Thanks to Nicole and Danae at the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center‘s CPAC where Terri Anderson Burnett works for inviting me to speak for one of their “Black History Month” events.
I gave a talk and presentation centered on the topic “African Americans and the Vote“ and enjoyed learning lots while doing the research for this opportunity.
A couple of years ago, I spoke at their “Martin Luther King Jr. Day” event.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
One Family
I enjoy discovering new facts while doing research to give talks, presentations, and even music clinics. What I learn each year during Martin Luther King, Jr. and African American recognition periods is always enlightening.
Having added “Papa” and “Nana” (grandfather and grandmother) to our monikers, we’ve now actually lived lots of significant and interesting “history” ourselves.
Ultimately, we’ve found that despite the inherentissues and mythswithin human society, the fact is that there is only one race – the human race. We are one family.
One Tribe
According to a Harvard study, music is indeed the “universal language.”
This and other contemporary studies reinforce my beliefs in this regard as well.
No matter where we’ve visited or lived in the world, we were able to communicate with others through the common bond of music. That’s cool.
VISION 20/20
#MissouriMusicEducatorsAssociation #Clinician
On January 24, 2020, I had the honor and privilege of sharing research and methods with my colleagues and peers at the annual Missouri Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop Conference. Sponsored by MMEA and Conn-Selmer, Inc.
T went with me and we had a pretty good time together as well.
Obviously, the start of a new year, but also the concluding of another decade.
The “roaring twenties” …
ELIZABETH TOWER
A.K.A. “Big Ben” – London, United Kingdom
2020 also marks 5 years since our family trip to London, UK.
It was cool and we went on several day trips with our adult children.
Many photographs in this post are from that winter vacation.
We love them and are so proud of each of our children.
They have not only grown into adults to emulate, but each one is a truly brilliant person who contributes greatly to society.
And, most importantly, they are good resilient souls.
They don’t quit or give up.
She’s looking at him … He’s looking at her …
OUR NEXT DECADE TOGETHER
2020 also marks the year we will turn 65.
We actually don’t know what turning 65 is supposed to feel like yet because this year is our first time doing it.
But we collectively know we’re blessed with good health, the love of our family + dear friends, we still have our chops, and still play our instruments at a professional-level – so we are very thankful.
Our late motherVi Burnett was a major inspirational force to me, my siblings, and many others as well. I often think of the things she used to say at times when a situation brings her voice forward in my thoughts. Thus, she is quoted often in our family blog.
PHOTO: Mom’s apartment in Paola, Kansas – 2006
Mom Burnett was a renaissance woman – even before using the word ‘renaissance’ to refer to someone who had figured out most of the handles of their life was cool.
In the latter years of her working life, mom went back to playing the piano. Having had private piano lessons as a child, picking it up again was not an issue for her.
Mom eventually held the position as church pianist at St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church where we attended during the years after our family had settled back in her paternal hometown of Paola, Kansas. A minister of music.
That church no longer exists and most of the living descendants of that wonderful church community from our youth no longer reside in that city. But it remains significant to me because it is where I got my start in music singing in the youth choir. I eventually added woodwind instruments at school and mom encouraged me.
Our family attended Sunday school and church every week growing up, went to summer Vacation Bible School classes, participated in seasonal programs produced by the church, etc. We continued these type traditions with our own children too.
Admittedly, we have learned over the years that such faith is ultimately a personal choice, – but we sincerely believe in and live by Christian principles, pray in good times and bad, and over the years have learned that family is not always limited to people who are related to you by blood.
We have a great foundation.
Living it is not just about going to a church on Sunday.
It’s about Love.
Loving one another.
The Burnett Familybranches made up of our children and grandchildren add another dimension to all of this.
We are blessed to have so much love in our lives …
Playing Music Together in Germany Dieses spontane Foto wurde von einem Kollegen namens Bob Levitsky nach dem Parade-Teil unserer Aufführung auf einem Volksfest irgendwo in Deutschland aufgenommen. Das ist Terri hinter dem jungen Mädchen mit dem Schild und ich bin links von T. Das ist unser Freund Willie Driffin, der der Tenorsaxophonist ist, der deutlich gezeigt wird.
A former colleague of ours from our days in Germany in the late 1970s sent these recordings of our Army band back then performing in several contexts. This colleague, Bruce Shockley is a fantastic musician and still performs professionally. The included photographs in this post that are not taken by me or T are primarily from the personal archives of two other former colleagues, Bob Levitsky and Dan Flake.
GERMANY ASSIGNMENT TOUR YEARS : 1976-1980
What is interesting for us today is to now look back at those days and realize 1977 was only 32 years after the end of World War II, the Cold War was still a thing, and our job with the military was to go around playing music to spread goodwill.
ANSBACH, GERMANY
To get a contextual idea of what contemporary life for us in Germany during those years was like visit the House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany website at https://www.hdg.de/
We thought our children and grandchildren might find it interesting to listen to us performing music when we first met (and before we were married in 1979). We were also just 21-year-old performing artists and gaining experience. Although we were playing 250 to 300+ concerts and ceremonies each year by then, we were still new professionals. Working that much builds chops and perspective.
