to be living in our community of Songaia.  And we
are grateful for you,  our spirit community of many years.  Take care and
remember that you are all loved, 

Nancy

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