ON A GRAND SCALE

We've all heard the line, "When I was in school I had to walk ___ miles to get there". It was a way our elders had to tell us how easy we were having it. Well, my journey was about 3 miles. Down hill going, up hill back home. Sometimes I would ride the skate board that my Dad made for me out of an old pair of roller skates that my sister didn't use any more, and carry it back home. Mostly I walked it. Down Cote St. Antoinne Blvd. and by Murray Hill Park, winding my way into the flatlands and on down to the ledge that the school was built on overlooking the St. Lawrence River.

I had just started High School. I was 12 years old and very excited. They had put me in the music class, which was reserved for kids with an ear as well as a scholastic aptitude. I had a bit of musical training in the way of 1 year of piano lessons (I will always regret not having done more, but it was my choice to opt out) and 1 year of recorder. I wanted to be in the strings section. The violin made such beautiful sounds. They put me in the wind section. Once there I wanted to play the saxaphone, I already loved Jazz (thanks to Peter Gunn). They gave me a french horn. I stuck it out for about 6 weeks, always begging for the saxe. Then I asked to transfer out.

So I ended up in a singing class! Coming from a family of crooners, I did enjoy that form of music making. Although I don't think I sing very well, it was passable and pleasureable. One of the songs that I learned to sing was "Fair Cuba" the cuban national anthem with English wording. It was 7 months after the Bay of Pigs. It was a beautiful song.

Fair Cuba
Sits enthroned in an ocean of light
Where the dawn comes in splendor
And the stars in the night
Shine with radiance bright
Shine with radiance bright

Enchanting
Are her fields and her forests of green
And the beauty they lend her
Oh fair Cuba tis thee
Land of flowers and of trees
Land of flowers and of trees

Those are just some of the lyrics. I remember it well because it was so beautiful.

Not long after learning that song President John F Kennedy went to Dallas, TX, where he met with a fateful end. Everyone was in shock, even in Canada. That school, that taught me how to sing the Cuban National Anthem, flew their flag at half mass until the President was buried.