We belong to our parents until we belong to ourselves. We eat their food, wear the clothes they drape around us and listen to the music that comes out of their sound systems. Their tastes are ours until we become our authentic selves. Then we push aside their world and crank up the volume on our own lives.
It’s easy to remember when the music played and I followed. My parents loved their music and definitely gave me an early and enduring classical music education. Most memorable were my first opera experiences; I’ve been hooked ever since. I learned via ballet and piano lessons to love classical music; my father did not tolerate rock. He was anti-popular culture…but then I became, in adolescence, a fan of rock and then rap.
There’s no stopping the replacement of the old with the new…but when I go home to see my aging parents, I still love hearing Mozart playing in the background. It’s like anything I’ve heard since…maybe I just love it because I love them.