Trade Ya an Aria for Your Stuff!

A very cool article about my father was in the Contra Costa Times last week. I finally found it online. Unfortunately, the pictures included in the printed article were not included online. I've written to the author, Janice De Jesus, to see if I can get a copy of the photos and permission to reprint the article as it will only be on the Contra Costa Times site for a short period of time.

I am sad that the article does not mention that my parents actually met because of his desire to sing and to improve his voice. When my father came to the US when he was 14 years old, was when he was first introduced to western music (as he puts it). He fell in love with the opera. He would often sing while working, or walking to and from work & school, and would be told that he had a beautiful voice. Some people told him he should seek out professional training and this lead him to my mother. He was told of this woman who was the Minister of Music at a near by Presbyterian Church. He went to her and asked her to train him and she took him on as a private student. Eventually things moved beyond their lessons, and he proposed. Her answer, "Yes, but I can't be your teacher anymore".

I grew up in a house full of music. From my mom's piano, voice and organ lessons at one end of the house, and my father singing or whistling in the kitchen, to my brother practicing his trumpet & french horn and playing the radio & records. I hope my kids will be able to grow up in as musical of a household as I did. Perhaps we'll take off the headphones and share a little more music.