My parents loved music of all kinds – my father particularly enjoyed swing/trad jazz and my mother was fond of classical music, together they both enjoyed pop and folk music…
I remember listening to the radio as a toddler in my cot in Zeeland, The Netherlands, and hearing a man called Toon Herremanns singing humorous songs. I knew it was supposed to be humorous because the audience in the recording laughed a lot.
I also distinctly remember Louis Armstrong singing and playing trumpet in his own unique gravelly joyous style!
My parents would often teach me dutch nursery rhymes and I can still remember the one about the kitten drinking milk ” POESJE MIAUW,KOM EENS GAUW.IK HEB LEKKERE MELK VOOR JOUW. EN VOOR MIJ RIJSTEBRIJ, O WAT HEERLIJK SMULLEN WIJ!”
I was an only child for the first 4 years of my life and music filled my days – I even remember the theme from the ‘Flintstones’ from this period…Music was always the thing that made each day special and wonderful. My mother would play special pieces of music at Christmas and on birthdays and I would always look forward to certain occasions because of the music that would inevitably come…
When we arrived in Australia we continued to submerge or lives in popular music.
I remember memorising all the songs from Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Every Sunday Night I would hear the lovely theme of the Disney Show, “ When you wish upon a Star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you…”
(This was also the theme song for the animated movie of ‘Pinnocchio’)
Even from an early age I had a clear appreciation for good clear melodies and would often sing my favourite songs while I was playing in the garden…Every Sunday morning I would go to the local Methodist church and sing wonderful old Wesleyan hymns, and choruses in the Sunday School, like ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and ‘If You’re Happy and You Know it”.
At Kindergarten we would sing ‘Twinkle,twinkle’ and ‘Incey Wincey Spider’ and ‘Head & Shoulders (knees & toes)’.
On ‘Playschool’, a very popular children’s tv show in Australia, we would sing fabulous children’s songs like ‘Miss Polly had a Dolly’ and ‘Kookaburra sits in the Old Gum Tree’. Every week I looked forward to the singing with the ‘wireless’ radio in the school classroom. The program was produced by the ABC and presented fun songs especially for young listeners. We’d sit at our wooden desks with our song books in front of us, enjoying the hand drawn cartoons next to each song. I loved the song about an old alley cat called ‘ Don Gato’ and the upbeat ‘ Purple People Eater’ and the Seekers ‘ Rockin’ Rollin’ Ridin”…
Emma and her own Family performing!
At the age of nine I was given my first opportunity to sing solo in public. I was absolutely thrilled to bits. I was word perfect weeks before the show. It was a school anniversary concert at the Unley Town Hall in Adelaide, South Australia. My mother made me a special dress that was very colorful with puffed sleeves and a trendy ‘choker’ style black belt round the waist. I can’t remember being nervous at all – just thrilled. My first real audience. I think my dimples developed dimples of their own. I sang ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ with a piano accompaniment. I liked the song because it told a story about a special friendship between a young boy and a dragon ( a theme my children enjoy still today in the movie ‘How to Train a Dragon’ ) and I enjoyed telling it. Even at a young age I had made a special connection with a song.
Later that evening I was fortunate enough to reprise my performance impromptu with a jazz band performing at my fathers annual Tennis Club Dance. This was the icing on the cake for me because I was performing for adults and the band was very good…I had no trouble adjusting to the swung rhythm of the band either , because I loved that style of music already.
A week later I began to memorise the entire album of ‘Hair!’ the musical…
Since that day my life has revolved around music and singing of all kinds!
Very talented lady…what a voice!!!!!!!!