My
home lies two blocks south of a busy thoroughfare and
two blocks north of a very busy street; however, within
my subdivision it is quite peaceful. The other morning,
I awakened at 4 a.m. and noted some of the sounds I heard.
The most memorable one came from my mantle clock which
was a gift from one of my daughters. It chimes every 15
minutes.
My cuckoo
clock (which was also a gift from another daughter)
puts on a little show every half-hour; it gives out
one “cuckoo” on each half-hour and then
on the hour it cuckoo’s as many times as the
hour indicates. I was also given a “bird clock”
which makes a different bird sound on each hour of
the day. Thus, if I have a sleepless night, I can
always know what time it is. To me, these are friendly
sounds; they keep me company.
Having taught
music for sixty years, and my hearing still being keen,
I decided to write this lesson on sounds. Each of us would
profit from periodically “stopping the world and
getting off.” This is what I did and then began
by noting my own body sounds; stomach rumbles, breathing
and coughing. Other “homemade” sounds were
the hum of the refrigerator, computer, washer and dryer
motors. Living where I do, there is the continuous drone
of airplanes flying in and out of Sky Harbor Airport located
in Phoenix. And then there are always the “attention-getters”
such as the sirens, alarm clocks, doorbells, telephones
and crying babies.
My favorite
outside sound comes from the birds that begin singing
at dawn and continue until dusk. My next-to-favorite sounds
are of my great-grandchildren playing, talking and laughing.
I also enjoy the music generated by the famous Mormon
Tabernacle Choir and the ever-popular Harmonicats. My
dad was a gifted harmonica player and he either whistled
or blew his harmonica almost all day long. I grew to love
this happy, “reedy” sound. Because the accordion
is also a reed instrument, it was very enjoyable to me
when I became a professional accordionist while still
attending Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles.
Speaking of
sounds, what contributions do we make to the noise of
this busy world? Does our mode of living emit loud quarrels?
Does our music practicing get on our neighbor’s
nerves? Are we aware of our acquaintances sleep patterns
so we do not pierce their rest hours? Is our voice soothing,
or is it screechy and shrill? It pays to periodically
use a tape recorder and find out how we sound. Do we have
a cooing quality when we speak? Do we sound cheerful and
pleasant? Is our language intelligent? Do we use too much
slang; and how about swear words? Do we keep a dictionary
handy to avoid mispronouncing words?
It is very
appealing to hear a cultured, intelligent person speak
who has fine diction. A cute English accent is especially
appealing to me. As long as we control the pitch, volume
and enunciate clearly, we each could become a more pleasing
conversationalist.
This was
written in 2007 when Elma was 87-years-old. The complete
series may be found on lintonmilano.com.