We think this was from a Belgium Tour where we stayed in one of their military installations. We are seated in the front “jump seats” of our tour bus. (Photo: Bob Levitsky)
The first two recordings are from a partnership concert and are representative of what the concert band sounded like. In addition to ceremonial music, it also demonstrates the type of music we most often played for German civilian audiences or important functions. T plays flute and I play alto saxophone on these recordings.
I photograph of yours truly rendering a “gravely voiced” yet still largely questionable impression of the great Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.
1978 “Hello Dolly” 1st Armored Division “Old Ironsides” Band featuring Charlie Heintz on soprano sax.
On the road again … Waiting on the bus between gigs. (There’s T resting over the bus seat without creasing her uniform. Another photo Bob Levitsky)
The 1st AD Jazz Band files that follow are live recordings from a concert we performed in a gymnasium for the Department of Defense (DoD) high school students of the Ansbach US military community. We played everywhere from historical concert halls to outdoor concerts for combat arms specialty troops on maneuver training out in the woods. And events that included most everything in between those two…
Photo showing some of the members of the 1st Armored Division “Old Ironsides” Band performing an impromptu concert on tour in Europe.
“Corazon” from the Woody Herman band’s library. “Dvorak’s Theme” by Sammy Nestico.
The song titled “Corazon” is from the Woody Herman band’s library. It also documents the first ever improvised jazz solo that I took with the jazz band in Germany. The second song is an adaptation by the famous arranger, composer and former military musician Sammy Nestico titled “Dvorak’s Theme.” Marcus Hampton is the trumpet improviser.
Two great friends, superior musicians, and significant musical mentors to me as a young artist learning jazz: Marcus Hampton (trumpet) and Willie Driffin (tenor saxophone)
I don’t remember why the rhythm section is only guitar, bass and drums on these tracks though. We could have been between the band having replacement players assigned to us to fill for those who left to go home to the USA.We performed so many gigs. Literally hundreds each year.
“Love is a better teacher than duty.”
— Albert Einstein
At more than one point during our tour,
we worked several months straight,
then had a few days to pay bills
and take uniforms to the dry cleaners
before we were off traveling again.
We found out that we truly loved music.
Senior Enlisted Leadership: Sergeant First Class Charlie Heintz was our woodwind group leader and First Sergeant Billy Patterson was our enlisted bandleader.
Top’s remarks during a gig somewhere…
Our bandmaster was Chief Warrant Officer Benny Easter
The little guy at the piano in the featured image of this post is our youngest grandson.
Like all of our children and grandchildren, he’s very “musical.”
But, there’s something special about him that makes me think he’s our next musician among our progeny and could likely help carry music into future generations.
He sings and hums to himself while doing most any task.
He moves to music when it’s being played on television or in real-time by someone on a musical instrument.
*Playing music unsolicited…
Whereas most people don’t hear the music that is going on around them like the underscore of movies, I’ve noticed that this little guy genuinely notices all musical notes – even those found in everyday things like the sound of a glass “clinking.”
He also actually matches pitch pretty well too!
It seems music is a natural consideration for him. I think he’s “our next musician.”
Both, T and I remember being like that too…
*This is our daughter’s IG that inspired this BurnettFamilyUS.org blog !
Letting them choose…
When our children were born we decided that they both would be required to learn a musical instrument. First the piano and then a band instrument which they would be required to play throughout middle and high school.
Our reasoning was sound because learning a musical instrument develops the brain in ways other subjects and activities do not. That was our primary agenda.
And people who know music in an applied context always seem to be more well-rounded than those who do not. I think it’s because they learned how to create art.
*T in the recording studio playing flute for the “Standards Vol. 1” project.
Both, our son and daughter were brilliant young musicians.
They were always among the best musicians of their generation and neither really worked too hard at it beyond playing at school or occasionally playing with us at home.
We really hoped they’d ultimately choose music like we did, and take it further.
Neither did. It wasn’t their “thing.” Although I believe either our son or daughter could have been successful as working professional performing artists and musicians.
*Recording “Standards Vol. 1” …
Another true story…
Our daughter hadn’t played her flute for at least 10 years when we were visiting her at her family’s home one year and brought our flutes with us.
We pulled out some flute trio music and asked her to play.
She literally had to dig around the long-term storage spaces of her house for about thirty minutes before she finally found her flute.
When she found it we spent the next couple of hours playing trios and our daughter made less mistakes than I did. Brilliant!
I guess it really is “like riding a bike” …
Music Is Life Is Music
I have told both of our children half-jokingly that we could have “made” them into musicians if we had wanted to do so and they would not have been aware we did it.
It’s sort of like the sports parents who get their kid a personal trainer in preschool.
We could have literally turned them into phenomenal musicians without their consent.
And we could have steered them into a career in the music industry as well.
We didn’t want to do that because we think being an artist is largely a choice.
Instead we took the path of teaching them applied music to a high level and then letting them choose whether to pursue it further from an informed perspective.
Neither chose music in that context.
But, that little guy in the first picture just might.
