Music lives on in all of us

by Peter Twitchell

I’ve had a love affair with music for all of my (67) sixty-seven years, and loved every minute of it. First, as a baby hearing my mom’s lovely voice in my ears or my Grandma Hannah’s humming or Yup’ik singing and humming putting me in a sleepy state of mind.

Also, Dad playing his guitar singing “Ain’t She Sweet”, “Pistol Packing Momma”, “Home on the Range”, “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, and “Golden Vanity” – songs they sang on transport ships crossing the Atlantic and back from World War II.

Then listening to 78 RPM records on an RCA wind-up phonograph by Eddie Fisher, Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, 45’s with country artists like Kitty Wells, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, Rose Maddox, and Chet Atkins.

As a baby Moses Buzz putting me in a sled, under a tarp and mushing from Bethel Moravian Church to the Curl Aeronautics (C.A.A.) compound to choir practice at the CAA theater. Listening to the Armed Forces Radio Network over land White Alice radar stations as a boy listening to the Grand Ole Opry.

Starting my band, “The Strange Tones” when I was sixteen (1966). Then Nick Dull and I starting “The Electric Era” band in college in 1970. Nick and I are still playing today in Anchorage.

I’m proud of my granddaughter Betty Jo who has chosen to play stand-up bass in school and loving music.

My youngest daughter Suzi has excelled in high school band. We have Mr. Carlson to thank at the Bethel Regional High School, and what he has done to bring music students of LKSD to the next level. Thanks to his dedication and belief that our kids can make a difference in the world of music.

Suzi attended all four years at BRHS and was #1 flute in our school district. As a result, she attended 2 years of Julliard School of Music’s workshops in Geneva, Switzerland prior to graduation in 2016-2017. Now she is involved with the Anchorage Community Band, playing their first concert in April 2018, having just last Saturday played for the Military Armed Services honor ceremonies at the Egan Convention Center with the Honorable Senator Lisa Murkowski in attendance.

Suzi is also involved with the Anchorage Fairweather Flutes Band directed by the University of Alaska Anchorage music instructor/director.

Congratulations music lovers. The music lives on in us all.