Ailsa's Blog: Meet Our Members: Jacqueline Desbois
I was fortunate to have been born into a musical family. All of my Dad's siblings were musicians and Dad, being the youngest, was gifted with a lovely voice. Apparently, when he was rocking me to sleep in his arms he would sing and when he thought I'd finally dropped off, on lowering me into my cot, I would nudge him in the ribs to carry on singing!
My earliest memories of music was being allowed to put records on our record player. This seemed very grown-up as I was only 4 or 5 and I knew how precious they were. We had only a handful of LPs and singles, mostly classical; Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Operas, The Pearl Fishers' duet and Tosca, plus some lovely songs from people like Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra and Matt Monro. I think music fed my imagination and taught me about the adult world of feelings; love, loss, fear and hope. Being exposed to such wonderful music also inspired me to learn to play my own music on our piano. I would try to copy my favourites and quite quickly taught myself to play Blue Danube and Greensleeves, working out the harmonies myself. My older sister would join in sometimes and we taught ourselves to play duets. All without any scores....playing by ear seemed natural to me. School was another source of inspiration and I loved singing and recorder lessons in the junior school. I was quite a shy child, preferring to be immersed in music, art and writing to a lot of interaction with other children. I remember when I was about 12 playing Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet on my record player which was next to my bed and falling asleep to this, my imagination feeding my dreams.
My sister had an ever increasing supply of Beatles LPs given to her by various boyfriends. This gave rise to us learning to sing all the songs and picking up the harmonies of Paul and John. I remember us singing these songs on the way to our holidays in Devon and Cornwall in the back of the car. Although there were six years between us, we were a good team when learning music.
Later on in life, I developed a sort of shorthand to playing music. Our science teacher, Mr Colwell at Westlain Grammar School, would play classical music every morning just before assembly. It was how I grew to love Moonlight Sonata (and come to think of it, I was inspired to arrive early for school!) and I was determined to learn to play it. My neighbour's son could play the entire piece and so I enlisted his help and whilst he played it slowly, I wrote down the notes A-G for both hands with squiggles for the black notes! Eventually I learned it and was finally able to play it through without the prompts.
Also at school, I was in the chorus of Iolanthe, by Gilbert and Sullivan. Another gifted teacher, Mr Skull, cajoled the 5th year to let go of their inhibitions and test their vocal chords, and sense of the ridiculous, and prance around on the stage in funny costumes whilst singing impossibly long songs. I really enjoyed this as it gave a new dimension to school life and new friendships were formed. I feel it was a great era, the 60s through to the 70s with music everywhere, all kinds and such good standards. I loved the Motown beats, progressive bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd as well as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and softer music from Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, wow, the list is endless. Barbra Streissand, I think, has a fabulous voice and she was popular in our home.
At 21 I went to live in Saudi Arabia...as you do. I married Abdulhamid in Brighton Registry Office and the Mosque in Regents's Park! We lived in Mecca for three years before moving to Jeddah for the remainder of our ten year marriage. I remember packing as many records, cassettes and books into my suitcase as I could with very little room for clothes. As it turned out, I did the right thing as my music kept me going through some very challenging times. When our son, Tamim, was born, Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel was No 1 in the charts and I remember putting headphones on him when he was very new to the world so he could hear it softly playing. (I'm glad it wasn't Rock Around The Clock which was a big hit when I was born!) Tamim was exposed to a wide range of music and he grew to love Mozart and Michael Jackson equally. Now I'm a Nana and I love singing with my two grandsons, Yousef and Yazan. They both have good voices and pick up songs quickly. They enjoy playing on my piano and we have fun making up sounds that represent a scary monster or a butterfly passing by.
Seaford Choral Society has been a bedrock for me, especially in recent times. To go somewhere that is always the same, has friendly faces who know you and lovely music to learn and enjoy is very therapeutic. I always come away feeling better. I still don't read music but with a practised ear I'm able to pick up where the notes are going and eventually it all comes together and makes sense. Also, there are stronger singers around (you know who you are!!) to lead the way in the beginning. I get a thrill seeing my Dad (now 95), Tamim and my grandsons all in the audience together. Four generations enjoying music. My daughter-in-law, Hossna, joined the choir a few years ago and really enjoyed the experience. She was hoping to introduce us to Moroccan choral music but we will have to wait for her to return for that. She appreciated the warm welcome she received from Veronica and the choir members she met.
Nowadays, whilst I'm very occupied with my business and getting ready for an Art Exhibition at Brasspoint, Newhaven, music is usually playing in the background from morning to night. I discovered the online Radio Swiss Classics whilst I was in Turkey and it's very good as there are no annoying adverts. There is also a Radio Swiss Jazz and Pop.
As Abba said "Thank you for the music".
