#64 - What classical music means to me

Rumor has it that a cat has nine lives. If that's true as a human, I think I must have lived at least 6 of those lives. In my history as a musician, classical music was probably the first.

My mother started teaching me the piano when I was about 4 years old. Probably the famed duet "Heart and Soul" since she needed a partner to play it with. She followed that with teaching me to read music. When I was 5 or so, I asked to play the organ. She said, "You have to study two years of piano first." I wasn't all that happy about her response but I went along with it.

She found a teacher, Mrs. Taylor, every bit the stereotypical gray-haired Austrian woman with a little stick in her hand to swat your knuckles when you played something wrong. Half an hour every week and a 4 block walk to her house. Half hour practice before school every day of practice that I hated more than doing homework. HATED IT.

I had a couple of good friends that were child prodigies playing with the San Francisco Symphony when they were 10, so the fact that I had a number of Mozart, Clementi and Beethoven sonatas under my belt by the time I was 10 didn't really phase anyone, including me. As much as I hated the lessons, I learned and loved learning about the composers. I loved their symphonies. My first three records were Beethoven's 6th and 7th Symphonies and Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony. I loved the idea of being a conductor and listened only to classical music throughout elementary school, despite my friends listening to the radio.

In fourth grade I asked to play the cello and was steered to the violin. Okay, I settled for it and became first chair in the local all county orchestra in a few years. Then I heard the oboe. I was mesmerized and asked to play it. Most people are pushed from clarinet or flute to the oboe; I asked to play as a violinist. Somehow, my parents agreed to this insanity and found me a teacher. Keep in mind, I was still studying the piano, practicing and hating every minute of it. :)

So, in 8th grade, I made the transition from orchestra to band as an oboist. Needless to say, the band teacher was in heaven to have ANYONE ask to play the oboe. The best part was that in marching band, I got to hang in the drum section with the bad boys cuz OBOES DO NOT MARCH! YES! I played tenor drum, glockenspiel and triangle. Marching band stories will be for another day!

About this time, my mother allowed me to quit studying the piano. I really wanted to learn to improvise blues and jazz around age 14, but that wasn't going to come from Mrs Taylor. Somehow, improvising on waltzes wasn't the same. But, after a few months, Mrs Taylor offered me a proposition I couldn't resist: 6 piano students. And it was then my life changed.

I thought I would go into space science (which I had a passion for and still do) or be a biologist (my first credit card was at House of Orchids, which I still have). Then more students came. By the time I was 18 I had 60 piano students, a music scholarship and a desire to be a film composer.

So, that was lifetime number one... what was your first life like?

Enjoy your week!

Cookie Marenco