Remembering my friend......

Mark trying out a fried scorpion during a trip to China

I'm a pretty ordinary person.  I live an ordinary life and do ordinary things.  In spite of my boring claim to all things ordinary, there have been a few people in my life who believe me to be extraordinary in some regard.  Because their opinion of me is, for one reason or another, distorted, I'm careful not to say or do anything that might cause them to see me for the ordinary person I really am.  It's a great feeling to know that someone sees something in you worthy of admiration.

My friend and teacher, Mark, was one of those people.  I'm not sure why, but he thought I was a much better person than I really am.  He made me feel good about myself.  Today I received the sad news that he passed away.  And suddenly, with one less person thinking I'm special, I'm back to feeling ordinary.....

Mark was my music history professor.  I was terrified my first day in his class because I'd heard from other students that he was a miserable SOB and his class was very hard.  But I found this not to be true.  Mark brought humor and wit to his classroom; his knowledge of his field was extensive and his enthusiasm for his subject was infectious.  He was one of the best professors I've ever had; he sparked my curiosity about many things, leading me to pursue different courses of study outside the classroom, and he inspired me musically leading me to branch out into areas, such as recorder and harpsichord, that I previously had had no interest in.  He was the only one of my professors to attend my senior recital who wasn't required, as a member of my jury, to be there.

He was my professor for only two years, but he was my friend for almost 20!  Besides music, Mark and I shared a love of travel and a passion for food.  I loved sharing conversations with him about Indian vegetarian cuisine, or Moroccan cuisine (his personal favorite).  He had a wicked wit and a delightfully sarcastic sense of humor that I loved!  I never had a conversation with him or an email from him that didn't make me laugh (or at least chuckle!)

I relied on Mark for all sorts of information because it seemed there was almost nothing he didn't know something about!  When I wanted to know which was the best recording of early Italian madrigals, I called Mark.  When I wanted to know how to make preserved lemons, I asked Mark.  When I wondered if it was true that the Buddha's last words to his disciples were, "Work out your own salvation with diligence," I asked Mark.  He was a treasure trove of information, both useful and useless; a true "Modern Major General" in every sense of the word!

Mark introduced me to authors I'd never read, music I'd never heard, ideas I'd never thought of, food I'd never tasted.  But the thing I'm going to miss most with his passing is having someone to sound my philosophical ideas off of.  He was quite opinionated, but at the same time, open to discussion.  He stimulated me towards new ways of thinking and introduced ideas that were new to me. 

I am going to miss him in a million different ways!

Why I would fire my music history professor

Last night, on my way home from pottery class, I heard this amazing orchestral piece on the radio. The first thing I heard upon starting up my car was an unfamiliar piano piece that sounded like Chopin. I'm always so pleased with myself when I can correctly identify the composer of an unfamiliar piece just by hearing a few bars of music and, of course, I readily credit my amazing music history professor for this. This definitely was Chopin.


But then..... much to my surprise, the orchestra came in. What???!!! An orchestra? Chopin never wrote anything for orchestra! I must be mistaken. Completely baffled, I continued listening all through the first movement. When the second movement came along, I was convinced I was hearing hints of Chopin nocturnes. Whoever wrote this piano concerto must have been inspired by Chopin.  By the third movement, I was incredulous at the audacity of this Chopin copycat because now, it seemed a Mazurka was blaring out of my car speakers!

Although I had reached my destination by the beginning of the third movement, I stayed in my car until the end of the piece. I had to know who the composer was! At the end of the piece, the announcer said, "that was Chopin's piano concerto no. 2 played by........."

I was stunned! Although I would never presume to call myself a pianist, I do "play at" the piano and Chopin is one of my favorite composers for that instrument. I had NO IDEA he had composed not one, but  apparently TWO piano concertos. This embarrassing and grievous gap in my musical knowledge must be the fault of my music history professor, who never shared this information with me!

For Shame!!!