music as part of my Life Experiences
I started listening to pop music in 1963, mostly on TV and on Top 40 stations that mixed Motown R&B (Supremes, Temptations, Stevie Wonder) with fledgling rock (Every Brothers, Four Seasons, Beach Boys). By 1964 my older brother was buying vinyl albums (Johnny Rivers, Grand Funk Railroad, The Beatles).
The first arena concert I attended during high school was James Brown, and then Steppenwolf, and then Three Dog Night, all at the Nashville Municipal Coliseum. Local and regional bands played almost weekly at school events and in private driveways, which I attended very often. My high school fraternity had The Drifters, a national R&B act.
The orchestral interest built on bits and pieces of exposure (my parents' only consistent event out was the Nashville Symphony) until it took a leap in 1977 when I subscribed to the Nashville Symphony full season on returning there after law school. Upon moving in 1981, I took a subscription for the Houston Symphony for twenty years, spanning both marriages.
My parents could each read piano music and after 1960 we always had an upright piano in the house. My brothers learned to play, but I did not. My father sang in the church choir, singing a solo piece a couple of times a year. My older brother, Mike, during his eighth grade year played French Horn in the Overton High School (7-12 grades) orchestra. My younger brother, Gary, concentrated on singing with a church-related touring group.
In the seventh grade I sang an about one minute solo in the Music Department's presentation before about 2,000 persons. I was the only available bass singer. I never learned to read music, matching my high school church choir singing voice to others through the practice sessions. Sometimes church service hymns gave me goosebumps. After years of smoking, which I started in college, my voice raised a bit to baritone.
My parents could each read piano music and after 1960 we always had an upright piano in the house. My brothers learned to play, but I did not. My father sang in the church choir, singing a solo piece a couple of times a year. My older brother, Mike, during his eighth grade year played French Horn in the Overton High School (7-12 grades) orchestra. My younger brother, Gary, concentrated on singing with a church-related touring group.
In the seventh grade I sang an about one minute solo in the Music Department's presentation before about 2,000 persons. I was the only available bass singer. I never learned to read music, matching my high school church choir singing voice to others through the practice sessions. Sometimes church service hymns gave me goosebumps. After years of smoking, which I started in college, my voice raised a bit to baritone.
Rock and its fellow travelers
While "the origins of rock" began in the 1950s, Rock music to me began in 1963 with the Beatles and the 1964-65 British invasion by the Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Kinks, The Animals, on TV shows Shindig and American Bandstand. Rock has many times melded with Blues, Folk, Pop, Jazz, and Country. The Rock that takes over my body and mind together is most closely aligned with British Blues (Eric Clapton and Eric Burden) and Classical (Moody Blues and King Crimson), although I am totally snowed by many folk ballads (As Tears Go By and Harvest Moon).
My Personal Listening ChronologyThe Beatles (1964)The AnimalsThe Rolling Stones Cream^Jefferson AirplaneThe DoorsThe Moody BluesKing CrimsonCrosby, Stills & Nash (1970)Neil YoungPink FloydTrafficAllman Brothers BandFleetwood Mac~U2 (1993)The Cranberries10,000 ManiacsSmashing PumpkinsThe Bluesbreakers led by John Mayall^Loreena McKennitt (2002)Lana Del Ray (2019) | The All-time Greatest Rock ActsThe Rolling Stones (breadth, longevity)The Beatles (creativity)Pink Floyd (musicianship) Bob DylanNeil Young Jimi HendrixAllman Brothers BandLed ZeppelinThe Moody BluesFleetwood Mac~Eric Clapton^VocalistsMick Jagger (Rolling Stones)Linda RonstadtCrosby, Stills & Nash (& Young)Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac)Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)Van MorrisonJim Morrison (The Doors) | Great Pieces, in No Order (Spotify)"Glad" Traffic"All Along the Watchtower" Dave Mason"In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" Allmans"Hypnotized" Fleetwood Mac~"Strawberry Fields Forever" Beatles"Moondance" Van Morrison"Pretty When You Cry" Lana Del Ray"Melancholy Man" Moody Blues"As Tears Go By" Rolling Stones"Harvest Moon" Neil Young"All Your Love" Bluesbreakers^"Can't Ya Hear Me Knocking" Stones"Epitaph" King Crimson"Somebody to Love" Jefferson Airplane"Disarm" Smashing Pumpkins"Sensitive Kind" John Mayall^"Love Reign O'er Me" The Who"Wish You Were Here" Pink Floyd"Gypsy" Jimi Hendrix"You Make Loving Fun" Fleetwood Mac~"Like a Hurricane" Neil Young |
Symphonic (Classical) Music
It is expensive to put on, as a professional orchestra employs about 100 musicians able to play about 110 instruments. It has been around as a musical style for more than 300 years.It is composed and performed all around the world, including as a standard academic discipline in high schools and colleges.Classical music is very often part of two other performance forms, ballet and opera.
