When I was a teenager and started playing the organ at church, I began to practice more regularly. In particular, I frequently practiced hymns during the week. I remember how often Oma would sit in a chair and knit or crochet and hum or sing along in German as I practiced. She had a beautiful alto voice, and it was the alto part she would sing or hum. I used to love it when she did that.
One day Oma handed me the music to "In The Garden" and asked me to learn it. It was one of her favorite songs. I played that song a lot over my high school years for Oma.
Today I played piano for a soloist at a Lutheran funeral. "In The Garden" was the deceased person's favorite song. It's a beautiful song and I've always liked it too, maybe in part because Oma loved it.
I did a little research and discovered it was written by C. Austin Miles, a Methodist. The song was published in 1912--much older than I would have thought. Mr. Miles said that he had a vision of the Garden tomb, of Mother Mary looking for Jesus, and as a result wrote this song in a very short amount of time. Oma knew all the words in German, and I wish I could ask her how she knew the song and what about the song she loved so much. She often cried when I played it (and I don't think that was because I played it so awfully). I think one of the reasons I liked to have Oma sing along as I practiced was because of the connection it gave us. Playing that song today brought back a lot of sweet memories.
2 comments:
Nice story, Chris. I remember that song, but not Oma's connection to it. It's another one of life's mysteries that hopefully we'll have an answer for some day. (There are a lot of them, aren't there?)
The first time I heard that song was when our cousin Kathy Kenison sang it for her brother Lynn's missionary farewell. Mom accompanied her and I remember how she had to practice the piece. It was a pretty fancy arrangement. I didn't know it was such a favorite of Oma's! I wonder if maybe she got to know it because of that missionary farewell.
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