Every family shares something they are literate in. However, when most people hear the word literacy, they frequently assume that someone is referring to the art of reading or writing. Yet, in my family’s case, we are not only literate in the art of reading and writing (Yes we are an educated family) but likewise musically.
Music is in its way a type of language that has its literacy. That being said, my family’s musical literacy plays a major part in my life. For many years my family has passed down the knowledge and skills of being musically literate; whether it is in singing, writing and reading music, or playing a type of musical instrument. Four generations of musical literacy have been passed down throughout my family; each of us has a unique way of expressing our musical abilities.
My great-grandmother is the one to thank for the start of my family’s music literacy. My great-grandmother Jenaka was only five when she came to America from Belgium in 1915. She moved to Brooklyn, New York with her parents and an older brother with basically nothing. A typical immigrant story I know, but it’s true.
Anyway, my great-grandmother’s parents quickly noticed she had a knack for singing, so they enrolled her in singing lessons at the age of seven. She took lessons for two hours three times a week until she was about twelve years old. My great-grandmother learned how to read musical notes, and deceiver pitches, and eventually learned to play the piano. When she was thirteen her family moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey, where she began to sing in the local church’s choir. She continued to sing in the choir for the next thirty years of her life. Eventually, my great-grandmother’s husband Joe Ferguson became the church’s organ player, and her daughter, my grandmother Jo-Ann, began to sing in the same church choir.
My mother was the next to take part in musical literacy and she too sang in the church choir. My great-grandmother taught her daughter and my mother how to sing and read notes, which is quite possibly the reason my mother had such an amazing singing voice. My mother then became the lead alto for the choir and would sing in pageants as a teenager. My mother’s singing abilities were said to be the best out of anyone in my family, which I soon learned once she began to share them with me.
As a child, I remember my mother would always sing to me. She composed a song about me which she would sing to me each night before bed. My mother’s voice was like an angel; always will be. And still, to this day, I’m surprised she never became a vocal coach or professional singer, but she always said it just wasn’t in the cards. Nonetheless, her voice is what made me want to start taking singing lessons. I started lessons when I was six and continued until I was thirteen. I was able to sing at several county fairs, and weddings, and even landed myself the lead in two of my school’s plays. I was accepted into our school’s All-Shore Chorus, where I sang my first solo in a group. However, out of all of my places, I was able to sing, my favorite was singing in my church’s choir.
Being a part of the church choir was a huge deal in my family. Not only were we all spiritually benefited from it, but we were able to express ourselves by doing something we loved. I value going to church because that’s where I get to listen to my whole family sing. I can remember standing in the church pew while listening to my family around me belt out “Hallelujah” like they were singing to the Heavens. Sometimes I thought my family was The Partridge Family. But regardless, it was still amazing to me.
My family introduced music to me, opening a whole new world for me and giving me a rush of energy and delight that I will never forget. Besides my interests in music, my brother and two cousins also share a passion for music as well. My brother learned to play the guitar and my mother taught him how to sing as well.
My family’s music literacy is what makes my family distinctive from other families. My family shares a bond when it comes to music; which is what makes us such a close family. Music has made me who I am about my family. I have learned who my family is in part by singing and coming to know the language of music. I can read music notes, carry tunes (sometimes), and write my music; all because of my family’s musical knowledge involvement. I have my family’s musical literacy history to thank for my aspirations and achievements, or at least maybe some talents to fall back on.
Love Always,
Lex Paige
