Born To Swing

Born To Swing

Juvenile herstory
"I was just born to swing, that's all. Call it what you want,
blues, swing, jazz, it caught hold of me way back in Memphis and it
looks like it won't ever let go."
Lil Hardin Armstrong, subject of Mara Rockliff's Born To Swing,
grew up in Memphis close to Beal Street. She was so young when she
started learning to play the organ she had to have a cousin work the
pedals. Her mother tried to protect her from what she called the
Devil's music. But when she was able to play at Sunday school she
added her own twist, causing the minister to frown.
During the Great Migration Lil's family moved to Chicago. She
got a job playing piano in a music store that also hooked bands up
with musicians. Girls called canaries sang in jazz bands. But none
played piano in them...
...until...
...read the book and see.
On a personal note, I am making some progress in learning how to use
computers. Last semester and this semester I had an annotated
bibliography to do. Last semester I had no clue how to use the
databases. I needed a lot of help from Amber Grey, reference
librarian extrodinaire, in looking up my articles. This semester I
just asked her two questions and looked up the articles myself. :-)
Also today I learned about devices called thumb drives that will make
it easier to get my papers printed. Back in September learning
computer felt like putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle with no box
top picture. Now it feels like I have many of the edge pieces in place.
A great big shout goes out to all who have helped me get this far.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod