I am fascinated by your siblings and you all playing these instruments and playing them proficiently. I mean, you guys are good. Thankfully, he was fine. He made it through. But he broke his jaw.
Did he? I can't remember. It's been so long. It's funny that you have to go back and watch the TV show to remember your life. I can't remember.
I feel like some of those. I think he did. I think he jacked up his jaw pretty bad. Yeah. And there's something powerful about expressing yourself with music.
And goodness, the hidden language of the soul. Is that what you said? I don't know.
That's what you said. Run the tape back. The hidden language of the soul or something like that.
That was good. Yeah. What's up guys ginger and jeremy here and we're back for another episode And the couch saga continues look at this look at this new setup.
What do you think? Yeah, if you're watching on youtube if you're not watching on youtube And you're listening in the car. Don't crash.
Don't go to youtube right now. But later We've listened we've listened to the people we're willing to learn We're willing to take advice, right? Yeah.
That's what happened. And we're new to this podcasting thing, kind of. And so we've decided to switch up the setup. I think it's pretty good. I mean, I feel like really comfortable in this chair.
I have a chair all by myself. And then you have a love seat that you're sitting on without me on the other side. Yeah. So if people thought we had marital issues because we were sitting so far apart on the same couch, at least we were on the same couch.
But now we've just decided we've solved all of our issues by getting just different chairs. Yeah. There we go. So you've got your nice little accent chair. I'm alone on the love seat, but surviving.
How are you doing? Good. I'm a little tired, but I'm doing good. Yeah. Sometimes when you settle down for these podcasts, you just immediately go into a lull.
I do. It's because I feel like we're always running so much around the house. And then when I finally sit down, I'm like, oh, I could take a nap right now.
There have been times during the podcast where I'm thinking, I think she's going to fall asleep. It's not that I mean, you have a soothing voice, but. But I just, I think it's just, you know, afternoons, mornings, evenings, whenever we do it, I'm tired. It's just because I don't have caffeine in my system. What if we record in the morning?
Tired. What if we record in the afternoon? Tired. Yeah. What if we do the evening?
Exhausted. More tired. Exhausted.
Yeah, I think it's just the season of life and I am not on caffeine. Yeah, but by choice. By choice, kind of.
But you had a little shot of caffeine the other day and it did something to you. It did. It did some good stuff. I did something.
I took, oh, when we were in Arkansas, I had a latte and it was not decaf. It was really funny. Jessa actually got me a latte. It was very kind of her. And I have like, not a super complicated order, but I was like, I need an iced decaf vanilla latte, half sweet.
Easy order. She like was. Okay, that's great.
And then halfway through the day, she realized, I didn't say decaf. So she called me and she's like, how do you feel? And I said, yeah, a little jittery.
And she's like, it's actually pretty, pretty jittery. And she said, yeah, I knew I didn't say decaf. I didn't know if I should tell you or wait till it wears off and then tell you.
Those moments of realization where you're just going about your day and all of a sudden it hits you that you forgot something or someone or forgot something vital. Have you had those moments of horror? Yeah. Oh, totally. It feels awful.
But with that, like, actually, I think it was somewhat of a. blessing in disguise. I hate feeling shaky or jittery, but at the same time I needed in Arkansas, I needed that extra boost.
And so that's what, that's what carried me through a lot of later nights and early mornings and through the wedding time and seeing family. So Arkansas was full of very late nights and early mornings. Cause you're trying to maximize the time for sure. For sure. And then the other day, what did I have a diet Coke?
I hadn't had a diet Coke in Forever I felt like. Why'd you have a Diet Coke? I don't know. Where were you? I don't know.
I can't remember. Where was I that I had a Diet Coke? No idea. Someone's house maybe or something. Okay.
And then I had it and Oh, I know where it was. We were having lunch with friends and they got us Dave's hot chicken and they got me a Diet Coke. Oh, yeah. And I was like, I'm going to drink some of this.
So I only drank like half of it because I didn't want to get all like jittery from any little caffeine. I don't know how much is in there. But then I felt great. I felt like so sharp. I felt amazing.
It was horrible for my body because that stuff will kill you. But it was good. Aspartame, right? Oh, yeah. It has all the terrible stuff in it.
Diet Coke is full of chemicals. Speaking of Diet Coke, this episode is brought to you by Diet Coke. Just kidding.
Let's go. Anytime you put down a brand, I just imagine that we were sponsored by that brand for the episode. Yeah, we're not.
We're not. Okay, so you're doing well. Tired. How are you doing? Yeah, tired as well.
