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Lately it seems like Facebook has been flooded with various devices that make music or at least play music. Although I have not experienced all of them, I had some of them.
Let’s start with the earliest device I remember. I had a Victrola. I had a lot of 78 rpm records to play on it. The one that I remember the most was “Teddy Bear’s Picnic”. I loved that song and played it often. My Victrola was housed in a back bedroom of Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I could go up there and play my music to my heart’s content and not bother anyone. Somewhere in the great shuffle of things, my Victrola was lost. I think when I moved out my grandfather sold it but I am not sure.
The next device I remember was an electric record player. My mom bought it and a stand to keep it on. This we had in the living room so using it was not as private. We often put on some records while we played games. It was background music.
My uncle knew a guy who changed records in the big juke boxes. As he replaced some of the records, he was allowed to keep what he replaced. I got a whole lot of 45s that way. To play 45s you had to put a big round thing over the tiny spindle in the middle. They were the small records with the big hole in the middle.
I also bought albums that were 33 1/3 speed. I have copies of most of the big musicals of the day. I know I have “West Side Story”. “Oklahoma”, and the “Flower Drum Song”. We sang a lot of those songs when I belonged to the school choir. Our school used to do a big spring musical production with dancers, the choir, and the school band. We also took our show on the road several times visiting other schools.
I remember when restaurants had small juke boxes on the tables. If you put in a quarter, I think you got to pick three songs. Of course, there were the large juke boxes that were in restaurants where there was dancing. Those juke boxes kept going all night long so we could keep dancing. I have seen some of those old models refurbished and put into people’s homes. They look real pretty but they take up a lot of room.
I bought my own first transistor radio. You put batteries in those so that you could play your music without electricity. I took that to the beach. Every once in a while, I had to clean the sand out so that it would run. If it was windy at the beach it filled with sand.
I never had an 8-track tape player, but I knew what they were. I never had a boom box either. They were popular during my children’s era. They pooled their money and bought their dad a boom box for the barn. It played tapes as well as the radio. They liked to listen to music while they milked the cows. Especially, they liked to hear the Christmas music. I think they also bought their dad some Country Western tapes to play.
My next purchase was a home entertainment unit. By then we had a large case for our television and there was room for the unit beside the television. My mom actually bought that for us. I still have that. Mostly I use it at Christmas because I have a lot of Christmas CDs. One year I bought a bunch of CDs so I could play them in the car for the children. They were sung by children and they loved to sing along.
I often listen to music over my computer. FLN network broadcasts a number of formats. They play what you can hear on the radio as well as some of the old hymns and a host of other things. I discovered that station after my first husband died and continue to listen to it while I am driving around. The children learned a lot of the songs that they played regularly and sang along.
I could livestream music through a program that came with my car when I bought it, but do not bother. I can get enough through the regular channels.
The world of electronics has really changed things. Kids today get their playlist over their phone. I do not indulge in that either.
I recently heard one man telling about all of the vinyl records he has. He probably has a fortune invested in them. I still have most of the records that I purchased and play them on my stereo which is in an old Victrola case. We found a handle for it in a second-hand store. It is fun to listen to them every once in a while. There is one Christmas album by Walter Brennan that always makes me cry.
Of course, come Christmas I will play it again.
Ann R. Swanson writes from Russell, Pa. Contact her at [email protected].