In the spring of 1961 the Greenbrier County All
County Chorus was in need of male members, particularly from
Alderson. Mrs. Ossie Keadle asked a couple of us, including Mark
McClung and myself, to join. We practiced at White Sulphur Springs
and as I recall performed at White Sulphur. During one of our breaks
Mark and I took a couple of Lewisburg girls, Kathy Spurlock and
Jennifer Russell, for a trip on a horse drawn carriage at the
Greenbrier.
Many years passed and I almost never used my musical talents that
Mrs. Keadle discovered my senior year in high school. Once my
daughter was born we began attending church regularly. My confidence
in my singing ability grew over time. I became one of the loudest
and most demonstrative singers in the church. Invariably our friends
in church would look at me when I sang and I would think to myself
“all county”. As my daughter grew older she would sometimes say,
“Dad maybe you shouldn’t sing so loud.” This was echoed by my wife.
When my daughter was 14 or 15, she and my wife asked me to go into a
room and she said, “Dad we have to tell you something.” I thought
maybe I was unaware that I was a cross dresser or had some other
character disorder. After a long pause she said, “Dad you have been
diagnosed as a monotone.” I was relieved a monotone seemed like a
subset of being a baritone and it was certainly better than a cross
dresser.
My relief quickly turned to near depression when I learned what a
monotone really was. How could I ever face those people in church
again? We became like nomads in church every Sunday, moving to where
people could not anticipate avoiding us. I could not break the
dependence on singing. Over time with the help of my family I
overcame the monotone disorder. I learned to open my mouth wide, be
demonstrative with the music and sing barely audible to the human
ear.
Later I saw an episode of the Andy Griffith Show where Barney, who
couldn’t sing a lick, decided that he would be the lead singer in a
musical. Andy convinces Barney that the audio system is on steroids
and in order not to be too loud, Barney merely has to move his lips
and not make a sound. Andy then has the best singer in town actually
sing when Barney moves his lips. Somewhat similar to my experiences.
Most newcomers to the church don’t know our deep dark family secret,
Mary’s Dad is a monotone. Occasionally a newcomer will ask “Alex why
don’t you sing in the choir?” Some of the older church members will
have to pull the newcomers over and tell them the truth. You will
see the newcomers sadly shake their head and move on.
There are so many wonderful testimonials in the Aldersonian about
Mrs. Keadle’s ability to inspire and teach young people music. I
will always be grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the
Greenbrier All County Chorus. Over time, however, I have come to
wonder how Mrs. Ossie Keadle chose me. I would like to think that
one explanation is that my voice changed over time. But I don’t
really believe that is plausible. The only explanation that makes
any sense is that Mrs. Keadle was so desperate to pick some boys
from Alderson that she was not going to take the risk of having me
or any other boy from Alderson audition for the chorus. It is
serendipity of life that a monotone from Alderson made the
Greenbrier All County Chorus back in 1961. |
