As I was writing about doing ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ and seeing Maurice Abravanel in the front row I remembered how much he had given to me as a young girl. Every year the Utah Symphony would come to Cedar City and play for the school children. I remember marching over to the College by classes to the Gymnasium to hear the Symphony. This was before the College built their new Auditorium. The Gym was a horrible place to hold a classical music concert but I learned to look forward to these concerts. Because Maurice Abravanel insisted on bringing this music to the children of Utah who would have very little opportunity to attend a symphony under the best of conditions. We got the best of what was possible.
Because of those efforts I learned to love music. I love Classical and Opera, Rock and Roll and Country, Blues and Jazz, I can’t say that I love Rap. I have a very hard time finding music in that.
As my kids began to grow, I tried to expose them to all kinds of music. I took them to the symphony and the opera and the ballet. I made sure they knew who the real truly great singers of my day were. The Kingston Trio, The Mama’s and the Papa’s, The Supremes, just to name a few. I tried to like the music they liked but I did not really like the hard head banging rock that they liked. Oh well every generation has their music.
Oh Yes. I also have those fond memories. I really loved the musical concerts with the fine operatic singers. It was so cool because they talked to us and explained the music they were singing and I was really surprised when I went away to college and told my peers about our experiences in school with the fine arts and I discovered that not every school district in Utah was as fortunate as we were. Thanks heavens for the generosity of our school and local officials to arrange such a suberb learning experience for us!