Tired as well. But I would rather be exhausted from doing a lot of stuff and being active and engaging with people and different things than just be sitting around doing nothing. Well, I mean, you've been waking up like quite early, working out every morning, pretty much.
And so your mornings start way earlier than mine. I can't quite do what you do. You're pushing yourself and you're doing a great job.
Like, go work out, come back. And your morning has started, you're like off to a great start. And I'm like trying to pull myself out of bed. No, you're always awake. I'm usually back in the house by seven and you're always awake by seven.
Yeah. doing something. But I just don't like that six o'clock number. There's something about that that really, really is not my favorite thing.
Well, when there's a five, that's really what I dread. 5.45 wake up. That's rough.
But then by eight o'clock, I'm exhausted. Yeah. Yeah.
Or eight o'clock in the morning for me. If I get up at that time, I'm ready for a nap. Yep. I'm ready for a nap.
Okay, so today we want to talk about music, because Jinj, you grew up in a very musical family. You did as well. That's true. You definitely grew up in a musical household. I'd say even more than me.
Well, you win by default because you had more musicians. That's true. If we're talking about numbers, yes.
If we're talking about quality, you win. My mom's a professional violinist. So is my sister.
They're very good. But you have 18 siblings and all of you play instruments. Yes. Every single one. Yes.
And multiple instruments for most of the kids. Discuss it. What instruments do you guys play? How do you get 19 kids to play instruments?
Goodness. I haven't actually thought about that in a while. Um, I mean, I play piano and violin. Not too crazy.
I took harp for a short bit. Wish I would have kept that up because it's an amazing instrument. So beautiful.
A harp would look great in this room. We should just get one. It's not a bad idea. I'm going to start looking for those.
My dad got some at a state auctions back in Arkansas, and they were super nice. So that's where you look. King David calmed Saul down. Yeah.
Well, David calmed King Saul down. With a harp? A harp, yeah. Until Saul tried to spear him into a wall.
Exactly. Maybe he hit a wrong chord. I am fascinated by your siblings and you all playing these instruments and playing them proficiently.
I mean, you guys are good. Well, you know, I mean, we started quite young. So that was something that my parents were, they were both not into music, like playing it. And so they wanted their kids to be able to play.
And that was something that they really took the time to like find teachers and made that investment. And so I think a lot of us started playing when we were around six or even younger. Some of the kids started younger than that, maybe five with violin or piano. And so.
Like I remember half of the kids like started out with macaroni boxes. What do you do with a macaroni box? They would get a box of macaroni and it was like empty, like mac and cheese box, right? And then they would get like a ruler or like a paint stir stick from like Lowe's and then tape it to the box.
And that would be their violin. And then they'd have a wooden stick for a bow. Get out. And then they'd have to practice taking care of that.
and getting all the stands. Cause like you have to know how to hold the violin. The kids were not supposed to hold it by the neck. So you have to hold it by the shoulder, all those things.
Right. So they'd have to practice it with their macaroni box. And then if they did well, then maybe around five or six, they would get their own violin.
And it was like really special when that happened. Um, so yeah, I think that we definitely started very young and then When we'd play together as a family, it was something that was like super fun for us to do. And our teachers would often like create music for us or find music and give us parts that we could play.
And then we'd memorize those parts and then play all together as a family. So it was really fun, like just learning to play with other people. And then we would do recitals all the time.
That was something that was really helpful because like as kids, you know, you can play at home, you can practice. But then it's like, what am I practicing for? And being able to like perform and do recitals is helpful. And I think that that's something that really pushed us to like want to do better because we had these things called group classes and we would go with other students. to our like whoever our music teacher was we'd go to like their studio and we'd play with all the other students within our group so we could be in group three group four whatever and so you'd want to move up in groups I didn't move up too far but on violin that is um but it was fun because then you could go and like learn certain songs and then play them with your group class for recitals so we'd learn like a Christmas song together we'd all play different parts Or some of my siblings, I believe, actually joined it, like a little chamber ensemble.
So we had like a cellist, viola, quite a few violinists, things like that. And it was really fun. Your siblings could make up quite a few ensembles.
We could, if we were good enough. You could have a whole orchestra pit. Speaking of orchestra pits. Orchestra pits. Josiah.
Poor Si. that was rough that was rough he's he's doing okay though and his jaw works because he talks a lot he does it does josiah's just i don't mean that his jaw's working fine i love josiah when i when i interact with josiah is he actually married josiah is a different josiah yeah remember married sigh is so much better yep then I mean, not so much better. That sounds horrible. Married Cy is like, it's just, he's, he's grown up. And I think part of that is age and maturity, but he's just like, he was so goofy and like a constant prankster.
