My Wise Old Grandmother - Music, page 2

I’ve had minimal contact with my mother since the
age of 10, and my brothers and sisters didn’t take
to music like I did, so I have not been able to
confirm much of what I have heard about music in
my family, but I will at least repeat what I have
heard. Perhaps someone somewhere might read
this and be able to confirm it.

I know my mother played piano, and I have heard
that she also played the organ and was one of the
accompanists at one time for the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir. True or false, I don’t really
know, but I sure would like to believe it’s true. In
doing research for this site, I discovered that my
mom also played the clarinet since she is listed as a
member of the Concert Band in the 1950 El Toro,
the annual for King High School in Kingsville,
Texas. She is not listed in the 1951 annual.

I have heard that all of us children started piano
lessons with my mother when we were about two.
I know I was playing the piano at the age of six
before starting school because when starting the
first grade in Brigham City, Utah, we were given a
music test. Those of us who already knew how to
play an instrument were enrolled in music and
could choose to continue with the same instrument
we already played, or could choose another
instrument. I chose the violin, which I continued
playing when I moved to Kingsville, Texas, after
being adopted by my wise old grandmother in
December 1965. I went on to make Regional and
State Orchestras in Texas, as well as earning
several University Interscholastic League medals in
solo violin and violin/piano duets.

When I went off to college at Texas A&M
University, my wise old grandmother didn’t think I
would ever be coming home again and sold most
of my music memorabilia at one of her (in)famous
garage sales. However, I have always kept my
very first UIL violin solo medal with me (see
Figure 1) because I earned it in seventh grade at a
time when seventh graders generally were not
allowed to compete in UIL competition.

I pulled another stunner in ninth grade when I tried
out for second violin for the South Texas Regional
Orchestra. The judges asked me if I would be
interested in trying the first violin part, and they
subsequently placed me at fifth chair in the first
violin section of twelve violinists. I placed ahead of
two friends from my school who had tried out on
first violin and thus had much more time to practice
the parts than I did.

During my high school years, I played second
violin with the Texas A&I University Symphony,
along with my mom’s father who taught health and
physical education at the University. During my
senior year, I also played with the Corpus Christi
Symphony. My wise old grandmother would drive
me to Corpus for rehearsals and sit there simply
enjoying the music while we rehearsed.

When I went off to college at Texas A&M
University, I was frustrated that they had no music
program, notwithstanding the fact that they had
(and still have) one of the nation’s largest marching
bands. Consequently, I joined the Brazos Valley
Symphony Orchestra, and after moving to
Houston in 1977, I played with the Houston
Symphony for one year. When I moved back to
College Station in 1983, I rejoined the Brazos
Valley Symphony but only stayed for one year. In
1993, I sold my violin to raise money to allow me
to stay in San Diego, where I had inadvertently
arrived one day—and stayed!

With the lack of a music program and rehearsal
facilities at Texas A&M, I took a greater interest
in vocal music. My step-grandmother on my
mom’s side is listed in the 1951 annual with the
Girls Chorus (as well as being Class Editor for the
annual). Although I had made the Region Chorus
in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, vocal music
was not my main interest until college when I
joined the Texas A&M University Century Singers
and the Brazos Valley Chorale.

After college, I sang with the Chancel Choirs at
First Presbyterian Church, Houston; Grace
Presbyterian Church, Houston; and First
Presbyterian Church in Bryan. I also sang with the
Men’s Ensembles at all three churches.

In 1994, after having left organized religion behind
me, I sang with the Gay Men’s Chorus of San
Diego (1993-1994, 1996-2000), and the San
Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (1995-1996). In
addition to singing with those two Choruses, I
used my publishing skills to create some marketing
campaigns for them, as well as designing programs
for their concerts. As I get older, my memory skills
fail me more often, making it difficult to sing with a
Chorus where one has to memorize the music, so I
resign myself to singing around the house, listening
to my collection of over 25,000 digital music files,
and occasionally playing something simple on Jim’s
baby grand piano. Jim plays in some chamber
music groups in San Diego and doesn’t know that
I still practice on his piano, so don’t tell him.