Merry Month of May Music Meme

I was thrilled to see a post about Pauleen's latest meme challenge on the web last night. I enjoy putting together and responding to Geneamemes for a few reasons:

They provide a means to connect with new bloggers
They provide a topic for posts when one's thought tank has run dry
They offer one a chance to reflect on one's practices or personal history
They give one an opportunity to record personal information for future generations ie they are a valuable genealogy resource for the future.

Pauleen's meme is a fun one in which any blogger can participate. If there are bloggers in your family who blog about topics other than genealogy please encourage them to participate.

I am delighted to present my response to the Merry Month of May Music Meme below.

The Merry Month of May Music Meme: a meme for your amusement.

Since the whole point of this is to have fun, retrieve memories and generally chill out (very 60s!), feel free to amend/add/subtract. I’m not even going to ask you to do the usual checklist of have done, want to do, don’t want to do. If you feel the urge, go ahead, you know how it works. And, geneabloggers, yes there is still family history value in this: give your descendants a laugh, let them get to know you with your hair down. Don’t forget, anyone can join in – it will make it much more fun.

I’ll be posting my responses later today and I’m even going to try to be spontaneous – first song/music that comes into my head. If you decide to join in please let me know via the links below (it’s supposed to be fun, so I’m not going to learn about linky-doo-dahs).

1. Song(s)/Music from your childhood: Purple People Eater  Slow Boat to China
2. Song(s)/ Musos from your teenage years: Beatles, Beatles and more Beatles
3. First live concert you attended: The Beatles at Sydney Stadium
4. Songs your parents sang along to: They couldn't and didn't sing
5. Song(s)/Music your grandparents sang/played: The Catholic Grandmother sang hymns and Irish Melodies. I can remember hearing Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay and Daisy Daisy Give me your answer do at my other grandmother's home
6. Did your family have sing-a-longs at home or a neighbours: I remember family singalongs at my grandmother's when I was 5 or 6 but she moved and gave the piano away about this time. When we were teenagers we used to gather at friends homes around the pianola and have singalongs.
7. Did you have a musical instrument at home: No, my mother was so scarred from learning the piano with the nuns in Cobar that she would not countenance having musical instruments in the home.
8. What instruments do you play (if any): None
9. What instruments do you wish you could play: Piano, Double Bass
10. Do you/did you play in a band or orchestra: No
11. Do you/did you sing in a choir: Yes, I was in the school choir for an eisteddfod. I was put in the middle of the front row for facial expression but was warned not to let any sounds rise forth from my mouth. I was normally in the "crows" - a group for the kids who couldn't hold a tune.
12. Music you fell in love to/with or were married to: Strangers in the night The More I see you 
13. Romantic music memories: New Year's Eve KaiserBall with a dozen bands and orchestras plus the Vienna State Opera and Ballet at the  Hofberg Palace in Vienna -The most stunning event we have ever attended. 
14. Favourite music genre(s): Classical, Jazz, Popular
15. Favourite classical music: Strauss for Waltzes, Tchaikovsy for Ballet, Vivaldi for Listening, Peter Sculthorpe for conjuring up images of Australia
16. Favourite opera/light opera: Opera leaves me cold but I have a soft spot for Gilbert and Sullivan operettas
17. Favourite musical: Too many - love musical theatre. An unknown one I really loved was The Beautiful Game - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton
18. Favourite pop: Still love the Beatles
19. Favourite world/ethnic: Good old Aussie Bush Songs
20. Favourite jazz:  Street music in New Orleans
21. Favourite country or folk: Spare me from country, loved The Seekers who I finally got to see live last year
22. Favourite movie/show musical: I prefer live performances to filmed versions
23. Favourite sounds tracks: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rodgers and Hammerstein
24. What music do you like to dance to: I've a dicky leg - I'd give anything to be able to dance - any music would do
25. What dances did you do as a teenager: Maroubra Stomp, Stomp, Twist, Jive, Ballroom on a Sunday evening to the strains of Arthur Anderson's band in Greenstead Hall, Randwick.
26. Do you use music for caller ID on your mobile: No
27. What songs do you use for caller ID: I prefer a recording of a chien
28. What songs do your children like or listen to: Each of the four has individual tastes
29. Favourite live music concerts as an adult: Elton John, Liberace, Paul McCartney, The Seekers, Sydney Symphony and most recently Australia's Human Nature in Las Vegas  
30. Silly music memories from your family: Husband woken from his slumber with a shock  by the Triumphal March in  the Australian Opera's performance  Aida. 
31. Silliest song you can think of: Shaddup up you face
32. Pet hate in music/singing: Loud music - especially from other people's devices
33. A song that captures family history for you: Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles
34. If you could only play 5 albums (assume no iPods or mp3) for the rest of your life, what would they be: Best of the Beatles, Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Strauss Waltzes - Vienna Symphony, A nice Nat King Cole one and a Frank Sinatra album
35. Favourite artists (go ahead and list as many as you like): Edward Degas,  Pro Hart, Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh