I come from a family with few musicians.  Of the two individuals who demonstrated at least some musical talent, one was my fraternal grandmother and the the other a relative at least three generations previous on my maternal side.  Although my mother took piano lessons as a child and sang for while in a church choir, she never pursued any music study beyond this very basic introduction.  To my knowledge, my father had no musical instruction at all as a boy, and I can’t really even remember him doing any singing as I was growing up.  He still enjoys listening to music, particularly jazz piano recordings, but other than that, music has played no role in his life.  So it must have come  as somewhat of a surprise to my parents that I showed an early interest in the piano that was stored in our basement.

It  was a pretty decent studio upright that belonged to my grandmother, who played only by ear.  She had no formal training in music, but her natural talent was prodigious.  When she came over to watch us as kids – she lived in the house right next door – she would occasionally wander down into the basement and play.  She was already in her early sixties when I first heard her play, but I immediately understood that it was a natural gift that she possessed. She could listen to music on the radio and then go right to the piano and play it.  I was fascinated.  But she never liked to play very loud – it was always a gentle approach and, in later years as I gained proficiency at the instrument, she would stand off to the side and listen, and inevitably tell me to play softer.  I think that the reason for her wanting to hear everything soft had more to do with a hearing disability that she developed, as she went fairly deaf in the last few years of her life.  But there may have been another reason for her reticence to play anything above a mezzo forte.  My best guess is that it had something to do with her not having gotten any formal musical instruction.  This was likely due to her home environment.  She was one of nine children and being the only girl, playing music was probably discouraged.  In a family where everyone entered the work force at a young age, playing music was probably viewed as an idle pursuit or a pastime that should be avoided in favor of more productive pursuits – especially those that brought income into the home, or chores that needed to be done.  Music could also have been viewed as something only pursued by those of means, meaning wealthy families that did not have to live hand to mouth.  The time  period was the early twentieth century, and my grandmother’s father apparently abandoned the family at a relatively young age.  My father informed me of that fact, but did not know the reason for his leaving.  In any case, it was all the family could do to keep everyone clothed and fed, let alone for there to be any time for a leisure pursuit like music.  So my grandmother probably played piano only when she knew that no one else could hear her.  There was apparently a piano in the house, or somewhere close by where she could play, but it is unknown if it was really in the house, or why and how my grandmother realized that she had a natural gift.  What is clear is that whatever playing my grandmother did when she was a youngster, it did not translate into her own household as my father could not recall her ever playing once she was married and had children of her own.  She really only found her way back to the piano after her own children were grown and had families of their own.  And since the piano that she “owned” was stored in our basement, it was only when she came over to watch my brothers and me, that she would occasionally play for us.

But despite all of the unknowns about gram, she clearly had an exceptional ear and a natural talent that transcended all of the obstacles that must have been in the way, and ultimately prevented her from really doing much with music other than for her own, and her family’s personal enjoyment.  Only two generations later, however, the world had changed enough that I would not only come to discover my own abilities musically as a child, but have the opportunity to pursue and to develop my talents, eventually leading to a formal education in music, and the pursuit of it as a profession.  So the background out of which I come remains somewhat of a mystery to me, as to why and how I got my muse.  I can only say that, at a very young age, I somehow knew that music was important to me and that I had a keen interest in it.  And my interest only grew with my own musical studies, formally begun at about age ten.