Magical Musical Morning

This morning we drove downtown to the Peabody Hotel for a lovely treat. Being at the Peabody is in itself a lovely treat. Originally built in 1869, it was demolished and a new structure built a block away between 1923 and 1925. It closed twice in the 70's with financial difficulties and reopened in 1981, when I was in the ninth grade.

That is so strange to me, to think of this place empty and uncertain of its future, and to think of downtown Memphis as a forlorn, financially failing area. I remember when I was younger driving by downtown (we lived in Arkansas, and my grandparents lived an hour northeast of Memphis, so we went through Memphis a lot) and knowing that it was considered ugly and pretty barren. But we never went there, so I have no visual memory of that time.

And now downtown is so alive and full of wonderful places, and the Peabody is a huge part of it all.

And they have a huge Christmas tree every year! (That bit of railing you can see on the left side is the second floor of the building, so that gives you an idea of what I mean by huge.)

Music was the reason for our visit. Or better said, family who were involved in the music. The Harding Academy A Cappella Chorus were there to sing Christmas pieces and other music, and they did a wonderful job. One of the basses is my nephew, and his dad drove the group down on a school bus, so it was a morning of family, music, Christmas lights--and ducks!

If you don't know about the Peabody ducks, then you really must come to Memphis and see them for yourself. We got there in plenty of time to see them do their thing. And we got to hear them join in the singing a time or two, making for quite a contrast to the lovely sounds coming from these young people's voices.

This little fellow came from behind the couch where I was siting to get closer to the group. He stood there transfixed for a good long while. I wondered if he had ever heard such singing before. Since singing has always been a part of my life because of church, I can't imagine what it might be like for a child (or an adult, for that matter) to hear beautiful harmonic voices singing like this for the first time. It probably would seem like something of a miracle.

And it is, really. That we are made in such a way so that our voices can make such beautiful sounds, expressing thoughts and feelings and just doing amazing things. We take so much for granted, but this morning, and this little child, opened my metaphorical eyes, and my literal ears, once again to not only the beauty but also the sheer wonder of music.