Music – the Piano

Hazel Mae, growing up in the flapper era, loved popular music and played the banjo and the piano. She took piano lessons for several years from her Uncle Herbert (everyone referred to him as Uncle Bootie), Nana’s youngest brother. She also enjoyed classical music and went to ballets and concerts with us in the 1980s.

Around 1952(?) when ‘Aunt Ida’ died, Dad inherited a Baldwin baby grand player piano. Ida and Art had a home on the shores of Lake Erie, not far from Cedar Point. They (along with Ida’s sister Rose and her husband Leo) were not related to us, just very good friends of Kate; childless couples who adored Dick like a child of their own. The piano had been used at the Cedar Point ballroom at the time when big bands played for the summer crowds. The piano became Mom and Dad’s prized possession although it dwarfed our little dining room. Jim and I were immediately signed up for piano lessons. Uncle Bootie sent sheet music and Mom started practicing and regaining her skills as a pianist. And Dad spent hours teaching himself to play by ear the melodies of his favorite songs. He never did learn how to read music but eventually learned enough chords that he could pair up with his pecked out melodies that his music was presentable and recognizable. It takes an enormous amount of concentration and effort to pick out a tune when you have never played an instrument or read sheet music beyond the church hymnal. I’ve often thought that this hobby provided a lot of enjoyment and diversion from his health problems for the last 15 years of his life.

As Dad’s balance became more impaired, Mom became more and more concerned that one day he might fall under some part of the piano, knocking the extremely heavy piano on top of him, and she would not be able to lift it off and help him. Finally she convinced him that it should be sold. Can anyone remember when that happened?

Music – Big Bands

Dick especially, but Hazel Mae also, loved swing music from the Big Band era. He had a large collection of 78s (the purist’s media for the original recording) stored in a large glass enclosed display case. He organized the records into albums that held maybe a dozen or more (20?) of the 78s. He would decorate the outside of each binder spine to show the name of the artist represented by the enclosed records. He favored Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Artie Show, some of the Dorsey tunes, etc. He fancied himself a drummer and had a little practice pad, sticks and wires that he would play along with the songs.

I can remember as a young teenager, maybe 8th or 9th grade, going out with Dad on Saturday mornings to scavenge the used records bins at Clarkins on South Arlington Street and other stores. These would be mostly 45s. The records had been removed from jute boxes around town – rotated out with fresh product. Dad would let me pick out a few pop tunes from the 50s to buy and he would search for some big band music to add to his collection. Once I got my driver’s license (I qualified at 15 because Dad was disabled and Mom needed help driving) I became his designated driver for these excursions.