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My father used to sing to us as long as I can remember. The songs were Neapolitan
ballads. My mother encouraged the arts and demonstrated them in her
handicrafts. Not only were the arts professed in my family, I encountered them elsewhere in my extended family. I
was close to all my cousins, and my cousin Frank Sterlina
(Frankie) was one cousin I played with the most being a boy just a year or
so older than me. Frankie lived across the street from our house, and we
were at each other's house day in and day out. At a certain time of the
year, on Saturdays, when I went to Frankie's house, his father would be
listening to the Metropolitan Opera on radio. My father's sister, Aunt
Jenny, also had a deep interest in the opera. More on that later.
When I was in 6th grade, our class put on a class play, such as can be
at that age. My teacher, Miss Schier (sp.) asked me to design the backdrop.
It was very well executed, and I have a strong memory about how much she
thought of the final product. It must have been around Halloween because
the backdrop I designed featured a spider web.
Sometime early in Junior High School, my parents decided I should learn to
play the violin. So, I started getting lessons from a lady who played in
the Schenectady, New York symphony. I took the lessons at her home, and
easy walking distance from my house. For some time, I used a rented violin.
I did well enough that I started playing in my junior high school
orchestra, so my parents purchased a new violin for me. I remember well the
Saturday we bought it. I continued playing the violin along with continuing
lessons into high school. How it came about, I don't remember, but I
started playing in the All-City Youth Orchestra. During this time my cousin
Louise DiCerbo, Aunt Jenny's daughter, was taking voice lessons as an
operatic soprano. And Louise was very good. So much so that she was
enlisted into the Academy for the Performing Arts at La Scala, Milan,
Italy, an academy started in 1776. One weekend my parents met with Aunt
Jenny and Uncle Vicent at their house, the meeting was about me going to
Italy to study violin at the same time as Louise. Another vivid memory. I
told my parents there when questioned that I didn't want to go because of
the violin, while it was fun to play, I was sure that I was never going to
be an accomplished musician. And that was that. Louise went, I didn't!
A few years ago, I gave my violin to my granddaughter, Alexandra, who was learning
to play it through school.
As I grew older but still living at home, I rented a saxophone (Alto)
and learned to play it. It was a fun time. The basement in our home was
comfortable, so I would do my playing in the basement. The violin was okay
"upstairs" but saxophone playing was for "downstairs."
My interest is music continued with listening to records. This was the
period in of the 33 1/3 records. I was working in the "garage"
and used my earnings to buy symphony and operatic records. At the start I purchased
a very basic record player to play my records. This music listening to
classical music by me has continued to this day.
Another aspect of music for me has been singing. I sang in the school
choir at my high school, in a coral group in the Air Force, Catholic church
choirs at Sacred Heart and St. Joseph Cathedral, both in Baton Rouge. I
find classical church music to be a form of my prayers especially Gregorian
chant and "High Masses."
My wife, Shirley, also liked music, not so much the classical
"heavy" stuff but most. In fact we used
to have music parties where we would listen to music seriously for about an
hour after a nice meal. I would print up prior to our concert a pamphlet of
the music to be played that evening as a remembrance for our guests. The
music was played in our family room where I had installed a full sound
system.
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