My journey into classical music was rich and eclectic. I grew up in a family with seven siblings. From an early age, I was exposed to music in my singing family. My grandparents, mom and dad sang at family gatherings and events. I am not talking about performing. We just sang for fun. We were taught to sing in parts at a young age as well. My parents taught us songs from the 20, s and 30’s, show tunes, drinking songs, and barbershop music. It was a house filled with music. My love of Rachmaninoff and Gershwin was my only real exposure to classical music.
When my youngest son was three, we enrolled him in a Suzuki violin program.Little did I know, but this would be my classical music education program for the next 15 years. We worked our way through Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Dvorak, and Schumann. It is hard to choose a moment that represents this joyful time in my life, but one such moment was my son’s master class with Yo Yo Ma at Merrill Auditorium when he was 16. He played the Sarabande from Bach’s third suite for unaccompanied cello. It was a beautiful moment , not only a moment of pride for my son’s accomplishments, but an appreciation for all the wonderful classical music opportunities for Maine kids from Portland to Rockland, to Manchester.
I became an amateur violist when my son was about 12 and continue to treasure the opportunity to play with other amateurs. My son graduated a year ago with a Masters in Cello Performance. The joy that classical music has brought, and continues to bring to our lives started with a singing family and will be carried on for generations.