I was, let's say, a different sort of child. Some children are pier oriented and some are parent oriented. I was decidedly the latter.
While my brother was listening to KISS, Bad Company and ACDC, I was listening to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Harry James. I liked Country & Western and some of the heavier stuff popular with kids in my day, but much preferred the voices of Ella Fitzgerald, Tex Beneke, Ray Eberle or Frank Sinatra.
One of my top favorites has always been and always will be Perry Como. I loved his music and never missed any of his t.v. specials, Christmas or otherwise, that came on the air. His smooth, sonorous and superb voice is one I always was desirous of emulating.
Mom & Dad had a copy of Perry's greatest hits on an old LP from the fifties that I just couldn't get enough of. It had great songs like, "Till the End of Time," "Hubba, Hubba," "Prisoner of Love" and many more. I would play that album over and over and over until I had every word of every song memorized. I would come home from school every day and toss my favorite record on the turntable, crank it up and jam with Perry for hours. I couldn't get enough of it!
I had been on this Perry Como kick for, I suppose, a couple of months when an interesting event happened. One day, per my routine, I was listening to Perry and singing along for what was probably the third flip of the album. I was thoroughly enjoying myself!
I reckon Dad, although a fan himself, had had enough of the repetition. He looked at me with serious intent in his eyes and said, "Son, don't you have anything else you can listen to?"
Sitting in the living room, witness to this event, was my Mom. She showed her great insightfulness and wisdom at this point. She just raised her head up from whatever it was she was doing, looked at Dad and said, "Floyd...leave the boy alone."
Today, I watch my beautiful and brilliant thirteen year old daughter grow in mind and stature. I try to introduce her to and familiarize her with all kinds of music: Bluegrass, Rock, Classic, Country & Western, Gospel, Contemporary Christian and more. As I watch her again and again pop her Carrie Underwood cd's into her player and listen to them again and again, I can't help but think, "Daddy...leave the girl alone."
I have been singing solos since the age of five and have even lead music in churches on many occasions. I've had some experience in leading church choirs, young and old and have been a member of a number of duets, quartets and ensembles. I've spent a lot of time in college and church choirs and have developed some rules about how it should be done. My ideas have coalesced into the following ten rules. These are not necessarily in order of importance.
