Music to My Ears

Music has always been a big part of my life. I started taking piano lessons when I was seven years old and continued until I was 17. Once a week, my teacher Mr. Harris would come to our home and for one hour not only teach me the fundamentals of music, but also about the great classical composers. My favorite composers are Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, but it was Chopin’s Nocturne that I played for my recital. When I learned a musical piece by the next week’s lesson, Mr. Harris would reward me with a gold star. I would also get a red star – or even worse, a blue star – when I hadn’t practiced enough. I was expected to practice five days a week and I used an egg timer set for the amount of time I had to play. Sometimes, when I didn’t feel like practicing, I would speed up the timer a little bit. But my mother would always know when I did it. “Cheryl, you still have ten more minutes,” she would say.

When I was in the seventh grade, I learned to play the flute and was in the junior high school band. By the time I was a high school freshman, I played the piccolo in the marching band. The highlight of my band experience was playing the flute solo in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. Everyone in my family played a musical instrument. My older brother played the trumpet, my sister played the clarinet and my younger brother played drums. My father played the violin, banjo and guitar. He was a violinist with the symphony orchestra in our town, and also a violin-maker. One of my favorite childhood memories is of watching him carefully mold, shape and sand the wood, and I would help him string the bows.

My father was the most talented musician in my family, as he had a natural ear for music. Often when I played the piano, he joined me and played his violin. He didn’t need to read music the way I did. It was in his heart.

As a young mother, I played piano at church, seating my young sons in the front pew so I could keep an eye on them while I played. Much to the amusement of the other parishioners, the boys would sometimes sit on the piano bench and play a few notes with me. I was also proud to play the Wedding March and the theme from Romeo and Juliet for a friend’s wedding ceremony.

Music is so powerful and it’s funny how a song can spark an emotion or a vivid memory. I can remember exactly what was playing on the car radio when I was on the way to the hospital in labor with my first child. Any song by The Beatles reminds me of my teen years as my brother owned every album and played them over and over. Strawberry Fields, Forever. I turned 18 the same year Alice Cooper’s hit I’m Eighteen was released. The Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar brings back memories of my first trip to Ocean City, MD with my friends and without my parents. I think of my daughter every time I hear Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time, as she would belt it out at the top of her lungs from her car seat when it played on the radio.

What is your most favorite song? What song evokes a special memory? If I was asked these questions, I would say it isn’t a song at all that is my favorite music. I’d say it is the sound of my grandkids laughing. That’s what I call music to my ears! ♦