Musical memories

In September 2018 I found a flyer in my pigeon-hole at work that was advertising for upcoming performances of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio and called for new singers for the choir. Well, not only had I been wanting to join a choir, but I also knew the choir director and saw that the church was not too far from my house! Like many musical families, we listen to the Oratorio at Christmas every year - usually on CD but also sometimes live. In preparation for the first rehearsal, I downloaded the music and played it on the piano. Wow! I was supposed to be able to sing those fast coloratura passages and trills and octave jumps? I considered backing out, but thought that my years of choir experience and voice lessons would just be put to a test now. How glad I am that I went! Singing with 15 other basses, my voice seemed to be carried along from one measure to the next. The choir director, Irene Ziegler, stood behind the piano, looked at the score, played the piano blind and condu

After two years of piano lessons with a nice old lady, I could read music and play pretty well, apparently, though I never practiced and eventually gave up at 10 because I enjoyed baseball, football and basketball better. Then in 1978 for Christmas I was given three books of Genesis sheet music and couldn't wait to get home every day and play the songs I loved so well. " Squonk " became my favorite piece and even my nickname among some friends. While I was at it, though, I would look through the piano bench for other music. I discovered Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata and played the first movement of that before I went off to college. At William and Mary I began lessons for a year with a man who started me over, so to speak, with the Bach Inventions and bits of Haydn sonatas (because I had books of those pieces already). He set me onto the Invention #8 in E Major "because it was jazzy". I guess I had played him some of my Genesis and he thought