And now I feel like he still has a goofy side, but he's not going to be like pranking people when he shouldn't, you know? So Lauren has been good for him. Yeah.
Yeah. And I always, I say this often in wedding sermons when I'm officiating a wedding is Let's say for Josiah, for instance, like single Josiah is good, but married Josiah is going to be better. Like Josiah with Lauren.
Yeah. Jeremy, single Jeremy. Meh.
But Jeremy with Ginger. Yeah. I like that Jeremy better. I feel like we need a little. Because you improve our life.
Our wives improve our lives. So Lauren has done good things for Si. You definitely improve my life so much.
Well, okay. Let me just say for context, whoever is like listening to this. They may not know what happened to Cy. We were at, whose church was it? Charles Stanley's church?
I wasn't there. I think it was Charles Stanley. Correct me if I'm wrong, any of you show watchers from back in the day.
But we were supposed to be performing, playing violin at his church. And. beforehand we were like warming up or whatever before anybody came in and so the orchestra pit was raised um and so it was not level it was like above where it should have been or something so the kids a couple of the younger kids were like playing hide and seek and Cy went and hid leaning against what he thought was a wall It was a black curtain and it wasn't because the orchestra pit was up.
So he leans against this black curtain and falls underneath the stage. So he fell down, hit concrete. And so the ambulances came and everything. I think they put him on, did they put him on a stretcher? It's been so long.
I'd have to like go back and watch that clip to see. But anyhow, they were concerned that he could have like a concussion or have like major damage and he ended up being okay. He fell.
Pretty far. I don't remember how many feet, but it was like a pretty far drop down. But thankfully he was fine.
He made it through. He broke his jaw. Did he?
I can't remember. It's been so long. It's funny that you have to go back and watch the TV show to remember your life. I think he jacked up his jaw pretty bad. He hurt something, I think, but I don't know if he broke anything.
He's the only one who broke a bone in our family. You know that, right? Really? Yeah. He broke his arm.
He broke his arm. He was climbing a tree in cowboy boots when he was really small and he broke his arm. That's crazy that out of 19 kids and how wild life in the country of Arkansas is.
It's shocking. My mom, actually, I feel like she did such a good job because she was more, she would let the kids like run and play and wasn't like overly concerned. But then at the same time, she was more like, um, anti four wheelers, motorcycles, things like that, that she was like, okay, you're just going to injure yourself.
When she saw some of that, then she would be more concerned, you know? And, um, but we had tree forts. We had like the kids had pocket knives who are just barely old enough.
I still actually, I just got my old pocket knife. I have like this little black pocket knife that I had and it felt like I had it when I was six, but I could be wrong. And I just brought it back from Arkansas on this last trip.
I wouldn't be surprised. Get your first knife at six. You get your license at 14. Yeah, I know.
Seriously. Because we'd start everything way earlier. Life happens fast in Arkansas. It does.
It comes at you fast. Yeah, it does. We'd be out there like, we'd be out there building forts and stuff and like carving.
We'd always be carving sticks. That's what I remember. Like going down to our backyard and getting sticks and like carving them. We'd make crosses.
We'd make like arrows. Nice. Super safe stuff.
Yeah. Fantastic. It was good. It was good for us. So thinking on this topic of music, you brought up recitals that you would do as kids.
And I've got a few thoughts there. But one of the most impactful persons in your life was your music teacher. Yeah.
Nana. Nana. Nana was my piano teacher from... the age of six, I believe I started piano around six, um, all the way until right before I got married. I thought about stopping piano before that piano lessons, but I just couldn't tell her because she was amazing and she was so sweet and we had such a close friendship.
So then I was like, you know what? It doesn't matter. And we would go like our recitals.
Then the later recitals were all at nursing homes. So, I mean, you could play whatever you wanted. This was really funny. Okay. So now actually all these memories are coming back about nursing homes because we had the funniest experiences.
I actually feel like it is probably the best place to go to play because, well, maybe not, I don't know. Like it depends on what setting you're in, but if it's just like a mom and pop, you know, like little teacher set up, I think that recitals at nursing homes are so entertaining. And I'm like, um, It is just so funny.
So we went to this nursing home and I can't remember who was playing at the time. It could have been a friend of ours, but there was one of the residents was starting to talk and they, they pushed the, all the wheelchairs in and they lined them up. Right. And they're like, okay, now the recital is going to start.
