Mozart's Birthday

Today is Mozart’s birthday.

Do you remember the movie “Amadeus”? It centers on the composer Salieri’s envy of Mozart’s genius. Once in a while WRR, my wake-up radio station, plays some of Salieri’s music as its “road rage remedy”: quiet music to calm harried drivers on Dallas’ wild highways. Salieri was a small russet potato next to Mozart’s Idaho – and he knew it.

Seems to me most of us are not even russets. I am just a little chip, and maybe a broken one. I could not compose even a jingle.

In junior high I played a cello in the school orchestra. I was not a good cellist. I gave up before I got to high school. From then on my musical experience has been as a listener.

I enjoy Tchaikovsky for his beautiful melodies. I also appreciate the technical skill of the musicians who play in the Garland Symphony. But I also realize I don’t know enough to understand what makes professional musicians thrill to Beethoven. A college course in “Music Appreciation” helped some, but when it comes to the structure and mathematics of classical music, I am ignorant.

Teachers make a big mistake when they tell children, “You can be anything you want to be.” I love the mellow sound of a cello, but no matter how hard I tried, my fingers never seemed to find the right place on the strings. The screeches my bow made hurt my ears, and those of everyone around me. I just did not have the talent.

So I learned to type instead. I became an excellent typist.