January 14, 2011

No doubt about it – music chose Robert

Music chose me. Yup, it’s true. I didn’t come into this world in a overly-musical family and definitely going to the symphony wasn’t part of who we were. We were a nice, middle-class family in upstate New York, living on a quiet suburban street, in a small city on the Hudson River. Then one day I met Willa Loescher. Willa was the music teacher at the elementary school that I attended. She asked each of us if we wanted to play an instrument and when she came to me I nervously blurted out, “yes!” She asked what instrument I wanted to play and I had no idea, so she “assigned” me the cello (my hands were big enough to hold it).

The first day I got the instrument she taught me how to make a sound on the strings by pulling the bow across them. I was so excited that I went home and did just that for 4 hours! When I was finished, I went downstairs and told my parents that I was going to be a musician for the rest of my life. That was 1976 and I have never waivered.

It’s amazing when you think about it, that at the age of 8 I would know, but somehow I did, and to this day I am grateful for Ms. Loescher introducing me to the world of music. Music isn’t something I do, it’s part of who I am. I have been sick and running a fever and stepped out onto the stage (the show must go on) and I felt totally fine. The minute I start making music everything else disappears and I am completely satisfied.

Conducting concerts for children gives me a chance to give back what Ms. Loescher gave to me: a chance to see the possibilities and to find my path. Many years later I was re-acquainted with her, and the funny thing is that even if I hadn’t become a professional musician, her love of music was so obvious and overwhelming – I know I still would have attended concerts.