Tuesday, March 12, 2019

On Classical Music

My local classical radio station, WRTI 90.1, recently asked listeners what song got them hooked on classical music. Here is my recollection of my gateway drug! 

I was an excruciatingly adorable, inquisitive primary school student, and our school's music teacher, Mrs. Horne, took a liking to me. Because she knew that I especially loved her History of Music class, she invited me on a special field trip with the OTHER fifth-grade music class  – the rival B-House!

Leaving the school when I should be in class? What a special and slightly anarchist gift for a conscientious fifth-grader!

So, on a sunny spring day, while my fellow fifth-grade A-House chumps toiled away in the classroom, I tramped across the lawn of Pennwood Middle School with my new B-House friends to a nearby church. Such an adventure that day! There, sitting in a wooden pew, I first laid ears on classical musical in the form of an organ performance of Bach's Little Fugue in G Minor. Slack jawed and astounded, I was instantly and forever hooked on classical music as the church pew rattled to the thundering chords and rolling melody of the piece.

Since then, classical music has been as welcomed an adventure in my life as it was on that fateful middle-school day. Regularly, the gift of classical music lifts my spirits, taking me on a figurative musical field trip while I toil at the office.

Thank you, Mrs. Horne, for plucking me out of the monotony of fifth-grade A-House and leading me on the path to becoming a classical music obsessee and devoted member of WRTI!

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