Musical legacies

There was a time when the lean machine hoped to master the 88 keys. Tickling the ivories, however, proved more of a challenge that expected. So did drumming. And strumming six strings. The only four-stringer that was somewhat mastered proved to be the ukulele. Go figure. Don Ho did not need to look out. During these hopeful years the movement from the imposed Beethoven, Bach and Brahms on the pi-a-no by Miss Klinck, a fearsome, large, hairy-lipped of unknown old age battle-axe, who only dressed in vast black dresses, or not knowing the term then, muumuus. (Can you imagine the psychological damage?) A surprise then, that a more than middle-aged music lover still noodles on the keyboard to lift the spirits, to more modern music. And it started with ragtime, falling in love with the genre. “Maple Leaf Rag”, Scott Joplin’s masterpiece is justifiably a classic. Not so easy to play. But after toil, time and trouble it was memorized, played with only a few errors. That success led to meeting a curious oddball, also underscoring the age of your correspondent. It was at Harbourfront, at their Silent Film Festival (yes...