Bobby McFerrin
I have rediscovered Bobby McFerrin. He is the perfect antidote to a wintery evening. Glass of wine (well, I don’t drink wine, but glass of something), fire in the fireplace, a Scrabble tournament in progress, and you have, what I call, a perfect evening.
My favorite piece of his is called, “A Piece, A Chord.” I heard it for the first time at my daughter’s dance recital at the Putney School in Vermont. Perhaps the best student recital I’ve ever seen. First, the talent was superb, the dances thoughtful and unique. The music for each performance set the tone, and it lasted 40 minutes.
If you’ve ever sat through a three-hour dance recital to see your kid dance for two minutes, you know what I mean. Not to mention, the hall is so big that if you don’t sit in the 10 front rows, and you have my eyesight, you can’t even see your kid. I once spent an entire recital watching the wrong kid. And, I know I’m not alone. (So, if you were the one inadvertently watching my kid, please let me know how she did!)
At CMC, I’m committed to keeping recitals to 60 minutes or less. We usually have five or six consecutive 50-minute sessions, which CMC teacher and sheet music manager, Olga Schrodl, painstakingly puts together. And, I mean “pain” in that stakingly. It requires such dubious concentration and effort on her part. Thank you, Olga!
At any rate, years ago, we went seriously over the 60-minute mark during one session. Any number of you reading this may remember that day. I thought there would be a mutiny. The weather wasn’t cooperating so the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of the students in the next session had piled into the entry hall, pressing their noises against the glass between them and the recital in progress. I thought I’d have heart failure. But, eventually that recital did end, and the next group took their seats. I wasn’t sure life would go on after that experience, but it did!