Why Hello Again (…or maybe it’s cosmic)
Do you have a piece that has crossed your path repeatedly over the years? I’m thinking of a piece that you unexpectedly wind up playing multiple times rather than one you play for yourself, standards or encores. I recently realized that I have such a piece and it’s been reappearing in my life at interesting junctures ever since I was in college.
The first time I played Schumann’s Three Romances I was accompanying a flutist for her senior recital. I had done my own senior recital a few weeks earlier and so performing the Romances was part of a larger rite of passage. We played them for several organizations over the following summer and then each went on to graduate schools on opposite ends of the country.
A few summers later, I got my first actual music job working at a summer music camp as an accompanist and counselor. Of course I had taught privately for a few years but now an organization was paying me for my hard earned knowledge and skills! One day, one of the violin teachers asked me to read some pieces with her and I was delighted to again find myself looking at the Romances. We played them together on one of the weekly programs and later at another community event.
I had quite an eclectic career when my children were young. I taught school music, private piano, and did a bit of performing. I also volunteered at my older daughter’s school as an accompanist for all the music events. One day the music teacher shyly handed me a folio of music and asked if I would play it with him. Imagine my surprise as I found myself staring at the Romances – transposed for trombone! We played them on the elementary school holiday program the same night my flutist friend from college debuted at Carnegie Hall. Oh boy…
Once my children were old enough, I went back to University for my doctorate and got a job teaching piano at a community college in an outlying area 140 miles away. Quite the weekly commute. The violin teacher and I sometimes read music together and one Wednesday afternoon there were those Romances again. We never actually performed together but we sure had a good time reading through music.
As is the way of things, eventually programs were restructured at the college and I found myself teaching privately part time, as well as blogging, giving workshops and adjudicating. I also spend time playing with my musical neighbors for fun and at our regular community events. One of our neighbors is a member of the local flute club and you guessed it… We played the Romances together at a community potluck a few years ago.
Looking back, it seems the Romances have appeared at turning points in my musical life. But why? Perhaps they allowed me to measure my newest musical self against the younger me? Maybe someone else in the room needed those pieces right then and I was part of the vehicle? I can accept either or both. I’m still not sure about the meaning of the elementary school vs. Carnegie Hall thing though.
