Musical Autobiography

Though I’ve had little chance to travel and experience music of other cultures first-hand, I have had a few lucky experiences in my life that at least got my veritable “foot in the door” toward the possibilities of music of the world. I’ve been able to come up with a few memorable points in my life that have highlighted music that diverges from a Vivaldi bassoon sonata.

[Point 1] My mother works as an accounting manager for a company that deals with textiles and the like, and she often comes in contact with employees of similar companies from a variety of places. She once frequently came across a man from India who seemed to take a liking to her and to our family, though I don’t ever specifically remember meeting him. I was fairly young at the time, and was always particularly pleased when my mother would bring home various Indian trinkets given to her by her friend and co-worker, including a rather large collection of ornaments that hang on our Christmas tree to this day. On one such occasion she brought home a CD of a sitar player, conveying the message that her friend thought my sister and I would like it. I distinctly remember how my sister and I listened to the CD with fascination, not really sure what to make of the strange sounds wafting from the Sony boom box. That instance was one of the earliest times that I realized that the musical world was not as small as my Classics for Kids (from Tchaikovsky to Copland) tape suggested.

[Point 2] I attend a Baptist church, and I have always had very Baptist parents and very Baptist grandparents. My grandfather on my father’s side, now passed on, was almost single-handedly responsible for introducing to the wonders of Southern Gospel (think the Gaithers). Though Southern Gospel isn’t exactly displaced from the Western realm, it is distinctively a cultural type of music that I don’t find myself hearing in the practice rooms of Blackman. My grandfather taught himself to play the guitar, and since my sister and I were barely old enough to hum a tune he would play and sing gospel songs for us. As we grew older, we were allowed to strum along on the guitar. To this day that style of singing is rooted in my memory. At my grandfather’s funeral a few years ago, the family entered the church sanctuary to one of those old gospel tunes I have heard all my life. Up until that moment I had remained fairly dry-eyed, but soon found myself collapsing against my mother in tears. My sister, also succumbing to grief, summed up the moment with “it’s the music!”

              

[Point 3] One of my more recent encounters with music of a different culture occurred during my senior year of high school when the Chamber Singers took a trip to Puerto Rico. While in Puerto Rico, we had numerous opportunities to perform for the public, from performances in local high schools and churches to a hotel resort bar. One of the best experiences of the trip was a music clinic we attended with two local choral groups in the Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos. During the morning spent at the clinic, we students from Belton and Honea Path (These are towns in SC. No one knows where they are but me) were given the opportunity to learn about the traditional music of Puerto Rico. Though Puerto Rican music is influenced by everything from African music to the music of the United States, the small island has a proud musical culture. We were afforded the opportunity to sing such genres as the danza and the plena. Singing with students who are immersed in these types of music every day made the experience that much more special.