#52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 29 - Prompt: 'Music'

Week 29 -  'Music'

Music was a big part of our family background.  My mother and father met at choir practice for Scots Church in Shepparton, Victoria. They must have sung in church choirs for the rest of their lives.  

Dad’s sisters Tibbie and Ray were both organ players at the church in Orrvale.  Ray’s daughter Isobel took on the task later and is still playing for functions around the district. 

Dad would sing a lot of the time when he was working outside or in the car driving.  When we asked Mum to sing something she would always start with: 

             ‘Sing, sing, what shall I sing 

              The cat ran away with my apron string.’

Mum was a good whistler and often you could hear her whistling away around the house, whilst she worked.

When Mum was young she had a pet magpie (Peter, I think was his name) she would sit with him outside and they would whistle away together for ages. 

Also at that time her brother Phil had whittled a flute and played it beautifully.  

My brother Bill and sister Frances both had lovely voices and took lead roles in school musicals. I remember Fran practicing her singing role for one of the ‘three little girls’ in ‘The Mikado’.  Bill was away at Haileybury College in Melbourne.  We went up to listen to the performances such as ‘Aida’, Pirates of Penzance. Others were The Gondoliers and HMS Pinafore.

One of my lovely memories from childhood is extended family around the piano singing all the old Scottish songs.  Many still had strong Scottish accents.  This happened whenever we visited relatives and after dinner, someone would head for the piano and everyone would join in.