I grew up singing all the traditional lullabies and nimble childhood tunes that Mama sang to us. Whether she realized it or not, Mama used to sing to us kids all the time. Waking up, dressing, cleaning up or going to sleep always seemed to be accompanied by a lyrical verse or two. She would be washing our dishes and scrubbing the pans, humming a metered tune. Or, she’d sing some sweet, little melody while brushing our hair, which always seemed to ease the tangles. And for some reason, Mama always seemed to break out in song whenever it rained.

Photo by: Mirando

Mama’s rainy-day songs would teach us things like how important it was to catch falling stars, put them in our pockets, and save them for dark or rainy days. Her wet-weather music would also teach us how to stop and listen to the rhythm of our world around us.

My brother and I would be riding in the car with Mama, waiting for a stoplight to change, when she’d lean back and tell us in a hushed voice to listen to the raindrops falling on our car window and to hear their music. We’d both sit very still in the back seat, tilting our ears to listen to the rain sprinkle onto the glass, or to hear a downpour pelt the roof of our car. As the raindrops pattered upon the windshield, Mama would lead us in song about little raindrop soldiers coming down from the sky to water the trees and flowers. Her song told us to listen for their drums and their marching feet. As our ears detected the “rat-tat-tat” and the “pitter-pat” of the little raindrop soldiers on our car windows, we’d squeal with delight!

Photo by: Selahattin Ozpalabiyiklar

We used to live a few blocks from a railroad track. We drove across those tracks daily on our way to school or into town. Occasionally, we would see a train gliding along the tracks parallel to our car. This was cause for excitement because Mama would always make driving alongside of a train a musical adventure! I loved that her songs were animated and sprinkled with musical sound effects. She had a way of making funny lilts, tilts and cries in her voice that would make us laugh whenever she sang to cheer on the little red caboose chugging with a stack full of smoke at the end of the train.

Mama chose songs that taught us about the rhythm of life. We learned that everything had it’s own music.

Photo by: Steve Jurvetson

Posted by LaRonda on Thursday, December 28th, 2006 at 3:11 am.