My Musical Autobiography

I grew up listening to Pop music. My father, in particular, loved the Beatles. I used to sit outside my older brother’s rooms and listen while they played records of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys. When I turned twelve years old, I received my own radio and was glued to it for years, listening to the current Pop songs. My favorite groups were Kansas, Boston, Queen, Billy Joel, Tears for Fears, and Simple Minds, just to name a few.

My mother fell in love with ragtime music after watching the movie, The Sting. I heard the music Scott Joplin a whole lot during my teen years.

My family took several trips to Hawaii when I was a child. I heard native Hawaiian music at luaus, along with watching the Hawaiians dance to it.

While attending Whitworth College, I took a study tour to Israel and heard native Israeli music played on the streets.

After getting married, my (ex)husband and I ate regularly at Mexican restaurants. Many of them played current Mexican pop music. I have also heard Indian music at Indian restaurants on a regular basis.

After moving to Asheville, NC, I was exposed to New Age music. It is often played in bookstores and restaurants in that town. I took a class on meditation, and heard music composed specifically for meditation. While in Asheville I played in the Blue Ridge Orchestra, a community orchestra conducted by Ron Clearfield, a cellist and New Age composer. I have listened to all of his recordings. In the orchestra, we played American Patriotic songs, older pop songs by Leroy Anderson, and some big band swing music for July 4th concerts. We played traditional Christmas songs, from America and England, for the Christmas concerts. In another concert we played Scottish music by harpist and composer William Jackson. He and his band were the soloist. They played instruments such as the celtic harp, fiddle, tin whistle, and the cittern. Bobby Hicks, a traditional bluegrass fiddle player, also soloed with us.

After several years of studying classical violin, I decided to take lessons in bluegrass fiddle. I learned tunes in the Old-time, Bluegrass, Scottish, and Irish genres. I listen to Irish fiddle music a great deal.

I attended a workshop on playing the didgeridoo, from Australia. I also attended a concert at UNCA of native Australian music and storytelling.

My son recommended the group Rodrigo y Gabriela to me. They are now one of my favorite groups. They are a guitar duo who combines flamenco and heavy metal styles, with a bit a gypsy thrown in.