They, they would like have somebody pray or whatever. And then they would start the recital and all of a sudden they bring in some people and one of them's like hitting the other one. They start getting in a fight.
They're like slapping each other because they wanted to be in a different place or they're like, you're in my way. I can't see. So they're like, it's chaos, but you have to keep playing. So it's actually really good training because you need to like be able to keep going and not get distracted by everything around you.
Part of that though, practicing in a big family, there's a lot of chaos happening all the time around you. There are kids throwing footballs over your head and you're sitting there like playing your piece, right? So we already had a little bit of chaos.
Well, then I don't remember who was playing again, but there was a resident who just started saying, I want a different song. Come on, we got to have a different song. And she starts singing.
Amazing Grace, just at the top of her lungs. And the person next to her starts again, just trying to like stop her. They're like, stop singing, stop, stop. We're in a recital. And she had no clue it was happening.
It was so sweet. But we just like were dying laughing and trying to keep it together as one of the students is up there performing, you know, it was just so fun. Yeah. So.
I think that Nana, like she used to do it, all of her recitals at like a little church, but then she's like, I think it would be sweet to do this at a nursing home where we can actually like you're, you're teaching kids how to serve others and how to go to places where maybe it's a little awkward or uncomfortable at times, but we would do all of our recitals there until. I ended, you know, my lesson when I moved. And didn't you meet Nana because, was it through church and she offered to help your mom?
Yeah. With some of the stuff around the house? Yeah. Nana came into our lives before I was even born. So she went to my family's, they went to this little church called Temple Baptist and it was really sweet.
And so they met Nana there and she was a widow. who had like raised her kids and she would, you know, play piano. And, um, she ended up, uh, asking my mom, she saw that one time, I guess, whenever my, my younger or older siblings started taking lessons, they were, um, they were like in piano lessons at her house.
And my mom was sitting there trying to take notes of like what the kids were supposed to practice. And Nana noticed that she was falling asleep. And so she was like, are you okay?
Like, are you fine? And my mom's like, oh yeah, I'm good. She's like, I was just up, you know, like half the night doing laundry.
And she's like, laundry? I love doing laundry. So then she said, can I help you? And so Nana came over and like helped her.
And then it just became a thing. Nana helped do laundry for our family for ages until she couldn't anymore. She fell in.
Had to go to like rehab and it took her years after that to like, I think it was just, you know, a lot was too hard, but she would still come over even though she couldn't do laundry. Even after all those years she came for a while, it was like, I guess, I don't know how often it was at the beginning, but from what, when I can remember, she would come like once a week and then she started coming twice a week. Cause there were just more and more kids added to the family over all of those years.
And so. She, I don't remember how many years, 18 years or something. She did laundry for us two times a week.
Came over, she would wash all the laundry and then she would fold it, put it away in the closet, everything like crazy. And then, um, after she couldn't do it anymore, grandma Duggar took it over and she would just do laundry. And then I helped in the laundry room a lot too, um, with grandma and her Odo, Odo band.
I don't know if it was odor ban or Odo ban, but she called it Odo ban and she would pour, I feel like it was probably a little toxic, but she'd pour so much of that in the laundry. Cause she's like, I feel like with all these boys, we need to get all the odors out. And then she'd be like, the laundry still smells. I'm going to put a little of this Odo ban in there.
So she would always have these like bottles. I don't even know what it was. I don't think I've seen it in stores since, but maybe she could at the dollar store or something.
It was like something so random. So those were like. Some good memories. But Nana was like so sweet. Every time we go back to Arkansas, I'd visit her and like hang out with her.
And it was so sad when she passed. I was like, really? It was a hard time.
Yeah. Yeah. She was such a special person in your life.
How old was she when she passed? She I don't know how old she was, actually. She was up there. She was always older.
She lived a good life. Yeah. You only remember her as an older woman. And we wrote letters.
I have stacks of letters in my keepsake. I have like a letter keepsake box and I have so many stacks of letters that she would write to me because once I moved, then we would, she like wanted to keep in touch. And of course she, she doesn't drive or she didn't drive. She didn't have, um, like. She could talk on the phone sometimes, but then her hearing started to go and it was frustrating for her.
So then we just decided, let's write letters. It'll be easier. So it was really sweet.
Like she wanted to know what we were up to. She wanted to know when you were in seminary, how you were doing. She would always write and say like what song she was playing.
She would do specials in church and it was so sweet. So she'd say this week I'm playing, you know, because he lives. And she'd say with, with the. the singing fellas or something like that. And it was like, she gave me her little update, what she's playing at her church.
And it was really sweet. And then she'd always ask me, are you playing piano for anything? I want to know what you're playing for, you know?
