I've probably loved music since I was five years old dancing to spanish bull-fighting music my dad brought back from one of his trips to Portugal. When I was young all I'd listen to was whatever my parents would put on, (I know 5 year olds can write html and css, but back in the early 90's we weren't as tech savvy) and what they'd put on was pretty eclectic. I listened to so many different genres, however none of it was North American. That's right, I only listened to foreign music, and classical music. Then again, classical music is foreign.
THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S FOREIGN! -- some one recently told me that the most influential classical composers were american. I almost had an aneurysm.
J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms -- German
Mozart -- Austrian
Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky -- Russian
Debussy, Ravel -- French
Sibelius -- Finnish
Dvorak -- Czech
Anyways, I had an interesting beginning to an interesting on and off again musical career.
It all began in Ms. Fiore’s grade 2 classroom. I was anaverage student at the time, interested only by the proximity to the nextrecess period, when there was an announcement asking for a couple of students, who could sing, to come down to the gymnasium. I by no definition consideredmyself a singer but saw this as an opportunity to get out of class. I raised myhand, and was sent down to the gym with two others. Once down there, they askedus to sing the anthem (the Canadian one) and I was extended an offer to come inand audition as well as write an entrance exam for St. Michael’s Choir School.Long story short, or more aptly, an uneventful story made brief, I got in. Thisis where my musical career began, and all other artistic endeavours whichensued were due to that seemingly small act of trying to get out of class. Slacker attitude for the win!
Now, while a student at St. Michael’s Choir School I have toadmit to myself, I really squandered a lot of musical opportunity. I would skip mymandatory piano lessons, feign sick for my piano recitals, and try and skip asmany masses as possible (we were required to sing at masses once a week). Infact, my only significant musical exposure was during the daily choralrehearsals where I had learned to sight read music and where I learned theappreciation for harmony and voicing. (although I didn't know it yet)
During my grade 6 year, I moved with myfamily to San Diego for 5 months, and Tokyo for 7. My only musical experience in San Diego was in a drama class at Stanley Middle School in La Jolla, California, where I had to sing and dance to that title song to the Inspector Gadget movie. Mr. Don Weedmark was my teacher, and he was a pretty rad dude. I just looked him up on ratemyteacher.com and it seems his other students seem to share my opinion of him. In Tokyo, my musical experience was limited to playing the recorder to the Titanic theme, where my clearest memory is noticing that one of the paintings of famous composers looked a lot like the police chief from Police Academy.
(more on Police Academy later)
When I came back I continuedmy uneventful musical career by perfecting my slacker style attitude towardsmusic. I wish I could say my year abroad added to my musical growth and made me wiser, but thesad truth is I squandered that as well. Let's be real, I was 12.
Being back in Toronto, I had to choose a new highschool sinceI was clearly unhappy at St. Michael’s (after all it was an all boys school, zing). Ilooked around and found out nearby was a public highschool called Forest HillCollegiate Institute. Best of all, walking distance.
My early musical influences up to that time had included classical choral music aswell as Gregorian chant. But an amazing thing happened in my last year, just months shy of leaving St. Mike's.
I heard this song.
THIS SONG CHANGED MY LIFE.
Where all my friends were lining up around the corner to get their copy of Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water signed by Fred Durst at Edge 102.1, (my school was just down the street) I was on Napster finding any copy of a Frank Sinatra tune I could get my hands on. "I Won't Dance" "I've Got The World On A String" "Hello Dolly" "Come Fly With Me" "The Best Is Yet To Come". When all my friends were listening to Top 40, I was listening to Top 40 of the 40's, 50's and 60's.
I didn't even realize that Frank Sinatra didn't write his own music until much later. I hadn't grasped the concept of a jazz standard, or a crooner, and in hindsight much of my love of those tracks can probably be attributed to the arranging work done by Nelson Riddle (the guy who underscored the Batman show in the 60's). Then I heard a recording of Frank (I wish I remember which one) where I heard another singer, Dean Martin. BAM! New artist to look up, and in that same recording Sammy Davis Jr. BAM! Another artist to look up. Soon I heard a recording of Louis Armstrong with Dean, and that lead me to my soulmate.
Ella Fitzgerald.
Who was this lady? I was in love. I fiercely googled her, and my heart sank. She passed away six years before I even knew the genre. I would never get to see this titan perform, let alone profess my undying love. A crushed 14 year old, I did the next natural thing.
COMPILED HER ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY!
Back to sanity. Anyways, now that I was in a strange new place where the rules of the world were staggeringly different, I felt super-charged to go out there and make the world my own. This is where I began exploring my interests in blues and jazz inhigh school, and thanks to the tutelage and encouragement of my music teacher LindaKreiner, I was able to really get knee deep. Scratch that, waist deep!
She was the one who taught me what a standard was. I remember when she showed me her fakebook. The world stopped turning for one dear moment as I realized. "All the songs I love, performed by all the people I loved, multiple versions of each, all available in this book, for me to make my own."
I'm getting all teary eyed just remembering how bright the musical future looked. All thanks to Linda Kreiner.
Mrs. Kreiner, if you're reading this, and I hope you are since I plan on e-mailing you a link to this post, you truly have a special place in my heart. I believe all I've accomplished is thanks to your encouragement of a shy boy in high school who had a secret love for all the classics. You made me fearless when it came to letting people know I loved those old romantic jazz love songs that swang and not the crap on the radio. I can't tell you how many walks home I'd be singing and belting "I've got the world on a string" or "Come Fly With Me".
Anyways, there's much much more of my musical discovery tour, but it's late right now so I'll save the rest for another blog post.
COMING NEXT: learning instruments, writing music, having my first arrangement performed, getting lazy and slacking off some more, regretting it, taking a brief hiatus, and then... something life changing.
See you then!
But until then,
Let the Games Begin! (I know it makes no sense here, but it's my tag line. I'll get one new soon)
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