The sweet sounds of music

It was important to Dad and Mom that their children be exposed to the cultural arts. Being a closet artist, Mom sought to grace the walls of our home with beautiful artwork, and keep a supply of art materials in stock for our creative outlet. Mom and Dad’s mutual appreciation for good music resulted in a state of the art stereo system, and a significant collection of musical recordings that ranged from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and classical music to Big Band from the 1950’s and Broadway musical scores to the best of the Three D’s. Dad listened to Mozart, Wagner and Copeland while he read the paper. Mom listened to Vivaldi and Tchaichovsky while she did her housework, and to Christmas music when she was homesick. The girls danced many a private ballet recital to The Nutcracker Suite and The Waltz of the Flowers, and knew every word to every song from The Sound of Music. Although the boys professed to be less inspired by classical music I remember playacting with them to Peter and the Wolf (David especially liked to be Peter, while Brad was the wolf) and witnessing a spectacular three man sword fight to Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King. All of our listening to good music, whether intentional or incidental, prepared us for the chance to attend professional musical events with our parents. Dad and Mom would invite, and sometimes cajole, us to be their guest several times a year at some of the many amazing cultural offering in the Cleveland area, including ballet, opera, Cleveland Orchestra concerts and plays. I remember attending the opera Aida and, although I didn’t understand a word that was sung, being strongly affected by the emotion of the performance. I’m sure that Doug’s interest in the guitar inspired our attendance at the classical guitar recital at the outdoor Blossom Music Center. Blossom was also the venue for a fantastic Man of La Mancha performance and several Cleveland Orchestra concerts. When the Broadway cast of The Wiz came to town I think the whole family attended that performance, and came home singing “Ease on down, ease on down the road. Don’t you carry nothin’ that will be a load. Come on and ease on down, ease on down the road”.