And so I tell her, well, yeah, you know, someone's on maternity leave at our church. I'm going to play. And she would always get so excited about those things. It was really sweet.
Are there any songs that you hear that bring you back to her? Oh yeah. So many, so many songs. Um, I feel like his eyes on the sparrow. Cause there were a couple of them that she would want us to do.
She always wanted me to play fun pieces. She called them. So she would bring over a sheet or two of music and it was like some random piece. It could be like, it sounds like circus music.
One of them did. And then the next one would be like some random classical piece. And she'd be like, can you play this?
I'd be like, oh, not a fun piece. I didn't like them, but it was sweet. But then, yeah, she just, she was so quiet and such a sweet servant, such a godly woman.
And it was just such a joy to like be like adopted into, you know, her family to like have her as Nana was so sweet because she was not related to us at all. It was so sweet. It's amazing.
You see music at the heart of that because music is what. fostered that relationship and stayed kind of as as a main pillar of that relationship oh yeah oh for sure you guys were united on music and even now you'll hear certain music and and the memories flood back oh totally it's incredible and i think back to like nana's legacy everyone who was her student just absolutely adored her she was so simple she liked she lived a very simple life um And I know that, you know, after she lost her husband all those years ago, she still had her wedding ring on. It was so old.
And I think she even got it redone at one point because it started to like come apart. You know, it was really sweet. And she loved her Long John Silvers. She would only have it like she was pretty healthy eater.
She had like stacks of vitamins we'd go buy for her. Did all of her shopping too. And it was fun.
But anyhow, Long John Silver's. That was the spot, huh? It was the spot.
And back when we didn't have a lot, we'd be like, wow, Long John Silver's is so great. But then one of the last times I remember taking her there, I was looking around and I was thinking, oh man, this place is really run down. I don't know if I should take Nana here.
This is probably going to make her sick. It's so old. But she loved her fish with her hush puppies. And.
So we do that for her birthday. And then every so often, just like go buy that. Even when we couldn't afford to eat out. It was like what my mom and dad would do. Just to surprise her.
It was sweet. That's special. Did she teach others and your other siblings?
She did. She taught quite a few of my siblings. Most of the older ones.
And then I feel like the younger half, she taught, she started out teaching half of them. But then we switched to our other friends. because the queries ended up being our main music teachers moving forward for the younger half, because they did more classical style. I think Nana's was more eclectic and traditional.
A lot of hymns, um, like I said, those fun pieces, which were classical, but she didn't do as much theory. And so I think the younger half of the kids got more theory from their other teacher and the older she got, we could tell, okay, maybe. Maybe it would be better for some of the younger kids to go to another teacher who could give them more.
And so it was sweet. But half of us just continued with her, the ones who had already learned piano, because she taught us well. So we just continued with her until she wasn't teaching anymore.
Yeah. Did you ever get nervous for those recitals as a little kid? Yeah. I mean, I'd feel like I'd feel super nervous because.
A lot of them, like often we do stuff from memory or at her recitals, I guess we were allowed to take her music. Um, but there were times where we would try to play something from memory and then you'd like be so nervous that you forget. And so that happened. Um, but I think it was really good and helpful. The, my favorite thing that she did was she had us, um, in a piano ensemble.
And I feel like I'm going to have to find photos of it and put it up here because you guys have to see it. So much fun. We had 12 pianos on the stage. Whoa. They were all like angled like this.
And they would do this every Christmas, basically. How do you find 12 pianos? Before Thanksgiving.
They would just rent them. Or it was at like the local performing arts center. So this was like all of these teachers would come together with their students.
And they would have certain levels. And so whatever level you could play, you'd get to play in that level. And they would have two students per piano. So you're playing duets. So there are 24 kids playing at the same time in this piano ensemble.
And you'd play two pieces per level. And so we'd play like one Christmas song and then one other song. And it was so much fun. Was it in unison?
They would all be playing the same notes? Yep. So, well, I mean, cause you have two people when you play a duet at a piano, one person's playing one part, the other person's playing the other part.
But multiply times 12. Do that times 12. So you're playing the exact same music as everybody next to you. Wow. And there's a conductor in the front who would lead everyone. And so it was really fun.
Like it was the highlight of playing piano. Because we looked forward to it. And then that was also something to work towards because you wanted to get to the highest level. I wanted to be able to play the Star Spangled Banner, but you had to do it before you graduated.
