Music, music, everywhere!

The genealogy conference in Knoxville, TN was a wonderful experience . . . I did a lot of networking, I met many wonderful friends (some of which were already "friends" via Facebook), and learned some helpful hints to further my business of being a genealogist, speaker, writer, storyteller, educator, and troubadour. Now to find the hours to put it all together. My husband Butch and I have had much to discuss as we have driven across the miles in our now-smooth-running truck-camper (see earlier blogs). My first task when I get home: set up a working schedule for my various projects so that I will not find that a whole day has passed and all I have accomplished is facebooking (is that a verb?).

While I was at the conference I made a special note of how music was a part of the conference. Earlier I blogged about Sheila Kay Adams and her marvelous performance, but there was much, much more. I attended two breakfasts, hosted by FamilySearch, and in at least one (probably both) presentation(s) given, the PowerPoint slides were augmented by (you'll guess this): music! In one program, they showed differences in research repositories in different states, so the music changed to match the venue discussed (we associate music with geographic locations).

The keynote address included music - and the audience got to sing along with the television themes for "Daniel Boone" (representing Kentucky) and "Davey Crockett" (representing Tennessee).

Of course, the use of music was prevalent in both evening events (I attended only one of these, as already mentioned, but my roommate told me about the other and showed me the photos she'd taken of musicians at the museum they visited).

There was music in elevators.

When I went to dinner with some genealogy companions, we were entertained by a busker (street musician) before we walked back to the hotel.

Music was everywhere! (And I am sure that there was a lot I didn't hear - on iPods and MP3 players with earbuds plugging the ears of the listeners.)

My point: music was also a part of the lives of our ancestors. They had their street musicians to entertain them. And music in the parlor when the day was done. And I would venture to guess that a number of them followed the admonition of the 7 dwarfs and whistled while they worked! It just seems that messages are clearer, tasks are less arduous, leisure time is more fulfilling, and getting from one place to the next is made more pleasant by the addition of music. (Of course, if you work in an office, you might want to keep that work whistling to a minimum!)

So here's a challenge: listen to the music you hear in a given day and make note of how many times (or how many different tunes) and places where you are exposed to songs and/or instrumental pieces. I'd love to "hear" what you discover!