GoodTime Accordion Band at Bethany Village

Whenever we play for a senior center, we bring a lyric sheet so that the audience can sing along.  The tunes include Tennessee Waltz, Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, Love Me Tender, You are My Sunshine, and other old favorites.  I usually lead the singing.  Today something unusual happened.  I usually sing the songs and expect that the audience will sing along.  But this group responded differently.  When I sang, they sat back and listened; passive observers of a reasonably entertaining show.  The songs they participated in the most were the songs that I didn't sing.  When it was just them singing they sang more loudly and enthusiastically.

The picture below shows the audience at the beginning.  They were waiting for lunch to be served and for us to start playing.  By the end of the show almost everyone was talking, smiling, and laughing.

We don't really feel like we've done our job until somebody gets up and dances.  This time it took us the entire show to make it happen.    We ended the show and were doing an encore performance of Beer Barrel Polka as they were walking out, when one couple finally started to dance.  It might have taken so long because it was a Ladies Luncheon and all the men were in the kitchen cooking and serving.  But Garrison Keillor would probably say it's because they were Lutheran.

Community Singing in America

Where do Americans sing?  Footballs fans ( a few) will sing the National Anthem.  Baseball fans sing at the seventh inning stretch.  Soccer fans (other than American) sing all the time.  Fans at concerts sing a popular song or two, but only when invited to do so. Kids sing in school, usually in music class or choir.  I have lost touch with what kids sing in school these days.  Do families still sing on car trips, or are all the family members engaged with their own ear buds?

And who would be considered the greatest American song-leader of my lifetime?  My first thought was Mitch Miller.  His TV show "Sing Along with Mitch" made him a household name from 1961-1964.  My second thought was Cliff Barrows. As song leader for the Billy Graham Crusades he lead millions in song for over 60 years.  Of course, I couldn't betray my Winona Lake roots by not mentioning Homer Rodeheaver, even though he was from an earlier time (1910-1930).

In 1977 I won my church denomination's national song leading award.  That's right, I was a nationally recognized church song leader by the time I was in 10th grade.  I remember that there were rules to follow.  You had to announce the song as hymn number, not page number, because hymnals frequently had more than one hymn per page.  You had to introduce the song with some meaningful remarks that were clear, but not to long.  Handling the transitions between hymns was a big deal.  And if you had the congregation stand to sing, you had to remember to ask them to be seated at the end.  You could hold the hymnal with one hand and conduct with the other, or put the hymnal on the pulpit and conduct with both hands, which was recommended for larger groups.

At some point churches went from having song leaders to having worship leaders.  The emphasis moved from the song to the response to the song.  And it is now preferred that you not "wave your hands in the air" but use them to play an instrument, preferably guitar.

Yesterday I did a performance at a retirement home with the Dayton Accordion Band.  In that group, we still do sing alongs.  I've only recently taken over the role of song leader with the group.  Now I lead singing while wearing a rather large accordion.  This isn't easy.  But it was instinctive to give the group cues for coming in and cut offs at the end of songs.  The group sang, by memory, some of the same songs they used to sing with Mitch Miller.  And they love singing patriotic numbers like America, the Beautiful.  But this generation sang those songs together in school.  They had a shared communal musical experience.

I wonder if there will be any kind of sing alongs in 20 years.  Will people feel comfortable singing in public? Will they have any shared songs?  I was surprised last year at my daughter's wedding.  At the end of the reception she and her friends all joined together and belted out a rousing rendition of ...wait for it... Piano Man.  That song was released  about ten years before they were born.  I don't think they knew all the verses, but they enjoyed singing the chorus.  And, yes, there was alcohol involved.

The Heart Song Project Intro

The Heart Song Project is the best name I have at the moment to describe the research I am doing in the area of music preferences.  The purpose of the study is to determine why we like the music that we like.

There are two aspects of my research that set it apart from the other studies that I have read.  Most of the studies of music preferences attempt to match or correlate music styles to personality styles.  The problem with this approach is that while we may have preferences for certain styles of music, the real emotional connection is not with styles of music, but with individual songs or works of music.  You may prefer to listen to classical music, but the thing that gives you chills or goosebumps is Handel's Messiah.  You may prefer to listen to melancholy 70s music, but the song that reaches deep into your heart is Karen Carpenter singing "Bless the Beasts and the Children.  These selections that have the most emotional impact are what I call "heart songs."

The second distinctive aspect of my work is that while most studies on music preferences use young people as test subjects, I have done my research with senior adults.  The problem is that music preferences as still in formation during adolescence.  Heart songs are still being developed.  Young people may like one style of music now and then outgrow it, replacing with another style as they reach maturity.  If you have dealt with older people you know that their music preferences are not in flux.  They are stable.  They haven't changed in years and are not likely to change in the near future.  I believe this stability of preferences gives a better indication of how these preferences were formed.

The main application of my work so far has been in the areas of memory recovery and legacy creation.  I have had senior adults tell me that they don't remember much about their childhood and certainly don't remember the music.  However, once I start asking questions from the "Life Soundtrack Worksheet" they start to remember people, places, events, and the songs associated with them.  These songs, learned in childhood and buried deep in the memory, have excellent potential for being heart songs.

The desire to assist with legacy creation has come out of my own life experiences.  When I was growing up, my father played his accordion almost every night.  A few years ago I had the opportunity to take him into a studio and just let him play.  In music performer lingo, he "tore it up."  He delivered an incredible performance, one that he would be unable to duplicate today.  In my pastoral work, I have held discussions with the relatives of the deceased while we did funeral planning.  Family members did their best to remember what songs the person enjoyed that could be played at the memorial service.  In legacy creation, I help senior adults identify the songs and performers that are most significant to them.  I have them write down the stories associated with the songs, and then I encourage them to share both the song and the story with family members.  When they tell the story and play the song for younger generations they create a legacy.  And when they are gone, the younger generation can play that song, remember the story and feel close to their departed loved one again.