Thursday Interlude: "O Sole Mio"

Luciano Pavarotti, 1935-2007

Friday Sept 7, 2007
A Pavarotti update from RF
Ahem: For more on the great one's musical and other legacies, visit the updated NPR Web site here

Yesterday evening as I was driving to the high school to pick up my son Matt from football practice, I heard the news on NPR that Luciano Pavarotti was gravely ill. I knew he suffered complications from pancreatic cancer for a while. The report said he was at home with family and friends and slipping in and out of consciousness. When I woke up this morning and learned he had died. I was sad, sad but not surprised.

I went to the NPR Web site this morning and they have a wonderful tribute to him.
Visit the NPR Web site here and you can read about Pavarotti's modest beginnings, how opera star Joan Sutherland helped to bring his talent to the world and how he became "the most famous opera singer of our time."

I love his quote on the opening page of his official Web site:
"I think a life spent in music is a life beautifully spent and that is what I devoted my life to."

On the NPR Web site you can hear audio clips of his gorgeous tenor voice and see video of his performances. A few minutes ago I listened to "O Sole Mio." Have you ever noticed that people sing "O Sole Mio."when they are pretending to be singing opera. I remember for example, hearing it in cartoons I watched as a kid. I have this partial lyric rattling around in my head. It goes something like "O, Sole Mio, We are not mice. We're singing chipmunks..." Don't remember the rest, though it was something that rhymed with mice. For those of you old enough to remember, that had to have been Alvin and the Chipmunks? Anyone? Leave me a comment if you think of it.

And by the way, did you know "O Sole Mio" means "My Sun" in Italian? Here is the Wikipedia background on the song. When Pavarotti sang "O Sole Mio" he sang with the shadings of a great tenor. I wouldn't say I am a huge fan of opera, but when I was a kid growing up, Pavarotti was opera to me. I liked the fact that when he dropped in on a TV show, suddenly they seemed a bit classier, like a lady in a sweat suit sporting a tiara on her head. For me, and I suspect a lot of other people, his charisma and charm made opera seem a bit more accessible, not so distant.And I loved the fact that he was not above spoofing his image from time to time. He will be missed.

Last Saturday, a musical void of another kind was acknowledged during a college football game. September 1 was the first game of the season for Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Tech played East Carolina and that day The Washington Post had a nice profile of Ryan "Stack" Clark, the band member who died during the shootings at Tech last April. You may remember my earlier blog entry about him. Last Saturday before the game, balloons were released in memory of the 32 students. Clark was a member of Tech's Marching Virginians. In a story published on September 1, 2007 Post staff writer Adam Kilgore wrote:

The Marching Virginians are still healing, but they are also healers. Saturday, the Hokies' football team opens its season against East Carolina, the game Virginia Tech fans and those on campus have anticipated for months to provide a respite from their mourning. There will be tears, hugs, smiles, screams and more tears. The Marching Virginians, with nimble feet, heavy hearts and patches that read, "In memory of Ryan 'Stack' Clark," will provide the soundtrack.

Music and football. For me, always linked. Probably because I played clarinet in marching band in high school. Of course, pro football starts this weekend too. I grew up in Kansas City, Mo., and since childhood I have been a big fan of the Kansas City Chiefs. This summer I was thrilled beyond belief to find the HBO series, Hard Knocks, five weeks of watching my Chiefs prepare for the upcoming season. (Ok, so they lost all their pre-season games. Pre-season doesn't count people). And they worked really, really hard up in River Falls, Wisconsin, where the Chiefs truck their entire operation for several weeks.

The final episode last night showed how tough it is for the team to get down to the 53-man roster, tough on the players, tough on the coaches. Pro football is a business after all and you have to have a thick skin.

Over the past month I watched young players trying to make the team for the first time, old guys (in their 30's) trying to hold on. Training camp is a month of sweltering heat, coaches yelling at you to try harder when you are exhausted, a month of doing the same drills over and over until you can do them in your sleep. It's a bed in a college dorm room that is too small for your football player-sized frame. It's constantly asking yourself "Am I good enough. Will someone else take my job?"

How then, do you wind down from the stress? How do you keep your sanity? Well, if you are right tackle Kyle Turley, you head to the Brickhouse Music Store in downtown River Falls.

Turley, who plays guitar, rented guitars, a drum set, microphones and other equipment for himself and several of his fellow players, who held impromptu jam sessions to wind down before bed check. And for Turley it worked. He will start at right tackle when the Chief take on the Houston Texans on Sunday. Most of the other Chief musicians made the team made the cut, too, so I suspect some additional jam sessions this fall. Not that I will see them. Now that the season is starting, my vicarious trips to the locker rooms are over.

Still, I believe, music and football go together and when I see Turley and some of his defensive pals on the field I will remember how much fun those Chiefs had playing.

Here at MENC, I am beginning work on the November issue of Music Educators Journal news, but first I need to finish the online version of October Teaching Music. Look for that later in September around the time the print version of the magazine appears.

Hope the school year is going well for you. I'd love to hear how your marching band season is faring. Drop me a comment if you get a chance.

Til Next Thursday

RF