Terri and I were recently invited to our 5 year old grandson Leon's Christmas extravaganza. There, on the stage of the local high school, 100 or so kids from kindergarten through 3d grade ended a 45 minute songfest with a rousing rendition of Frosty The Snowman.
Their musical director, with arms frantically waving like a conductor's baton, did his best to keep the young singers on track with the music playing on the school's PA system. Alas, the children were singing to their own beat to the point the AV person mercifully cut off the canned sound so we could all enjoy the children's freeform acapella version.
It was magical. The kids and audience connected in a way that only music can manage.
Move forward a week.
A few nights ago, Terri and I attended a taping of the radio program eTown hosted by our neighbors, Nick and Helen Forrester. The evening performance in front of a sold out crowd was Canadian singer and songwriter Rufus Wainwright (whose father, Loudon, gained fame singing about dead skunks).
The last song, John Lennon's Across the Universe, had the entire audience on their feet and singing along with the chorus.
It too was magical.
In this increasingly divisive world I find few mediums that connect us together better than music.
