My Baby Boomer Universe
My Baby Boomer Universe is a wild idea of mine to give my piano students a peek into the music of their teacher’s musical world; the world of music that crossed my ears and formed me since 1952. I am a baby boomer!
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A Little Background
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This music will include memories of what I first remember coming out of our first black and white TV in the 1950’s. Variety Shows, like the Ed Sullivan Show showcasing new talent or prominent entertainers of the day were very popular in the 50’s and 60’s. They featured music that were often currently on top of the charts.
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It will include the music of my parents because that’s the music the musicians of the time were recording and playing. My parents were well acquainted with the music of the big band era. The radio and movies were filling the air waves with the music of 1930’s and ‘40’s. This is the music I heard from the back seat of our car. It’s probably the place I first heard the voice of Frank Sinatra.
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Much of this music was inspired by wartime memories or situations resulting from the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Actually, in was a time of great musical creativity.
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That creativity continued in the 1950’s with the advent of Rock and Roll. All this happened during my early grade school years. I was learning how to read the same time Elvis Pressley was making his mark on the world. The 1960’s saw the explosion of Rock and Roll Bands. It was in the 1960’s that I began my music studies. I was anxious to play the latest song of The Beatles.
My mom bought the families first stereo in the early 1960’s. She bought a TV promotion set of LP’s (Long Playing records) of the 50 Greatest Classical Themes. Many of these great themes caught my ear and their first impression has stayed with me to this today.
My love of great movie themes began at this time. I remember wanting to learn “A Time for Us” when the movie Romeo and Juliet premiered in 1968. All this occurred in my formative teen years. This had a big impact on me. It was also at this time that I began my love of classical music.
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What I’m saying is that there is a unique impact new music, whether from movies, rock bands or first exposure to classical masterpieces has on them. I’m also saying that the age one is on hearing this new music has a unique impact on the person.
The music of Elvis, on my 8–9-year-old self, had a considerable difference on me that my teenage aunts. The Beatles had a big difference on my 14-year-old self than my 35-year-old my parents and especially my 60-year-old grandparents.
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This project is all very autobiographical. This is the timeline of my life intersecting with cultural, social and music history. I hope you enjoy my arrangements and commentary on my nostalgic trek through My Baby Boomer Universe.