I had many music history classes in college, memorizing lots of composers’ birth/death dates (most of which I’ve long forgotten, not that it matters even a little bit, thanks to the internet). But tonight I’m reflecting on my personal history of music and realizing that music impacted me in a wide variety of ways during the different “eras” of my life.
I grew up on musicals. That’s the first music that I was consciously aware of. The first time my family went to an indoor theater (as opposed to a drive-in movie) was to see My Fair Lady, with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.
And I can still picture the light blue sweater and blue/yellow plaid skirt I wore on an elementary school field trip to see The Sound of Music at the Century 21 theater in San Jose. That was a defining moment of my young life.
The Music Man. Camelot. The King and I. Oliver. Oklahoma. West Side Story. Flower Drum Song. Fiddler on the Roof. South Pacific. The list goes on and on. These movies were the soundtrack of my childhood. We had recordings of most of them and I spent hours singing along and memorizing the lyrics. (I would sometimes dance along as well; such as when I was around twelve and would go home, put on my red net petticoat, and dance my little heart out to “Shipoopi, shipoopi, shipoopi, the girl who’s hard to get…” from The Music Man!) 😂
I absolutely loved the clever use of words, the intricate rhythms, and the beautiful melodies. But many of these movies had either a positive message, or at least a few positive songs, or else upbeat tunes which raised my energy regardless of the lyrics. So I think I owe them a debt of gratitude for helping me develop into a pretty darn positive and optimistic person.
