Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published July 9, 2003

Life without music would be unimaginable

My eyes are still blurry from watching the lavish fireworks displays from DC, New York City, Boston, Knoxville and Nashville. My ears still vibrate with the glorious music that filled the air. Tennessee played a prominent part on the national scene. In Washington Dolly Parton, outfitted in perky red, white and blue, performed as only Dolly can. She apologized to the audience that her voice was not at its best. They didn't care.

Several days before the Fourth, Dolly was pictured at the National Zoo in Washington. She was visiting two bald eagles that had been transferred from Dollywood. These two had been injured in the wild, rescued and cared for by eagle foundation at Pigeon Forge. Now they are part of an exhibit at the zoo designed to show the public they can be returned to health.

Dolly, eagles and Nashville all kept the country aware of the Volunteer State. For many years television network A&E turned the spotlight on the Boston Pops July 4th celebration. Several months ago a tiny announcement said CBS would be carrying Boston's show this year. Then came the surprise that Nashville was chosen to replace Boston on A&E.

It all looked good to me and the local reviews on July 5 were positive, but until the critics from around the country have their say we won't know if this could be the beginning of a long relationship.

Another change for music lovers was announced in May. Since 1940 Texaco has been the sole sponsor of the Saturday afternoon live Metropolitan Opera performances. In 2000 Chevron bought Texaco and the sponsorship continued as ChevronTexaco. Sadly, that relationship will be discontinued after the 2003-'04 season. After so many years of tuning the radio to the opera on Saturday I hope a new sponsor is found.

Two years ago I lamented another musical loss in this column. At that time the organization known as Up With People was forced to shut down because of lack of money. As many as 650 college students were involved in the shows. Always upbeat, they sang and danced in performances world-wide, spreading their message of peace.

The good news came at the end of last month when a tiny item appeared in the paper saying they are gearing up for a tour in 2004. The size of the cast has been pared down to 120 students but the enthusiasm of Up With People will still be there.

Another once popular musical activity, shape-note singing, still has a faithful following. The technique was used early in our country's history to teach the music of hymns to the church goers. It was also called sacred harp or fasola singing and used shapes instead of musical notes to mark the music in songbooks. Using the scale of do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do each note was represented by its own shape.

For those local folks who enjoy these singings Chattanooga offers a monthly get together on the first Friday of each month. It is held at the Calvary Assembly of God in East Ridge, 3458 Bennett Road. The dates for the rest of the year are Aug. 1, Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.

The choir singing begins at 7 p.m. and seating is on a first-come basis. For more information, call 629-1200.

What a life would be without music. Poet Shelley wrote, "And music lifted up the listening spirit until it walked, exempt from mortal care, Godlike, o'er the clear billows of sweet sound."

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.