[Aliska]

I guess I never mentioned anywhere that I grew up with music, played the piano, viola for a year, violin through hs. Piano was in the classical style, two songs I kind of mastered Prelude in C# Minor and Polonaise in Ab major. The latter I never played like it was meant to be played because the fingering in the intro and other parts is very difficult. Plus I hated the thing. I just played it because my teacher pulled it out of her music cabinet and put it in front of me. It never occurred to me to ask if I could play something different.

After I gave up any musical dreams, I played for my own enjoyment, church music, show tunes, a few more classical ones, Moonlight Sonata and Nocturne in Eb (never remembered the keys), from the Eddy Duchin Story. Also I worked on Rhapsody on a Theme from Paganini from Somewhere in Time and many others.

I played in orchestra all the way through jr high and hs, but I always felt the band kids had it better. Some, of course, played in both as you can't have an orchestra in only strings.

My talent or lack of it, here is something interesting. I do not know how people memorize music. I memorized by feel. After I'd played often enough, I just felt it. I lost that ability for some reason. I never memorized the notes or saw the music in my head or played classical music by ear (I can play some pop music by ear) and learned to improvise chords a little.

Later in life I bought a church organ. I played the Phantom of the Opera songs full blast lol. Those I read the music for the left hand and improvised the chords and pedals (not very well I must say).

Singing I could carry a tune and had a range about like Karen but sure didn't sound pretty like her wonderful voice. I could do soprano and alto, some pretty high notes, but I could only do the melody. Much later, I started getting the knack for harmonizing. Too bad so much of it came later in life. But whatever voice I had, I ruined it with my chain smoking, cannot sing at all now.

My dream now would have been to work on improvisation with the melody by ear, the chords, their inversions, broken everything that goes into a song.

[lee martell]

Interesting history. You’ve been able to develop your talent in many different settings. Many say, if a child starts learning how to play musically, that trait of being able to analyze, identify and compare, stays with them throughout life. Many take this skill set into other arenas of performance. I’m thinking of people like Condoleeza Rice.

It’s funny that you mention J.S. Bach Prelude in C. I love that piece. As you know it’s from his book of instructions
for one of his many sons. What was that title;
Well Tempered Clavier. That simple little song takes you all sorts of places if you let it. It is absolutely hypnotic
(in a good way) for people like me, who want to hold on to a melody and keep following my nose (or ear as it were). The octave and tonal changes are very, very nice. I rarely get to talk about that
tune, as I am not a trained musician, and most people are not aware of it’s existence or it’s
gentle power to beckon. If I could ever learn to play that song, I’d be very fullfilled indeed.