Portrait of the artist as a young music lover

Portrait of the artist as a young music lover

by Liz Craig

It all began before I was

born.My mother, a

professionally trained soprano, sang to me when

I was just a germ of a person.

She liked to play Helen Traubel

records.

My dad, on the other hand, preferred jazzy

Frankie Carle.The sounds of one or the other often lulled me to sleep when I was little.

Both my parents were musicians.

My mother sang popular romantic songs on the

St. Louis University radio station every week -- like

“L’amour, Toujours L’Amour.”

My dad played drums.

At Mizzou, he was a member of the very hep

Sunset Terrace Orchestra. Gordon Jenkins played

“Tiger Rag” to audition for the band, but they didn’t think he

was hep enough.

Fast forward.I began playing our piano at about age two. By age

three, I had composed my first

opus, yummily titled “The Cherry Song.” At five, my mother began teaching me to read notes. From

six on, I took piano lessons.

Leonard Bernstein

was my idol.I sat transfixed before the TV set watching his Young

People’s Concerts.

As a child, I was a big fan of Beethoven.The first record album I

owned myself was a Columbia recording of Beethoven’s “Pastoral”

Symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini. I played the grooves off that disc.

Later, I switched my affections to

Bachwhen I learned Two-Part

Inventions. Later, I would fall for Mozart, then Brahms

and Schubert. Now I like everybody. Except for

Schoenberg.

Fast forward.Years later, house-sitting

for someone with a piano, I wrote my first adult tune.

I didn’t know I could do that.Wow!

I wrote more music.

But neighborhood teachers hadn’t taught

me theory. So I studied jazz theory with John Elliott. He had

played piano with a combo at the Playboy

Club downtown for decades.

He called guys “cats.”He was definitely hep.

I worked in theater until my money

ran out.

I directed a dramatic play for a community theater

group and wrote and performed the theme and

incidental music for it. I also co-directed a couple

of musicals.

At ad agencies, I got to work

for arts organizations.

Ballet Omaha, Opera Omaha, and the Joslyn

Museum had slim budgets, but I enjoyed

doing TV, radio and print for them.

Great music and inspired visions have

always thrilled me.And they always will.

Thanks for watching.Thanks for watching.

Liz Craig913.236.7595

liz@lizcraigwriter.comhttp://lizcraigwriter.com