Yes, Mrs. Smith was very good to me. Before Montessori existed she got me into the violin program a year before any other student. So at second grade, age six, I was a music geek. By third grade I was tuning all the violins and violas, so they had to show up early to practice. I was second chair by fourth grade and concertmistress when el primo broke his collar bone.
Piano ensued, ballet ceased, then all music education ceased except Santa bought me a cheap beginner guitar at age 12 and three of us gals took up a folk ensemble and we practiced between trips to the ice cream truck. “500 Miles,” “Day is Done,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” were our repertoire. I did the chords and tried to sing harmony but the other two couldn’t get it and started singing with me.
We were a middle school disaster. But we had to play at the variety show. I believe we performed “Day is Done,” still one of my favorite folk songs.
Now I’ve taken up the guitar and have been given many exercises but have only done a few. See, I don’t want to master “Stairway to Heaven” or even “Layla.” I just want to play some acoustic guitar for me, for Jim, for family and friends to sing to.
It’s not that I’ve not been practicing. A flood of music that I might be able to play has entered my mind these past few weeks. Dylan, Baez, Dave Mason, and more. My task is to make sure the lyrics are correct, then I try to replicate the chords with ones I know and ones I can learn. It’s kind of scary as I wake up at night knowing a chord progression I couldn’t figure out the day before. We’ll see what happens, hopefully next week.
Food songs? Apart from Neapolitan songs while eating pasta, I don’t know.
I do know a poem, from the Child’s Garden of Verses, that every child loves to hear; The Goops. All I want to do is play a few chords and have family and friends sing. I hope I learn enough to make them happy. Cheers, Dee
Cooking with Dee 
Brava to Sallie P. for grade school music. And to Mrs. Hoffman for piano lessons.
p.s. My solo was the first verse of Bridge Over Troubled Water and there wasn’t a dry eye in… my family.
So, did you push el primo so you could become concertmistress? ;-
I know enough guitar to have a singalong around a campfire, and that’s pretty much what I want out of it. Happy times!
I think el primo was a passenger on a legal motorcycle and crashed. He was a sweetheart and came to recital but couldn’t bend his neck for the fiddle. No pushing was required, and that was the year of “The King and I” and I was cast as a sub-lead. I freaked out and bartered it to become one of the twins. So the answer is no, the concert master was not pushed, at least by me! I was too young to even think of a learners’ permit. Dee