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
[email protected]://lizcraigwriter.com
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