And so once you graduate high school, then you're out of the ensemble. And so I remember towards the end, they would also have a lot of kids who would get sick because it's in the winter. So you would have all of these kids who would be out and they would need fill-ins. So then the older you got.
you'd end up playing in like three levels for as a fill-in because you'd get music like shortly before they'd be like we need some people to fill in you get new music and you just go in you could be playing with like a kindergartner right and it's really cute so anyhow it was really fun did you ever make a big mistake in i would just imagine if i'm sitting there as one of 24 pianists on 12 pianos i'm just thinking i don't want to be the guy who hits the wrong note and everybody's looking over like really oh yeah i mean when we were young it's funny watching home videos about that oh man it sounded horrible sometimes because they would always play jingle bells like that was the one that the like basically kinder kids would play and it was really funny because it would be like they'd hit jingle bells and they would be like because by the time you're at the end it was like because they had this like rhythm part for the bass The bass would play like, you know, and then the higher part they're playing like the melody. Well, that rhythm would sound like it would sound way off by the end. And everybody, every year, I feel like that kinder, like that grade one, whatever it was, level one, they would always be off by the end. And all the parents are clapping. They're like, that's so cute.
Or they're playing like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and it sounds horrible. But then all the groups up above that did great. And it was actually surprising.
And if you didn't, then sometimes I remember in practice, cause we had to rehearse it too. We rehearsed it maybe three, two, three days before, um, all together. And the conductor would like, she would go like this to you. If you were messing up, she would like single out your piano. She was so good.
And she would single you out. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
I got singled out because it's like. You're trying, you play it by yourself so many times, but then when you're in this place where it's like a little echoey and you're with all these pianists and if you didn't practice enough, which was often what I did, I would not practice enough. And then I'd get there and I'd be like, I need to go home and practice.
So I would. And she'd tell you like, you need to, you need to play this. Like you guys all need to go home, play this five times through, play the section 10 times through, and then come back tomorrow. And we're going to play through this again.
But she would go like this to you and you knew I'm in trouble, but it was just, she was trying to keep you in line with them. So it was fun. It was really good.
And I feel like that served, um, it served me well. And I think probably a lot of my siblings too, because when you play for church or you play for an event, you need to be able to play along with other people, play separately, not be distracted by all the craziness around you. So all of those settings, um, were helpful. It's just so good to do that.
I feel like for, for music, but enough about my music, how was it growing up in a house full of music? And did you ever play any instruments? Well, I played, um, piano for a year, maybe for a year.
No. You play piano for a year? I didn't know that. I was probably five.
Get over there and play me a song. Yes, you can. I did one lesson of violin. Once a pianist, always a pianist.
That's my thing. Is that it? I don't, I wouldn't know where to start. A year, Jeremy?
You'd have to ask my mom, but I was like five or six. I'm going to ask your mom. I didn't know that. Yes.
I knew that you had a cello for like a second, right? No, that was my brother. Oh, that was Chuck. Chuck did the cello.
Never mind. But I mean, did you play an instrument for a minute? Yeah. I mean, I did one lesson of violin.
I did piano. Uh, but it was very brief. I had a very short career and it was, yeah, it was like a firework, you know?
Wow. Loud and bright. I'm sad to miss that firework.
Yeah. No, you would have had no mean when I was a kid and at five years old, I really think I was five or six. I'd have to ask my mom.
Yeah. I wouldn't have known you. And I was, yeah, but I grew up.
And just obsessed with soccer. But my mom and my sister really, I mean, they dove into piano and violin specifically. So I grew up constantly listening to Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky and all of the Mozart and Beethoven.
It was constantly playing in my house. All the classics. Oh, yeah. I love that. So I grew up with classical music and in a very musical home.
That's why you're so smart. So, okay, so here's the thing. Classical music does...
The benefits of music. Help you. It helps children develop neurologically. It helps them. I mean, even what you've just talked about with the relationships that came from it and the disciplines that came from it and having to perform as a young child, having to perform by staying focused.
There's so much that's established in your upbringing, in your development that music provides. So I know there's tons of studies, there's scientific data and all this about how music improves an upbringing for a child, their neurological development, their social development. It obviously teaches you so much character and principles, all that sort of thing.
That's why, I mean, my mom, I'm just thinking of what my mom does now. My mom was a professional violinist who was touring the world with the St. Louis Symphony. She was trained by...
Dorothy DeLay, who was one of Itzhak Perlman's teachers. So Itzhak Perlman, like the greatest violinist ever. And so my mother was very advanced.
And she gave up the pursuit of having a full-time career in that field to raise the kids. Incredible. Me and my brother and sister. But now, you know, the kids, soon after we all went to college, she started a non-profit, Swan for Kids, which is... music mentoring for parents who's, for children whose parents have had a history of incarceration.
