A surprise invitation came the other day to go with a friend to the last open-air concert of the summer in a neighboring community. I gladly accepted this invite because I had wanted to get to know this lady more fully. We had a lot in common already. We both did a lot of music and we both had lost our husbands recently, but that was all I really knew about her. Through the course of the evening, we found out we had a lot more in common than that.
The concert was "1964" by a Beatles tribute band. I remembered fondly when we all watched the Beatles first appearance in America on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. I also remembered how excited my older brother was when he bought his first "45" single of the Beatles. He played "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" almost constantly for weeks. There were only a couple of the songs this tribute band played that I didn't know very well. The concert was fun, indeed.
My friend and I loved clapping and singing along to these popular songs. We agreed that we enjoyed these Beatles songs because they were each quite unique in style, rhythm, instrumentation, vocalizations, and topics. Sure, most of the songs were love songs, but unlike so many other songs from the early 1960s, they had some qualities that set them apart. Latin dance beats, British Music Hall show music, Broadway style songs, American Country Western songs, Folk songs, as well as styles similar to other Rock 'n Roll pop artists of the time.
We didn't really spend all the time critiquing this tribute group or reminiscing about the songs. The music actually got us comparing the many similarities of our lives. We found out that our paths may have crossed much earlier, but we were just not aware of each other.
We were both in the Music Department at BYU during overlapping years. I was a vocal major and she was strictly piano. After marriage, we lived just a hill apart in Southern California. We were in Whittier and they were in Hacienda Heights in the 1980s. We basically shopped at the same places.
My friend and I loved clapping and singing along to these popular songs. We agreed that we enjoyed these Beatles songs because they were each quite unique in style, rhythm, instrumentation, vocalizations, and topics. Sure, most of the songs were love songs, but unlike so many other songs from the early 1960s, they had some qualities that set them apart. Latin dance beats, British Music Hall show music, Broadway style songs, American Country Western songs, Folk songs, as well as styles similar to other Rock 'n Roll pop artists of the time.
We didn't really spend all the time critiquing this tribute group or reminiscing about the songs. The music actually got us comparing the many similarities of our lives. We found out that our paths may have crossed much earlier, but we were just not aware of each other.
We were both in the Music Department at BYU during overlapping years. I was a vocal major and she was strictly piano. After marriage, we lived just a hill apart in Southern California. We were in Whittier and they were in Hacienda Heights in the 1980s. We basically shopped at the same places.
She grew up in Bellflower, CA and my husband grew up in Whittier, CA (neighboring communities). She remembers cruising Whittier Boulevard in the early 1970s like every other teenager in the area at the time. Ellis had told me a lot of stories about the famous "cruising the boulevard." She even finished her college degree at UC Fullerton, as did my husband Ellis.
One of the funniest coincidences was that their Stake in Cerritos put on a production of "The Music Man" where she accompanied at the piano. That rang a bell for me because our Whittier Stake did a production of "The Music Man" at about that same time. I was the assistant director and prepared the actors to be able to sing with the orchestra. We had a guest conductor from the Cerritos Stake who had just done their production of "The Music Man." Such a coincidence. Too funny!
And now, years later, my friend and I live just four blocks away from each other and both do music in our Stake and Wards, each teach piano lessons, and like to go to cultural events very much. It is very likely that we will choose to attend another show together very soon!
In the mean time, enjoy these arrangements of early Beatles tunes I created for my piano students.
Easy Piano Solos of Beatles Songs
One of the funniest coincidences was that their Stake in Cerritos put on a production of "The Music Man" where she accompanied at the piano. That rang a bell for me because our Whittier Stake did a production of "The Music Man" at about that same time. I was the assistant director and prepared the actors to be able to sing with the orchestra. We had a guest conductor from the Cerritos Stake who had just done their production of "The Music Man." Such a coincidence. Too funny!
And now, years later, my friend and I live just four blocks away from each other and both do music in our Stake and Wards, each teach piano lessons, and like to go to cultural events very much. It is very likely that we will choose to attend another show together very soon!
In the mean time, enjoy these arrangements of early Beatles tunes I created for my piano students.
Easy Piano Solos of Beatles Songs
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