Culture At Home

Mom was a "lady", as was her mother, Grandma Knapp. Grandma was raised in a wealthy family and had many of the luxuries that were not too common in her time. The rest of her life did not follow suit when she married Grandpa who was of modest means. But she always had the qualities of someone raised with a little class. Mom had those same qualities, and desired to bring some of that culture into our home, even if funds to cover the cost were scarce. A old used piano was purchased and Claire began taking lessons. Georgia began playing the violin ( I don't remember where we got the violin), and when I was about seven or eight, I too, began taking piano lessons. I guess I didn't do that well, or didn't practice or something because my lessons didn't last that long. I know I didn't have a lot of natural talent for music...probably none, but I did have a love of good music even when I was young. That is probably because of a great music program at my elementary school, where we were introduced to good music early. Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" was a favorite of mine. I remember the melodies which represented the animals, Peter, and the Grandfather to this day. I still love classical and semi-classical music, much of which I played in orchestras in school. When I was in high school, my group of friends had season's tickets to the Utah Symphony Orchestra instead of going to movies or dances.

In the fourth grade we were introduced to various instruments owned by the school district. Withe the help of a music instructor, we were allowed to try out the ones that seemed interesting to us. That is how I was introduced to the cello. I liked it, and Mom thought it would blend well with piano and violin that my sisters played. I was able to rent the cello from the district for a very nominal fee. Free instruction was given every week by music teachers in the district for the next three years. When Mom was satisfied that I was serious about playing the cello, she talked Dad into buying one of my own. So by the time I went to Jr. high school I had my own instrument. When I was in the fifth grade I actually played a duet with Jerold Ottley (former director of the Tabernacle Choir) who played a trombone. Our music teacher said it was the only two instruments he could match up that played in the bass clef. It was a very "interesting" duet. I went all the way through school (elementary, Jr. high and high school) with Jerold playing with him in the Jr. high and high school orchestras. I really wasn't that good and never had private lessons until I was old enough to pay for them myself.

Mother made sure we always had good books to read. She was an avid reader and wanted us to become the same. The Junior Classics, the Harvard Classics, and encyclopedias were some of the books that were purchased for us. I'm afraid I was a disappointment to Mom because I never was that interested in reading just for the joy of it. I do remember reading some of the stories in the Junior Classics which included the classic Fairy Tales, Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Andersen stories, stories of great Americans and scientists, and poetry. But I never read even one of the Harvard Classics which contained the works of all of the most famous and gifted authors. I am still not a great reader of fiction, but when I do, it is always historical novels or a book that someone highly recommends. I whizzed through all nine volumes of "The Work and the Glory" and loved them. I also enjoyed "The Zion Chronicles", which were a series of five books about the return of the Jews to the Holy Land after World War II, and the "Kingdom and the Crown" series.

One art form I always wanted to try was dance. But that was really too frivolous for my dad. More on that subject to come later.