Out on Facebook, Fred Leewenburgh wrote a comment on Rebecca's page, when she remarked that Arta and she were still at the Lake, while her broken shoulder was getting stabilized for travel. He said:
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Did you know your Mom gave me my voice back?
This was an amazing thing for me to hear.
Why?
Because when I was in grade 4 music class the teacher asked for volunteers to sing. I volunteered. Afterwards the "music teacher" said that I could not sing and that I should never sing in public again.
From that time on I never tried to sing again in any kind of formal setting including church choirs. In church I would sing but generally rather quietly. I did however sing to myself or along with the radio if I was alone.
To hear Arta say that I had a rich/nice baritone voice gave me such a boost that I began to be more confident in my singing. I knew that she was talented in music and her opinion was valued. While I did not go on to be a "great singer" she gave me the confidence to sing out loud. Later as I grew older I would practice singing while driving between Calgary and Edmonton. I would put in a cd and try to sing as close as I could to the performer, often hitting the repeat button numerous times.
Much later I was chatting with a friend who was exceptionally talented musically. She could sing and play the piano. She was talking about how quite a few people would ask her to play for them for a musical number in church. During that conversation she made the offhand remark that she would sing a duet with me. I took that as a compliment and more proof that my 4th grade so called music teacher was neither musical or a teacher.
Please thank Arta for her remark. I never thanked her for that boost she gave me .
