I was just listening to a CBC program about old order mennonites who still prohibit technology including musical instruments and musical recordings. They claim that singing in 4 part harmony is the best music. I find it bizarre that at 3 years old was I was obsessed with dubbing my voice on tape so I could hear every song in harmony. I still make music like that! Tracking the absent voices so that they will exist outside of my head is a compulsion. How does one inherit such a thing? It's bizarre.

I told my mom about the 4 part harmony thing and she said:

"That's a scream! At Schultz family reunions, where usually at least 75 attended, we automatically broke into 4 part harmony in our before meal musical prayers, and at these same reunions, usually held over a weekend, Uncle Henry Rempel would preach to our Schultz only church service, and there would be a Schultz choir anthem, always highly professional sounding, and very moving.

I remember when I went to the last reunion in 1997, we had a bus tour of all the significant heritage sites ( the little towns they were raised in , the first school Grandpa taught at,etc.), and we stopped at the cemetary and stood around Grandma Schultz's grave. We all stated singing hymns in harmony, and it must have been quite a scene. It was a hot day, but there were trees growing above the grave, giving some shade, and the singing was beautiful, I remember."

Anyways, here's my ongoing tribute to my singing ancestors. The little girl stands in for me and the record player refers to the technologies that stand in for a living culture.