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In my final position as a teacher, I taught functional keyboard harmony at Onondaga Community College at Syracuse, N.Y. I earned a B.S. in music education at the Crane Department of music at SUNY Potsdam and a M.S. in music education at Ithaca College. I also had the honor of serving as president of the New York School Music Association. After retiring from music education I have performed extensively, presenting musical programs which featured stories about the great standards, coupled with performance. These performances were facilitated by my having a repertoire of over 3,000 songs, coupled with extensive knowledge of their origins, which included many humorous stories. In the last decade, I have worked with a songwriting partner, Maria DeAngelis, a vocalist who provided lyrics and performances of our tunes. We succeeded in having many of our songs used both in movies and network television as background music. As a bandleader, I was involved in playing with my group for over 1,500 wedding receptions. Because of this extensive experience, I was motivated to write a book WEDDING RECEPTION SECRETS, which provided much valuable and "inside" information (from the viewpoint of a bandleader) for couples who were planning their wedding. Along the way, I composed music for a syndicated children's TV series. I was the first of four children, born to my Mom and Dad in Saranac Lake, N.Y. Both of my parents, although untrained, had wonderful musical ears. I and my siblings inherited their musical sensitivities. One can see from the foregoing that I had ample opportunities to enjoy music from several vantage points. I am 83 years old and happy to say that I continue to be very active. I attribute much of my good health to my interest in information in the area of healthy living and care. For the past fifteen years, I have undergone EDTA chelation therapy. I believe my longevity is related to that. In addition to the foregoing, I must add my deep concern with today's course of events in the world. I've always been interested in politics and what factors are responsible for what is happening in the world. I sense, with deep sadness, a degradation of manners, morals and public awareness. My gut feeling is that television has been misused, and become a device that Aldous Huxley would have given a prominent role in his BRAVE NEW WORLD. I have many favorite quotations, but the one that is most profound, in my opinion, is one by Albert Einstein: "WITH THE SPLITTING OF THE ATOM, EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT OUR WAY OF THINKING." * * In the summer of 1944, I was boatboy at a private consortium of six summer homes on Lower Saranac Lake (The Knollwood.) The occupant of Cottage 6 was Albert Einstein. I saw him several times over the course of that summer. To me (in retrospect) that was an awesome experience! Phil Klein OpEd News Member for 814 week(s) and 2 day(s) 25 Articles, 0 Quick Links, 29 Comments, 2 Diaries, 0 Polls
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