And the reason that that nonprofit has been so successful is because for children who have all sorts of issues, abandonment, neglect, trauma, abuse, music, that it's proving itself, what the scientific data has shown is so helpful in their recovery. Yeah, for sure. It does have that healing effect. And I feel like Even in the most stressful moments, if you know how to play any instrument, or even if you don't, like just to turn on music, there's something so soothing about it. And it's just like another language of the soul.
Sometimes when you don't know what to say, you're just in that place of struggle or hardship or pain, sadness, and you can play an instrument. It's just so relaxing, and it really does heal. And so I feel like that is... it's so amazing just to see what your mom has done. And like, we met so many of the kids that have been served by Swan and it's been really incredible just to hear their stories and see their growth.
And your mom is just doing such an incredible work. Yeah, it is an incredible work. And it's one that needs to be multiplied across the country.
There's no other organization like it, which is wild. But even if you look at just humanity in general, we are musical. We sing, whether it's at a sports event, if you ever walk into an English Premier League game and 30,000 people are singing in unison a chant about their team, or you go into a bar late at night, what are they doing?
They're singing. Or if you walk into a church service, they're singing. Or if you're driving in your car, you're singing.
You're singing in the rain. You're singing in the shower. You're singing.
We express ourselves through music. I was noting it the other day as Just in my head, we were watching a movie or something, and have you ever just paused and realized there's music constantly? Yeah. There's just constantly music happening. Yeah, and without it, it's like nothing is going to be as scary or as exciting or even uplifting and upbeat as it would if there was no music.
Because if there was no music on that movie, like, who would watch it? Right. You know?
So it's a powerful medium. It is. And it's a powerful medium.
You just said it's a hidden language of the soul. That was good. Did you think of that?
You probably have heard that somewhere. That's probably why I said that. Well, that was really...
I'll find who said that. That was deep. But it is because you see, even in the worship of our God, King David was called the sweet psalmist of Israel.
And one of the most poignant and powerful sections of all scripture is the Psalms, which are songs that were sung. It was the hymn book of Israel. You think of Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 14, where...
Satan is described before his fall from heaven, and he was the musician in heaven before his pride caused him to fall. And so you just think of the power of music and the influence it has for good and for evil. And so for kids who are growing up and learning and having their minds developed, I mean, there's all sorts of research behind the neurological... Um... benefit to the discipline of learning an instrument.
I wish I would have given attention to it like you did. You know, my mom was, had me, you know, tried to have me playing something, but I just gravitated toward the sport field. But I love music. Yeah. And you do love music so much.
You're like, you're like the music guy in your high school, right? Like you just, you're so all about music. Back when CDs, I had my CD. CD collection. I saw it like, didn't you have it at your parents'house or something?
And you pull it out, you're like, this is a CD collection. It's just so fun to like see yeah you're all about music you're always like oh yeah this artist that artist and pulling up songs from like way back when and well the nostalgia so much the nostalgia of music I heard a song I played a song for the girls the other day I'm Blue by Eiffel 65 so some of our millennial listeners will know exactly where I just randomly thought of it, put it on in the car, the girls loved it, and I think I sang every word. Yeah, that's what you're saying. And I haven't heard that song for 15, 20 years.
That's crazy. It came out in like 1998 or something. And so there's a power to music of memory, of expression.
You can express yourself. That's why I'm not a big fan of musicals, but musicals are a thing. I do like Broadway though. Yeah. It's the right show.
Yeah. And there's something powerful about expressing yourself with music. And goodness, the hidden language of the soul. Is that what you said?
I don't know. That's what you said. Run the tape back.
The hidden language of the soul or something like that. Ginger, that was good. It just came to mind.
I feel like I've heard it somewhere. If it came to mind. No, you don't got to deflect it.
You just say thank you. No, I feel like it's going to have somebody else's. We're going to put the person's name after that because I've heard it before.
Beethoven said it. Yep. Jeremy Bolow said it.
That's who it was. Jeremy Bolow said it. It wasn't me.
That's for sure. Um. Yeah, it really does have an incredible impact in our lives.
Try to think of your life without music. That would be sad. Okay, here's a question. If you had to have one song playing in your head on repeat for the rest of your life, what would it be? Baby Shark.
Stop. I feel like that haunts me. I actually heard it today. The rest of your life wouldn't be very long. No.
I heard that today, and I didn't even realize it. It was on this little... Music boxing that Evie loves. And she like put her little toy on there and it starts to play Baby Shark. And I was like, oh my goodness.
