My Old-time Rep

I sat at a tv with my friend Patti Loring some weeks ago and turned on the Lawrence Welk Show. Patti laughed out loud because of its randomness, and then I laughed at Patti laughing. We listened to these really cheesy arrangements of schmultzy music and I said “I think that a good 2/3 of my repertoire comes from these shows”.

One song after the other was played and so many of them were on a ballet class album somewhere. Most recently on “Next Chapter with Jessica Saund”. “Melody in F” by Anton Rubinstein turned into a light swing, I heard on this show many years ago.

I love this music, the old ballroom dances: the Rumba, the Foxtrot, the Polka, the Waltz, the Tango. It’s music meant for movement. It has a drive. Somehow I absorbed this music as a child. Maybe on a feverishly hot Saturday night at my Mimi’s house. The windows open and crickets chirping. There was always a good time to be playing music in her house. And a-one, and a-two, and a …