A Chronology of ComposersJohann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)Ludwig Van Beethoven(1770–1827)Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)Richard Wagner (1813–1883)Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)Sergei Rachmaninoff (1860–1943)Béla Bartók (1881–1945)Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)Aaron Copland (1907–1990)John Williams (1932-)Philip Glass (1937-)John Luther Adams (1953-)Hildur Guðnadóttir (1982-) | My "The Greatest" ListBeethovenMozartTchaikovskyBachStravinskyMahlerWagnerBartokWilliams |
~The group Fleetwood Mac has had three distinctive lineups, all with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. The first was all English and included guitarist Peter Green, and members Green recruited along with Fleetwood and McVie, who Green named the band after. This lineup is often called "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac." The second lineup featured American guitarist/singer/songwriter Bob Welch, and separately the successful English solo act Christine Perfect who wrote songs, sang, played keyboards and then had married John McVie. This lineup was quite successful; the Bob Welch song "Hypnotized" is included in the sample list. The third lineup was one of the most commercially successful rock groups of all time. Bob Welch left in late 1974 and the Los Angeles performing duo of singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks and guitarist/songwriter/singer Lindsey Buckingham joined the two McVies and Fleetwood a few months later. This third lineup is represented on the song list by Christine McVie's "You Make Loving Fun." For more, see this You-Tube video on the band.
^The Bluesbreakers and John Mayall: Mayall (1933-2024) resembled Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington in being the permanent leader of a changing group of musicians he recruited. (The only other rock band leader who could be mentioned like this, but is in a far distant second place, is Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.) From Wikipedia: "Among those with a tenure in the Bluesbreakers are guitarists Eric Clapton ([formerly of Yardbirds], later of Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos and a successful solo career), Peter Green (later of Fleetwood Mac) and Mick Taylor (later of the Rolling Stones), bassists John McVie (later of Fleetwood Mac) and Jack Bruce (later of Cream), drummers Aynsley Dunbar (later of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, Journey, and Jefferson Starship) and Mick Fleetwood (later of Fleetwood Mac)), and numerous other[ musician]s. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1970, then dropped it for twelve years." I discovered the music (I had respect for the Mayall name) about 2000 when I bought a multi-CD collection.
~The group Fleetwood Mac has had three distinctive lineups, all with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. The first was all English and included guitarist Peter Green, and members Green recruited along with Fleetwood and McVie, who Green named the band after. This lineup is often called "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac." The second lineup featured American guitarist/singer/songwriter Bob Welch, and separately the successful English solo act Christine Perfect who wrote songs, sang, played keyboards and then had married John McVie. This lineup was quite successful; the Bob Welch song "Hypnotized" is included in the sample list. The third lineup was one of the most commercially successful rock groups of all time. Bob Welch left in late 1974 and the Los Angeles performing duo of singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks and guitarist/songwriter/singer Lindsey Buckingham joined the two McVies and Fleetwood a few months later. This third lineup is represented on the song list by Christine McVie's "You Make Loving Fun." For more, see this You-Tube video on the band.
^The Bluesbreakers and John Mayall: Mayall (1933-2024) resembled Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington in being the permanent leader of a changing group of musicians he recruited. (The only other rock band leader who could be mentioned like this, but is in a far distant second place, is Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.) From Wikipedia: "Among those with a tenure in the Bluesbreakers are guitarists Eric Clapton ([formerly of Yardbirds], later of Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos and a successful solo career), Peter Green (later of Fleetwood Mac) and Mick Taylor (later of the Rolling Stones), bassists John McVie (later of Fleetwood Mac) and Jack Bruce (later of Cream), drummers Aynsley Dunbar (later of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, Journey, and Jefferson Starship) and Mick Fleetwood (later of Fleetwood Mac)), and numerous other[ musician]s. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1970, then dropped it for twelve years." I discovered the music (I had respect for the Mayall name) about 2000 when I bought a multi-CD collection.