I feel like I haven't heard this song in forever and I'm so glad I haven't. But then it just plays in your head for like half of the day. It's one of those that just won't go away.
But let's see, what would it be? What is the world's longest song? That would probably be it.
That would probably be it. Because you just need something that will not drive you insane. I cannot listen to a song over and over and over and over again. I will go insane. Unless it's Christmas music.
There's a category that's different. But let me just tell you, we were at... We were at... an event and we were eating food in a pavilion over there you know and they had something playing outside and i think it was supposed to be background music right but it was the same rhythm the same notes it was just the same notes lo-fi is cool but this was like so repetitive i was sitting there eating and i was like i've gotta get away from here this music is gonna drive me insane because it it didn't have any like some lo-fi i feel like is cool it just blends in but this was like they were trying it got you it was trying to do you know like some rhythm and a little change on the beat but it was too much for me so i can't do anything that's repetitive yeah drives me insane i thought of that question when i was in college the music the song in your head about you and you know what my answer was back then this is probably pearl jam this was in 2006 or 7 yep pearl jam what song black black And honestly, I think I could have the same answer today. Really?
Yeah, it's that good. All these years later, then I guess it's true. That's impressive. Okay, I like it.
Hey Siri, play Pearl Jam Black. Is she listening to you? I had turned my Siri off. I was gonna just turn yours on. See if you can listen to it.
She didn't respond. She's not plugged in. Rest of the time.
Yeah, I think I'd stick with that. It's not a bad song. And it's calm enough, but it's got passionate. It would probably ruin it for me. You know what ruined music for me back in the day?
Is waking up, setting my alarm to a song that I like. Oh my word, yes. And then you end up hating that song.
Yes. You know what song I hate? Furryleast.
Furryleast. Like. Because, because it was on this black alarm clock with the red.
numbers you know those little arch ones i feel like everybody had them and it had like a beep beep beep sound or it had this the creepiest but it was like off key and it freaked you out you're like am i in a horror film i need to get up just it was bad so after i heard that song so bad in off key yep drive you insane. So that's why I didn't like it for ages. That alarm clock ruined for me and a song LFO every other time.
Me and my brother set that as our alarm and LFO was, I think they were a boy band or semi boy band or something back in the early two thousands every other time. And I woke up to that and hated it because I didn't want to wake up. Yeah, no, of course not. So you, if you're going to wake up to a song, that's why I just have the most annoying sound in my alarm. There you go.
I like it. Man, there's more we could talk about with music. I'm interested in this harp deal.
Are you going to really start looking for a harp for the living room? I think I should. Yeah.
I mean, I would only get it if I could get a bargain, because those things are expensive. For sure. But I could play it. But you know what's interesting about large instruments, even like the Baby Grands. We've got a Baby Grand piano behind us.
And these are expensive instruments. The church in Laredo. When we acquired this facility in the church in Laredo, it had a $400,000 organ.
Pipe organ. It's a pipe organ. But they're like, this is a $400,000 organ.
I'm like, great, let's sell it and get $400,000 for the church. And they're like, yeah, no, you're not going to be able to sell it because who's going to take it and where are they going to take it? And so often, even when I was looking at baby grands, you have this beautiful piano and they're like, best offer or free, but you have to pick it up.
because we just got to get rid of it. It's huge. People don't want to pay to move them either. And that's part of it. They're inconvenient.
Some of them are like really expensive. Ours was like, it was, we inherited it in this house and it was great. It's not the best piano, but it plays.
It's pretty good. So you should pick up like a ukulele or, I know. I've always thought about that. I'm like, violin is good because you can take it with you anywhere.
But guitar is one of those instruments that I feel like if you're at a campfire, that's what you're going to pull out. Yeah. It's one of those like you can take anywhere.
But if your only skill is baby grand piano, you're not taking that to a campfire. You know what I mean? It's a problem.
Yeah. Yeah. That's why I'm going to pick up the didgeroo.
Didgeroo. Didgeridoo? Didgeridoo. Didgeridoo.
Didgeridoo. Let's go. I tried on our honeymoon, remember?
Yeah. It sounded real nice. All right. Well.
Music. It's a lot to talk about music. A lot.
We should come up with a theme music song for our podcast. You're going to write it? Yeah, I'll write it. I love that. I'll have AI write it.
You got this. I'll chat GPT or whatever function on AI can do it. All right, well, let's go take a nap.
I'm tired. Are you tired? I'm tired. Thanks for hanging out, guys. See you next time.