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According
to my mother, I began singing and dancing at the age
of four to "American Bandstand" and "Hollywood A-Go-Go"
on our black and white TV. Often I would entertain myself
by staying up late at night and reading and singing
to myself on the couch. About that time I also started
to pick out songs by ear on my grandmother's piano.
Grandma obliged by giving the piano to my parents. I
played through junior high school and then took up the
clarinet in band class and then gave that up for guitar
in high school. I could play the heck out of the song
"Sunrise, Sunset" as a lot of my Catholic friends got
married at guitar masses.Then
I stopped playing for twenty years until my boyfriend
(now husband) found a guitar in my closet. But,
back to the history.
Beginning
in college and afterwards, I sang with the Northwestern
University Chorus in Evanston, IL; the Memphis State
Community Chorus in Memphis, TN; and then with the Houston
Symphony Chorus in Houston, TX. However, once I discovered
folk dancing, the symphony schedule was shelved to make
way for learning to sing and dance in 19 different languages
with the Houston International Folk Dancers.
I
met my husband (Steve Bing) at a folk dance party where
he was playing Cajun music. I took to Cajun music like
a crawfish to mud and tagged along with him to jams
and gigs learning to play Cajun-style guitar. I love
the music because it's happy music and I love the Cajun
people because they are warm-hearted people. I also
sing with the warm-hearted folks on the Praise Team
at St. Mark's United Methodist Church.
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