Music Man

I just learned that the high school where Emma would be a senior this year is doing The Music Man for its spring musical. Emma would definitely approve. The Music Man was one of Emma’s early favorites. We went to see it on Broadway and saw Emma’s cousin perform as Marian the Librarian in her high school’s production. We bought the soundtrack for The Music Man when we saw it on Broadway and for the next year or more it was steady fare in the car as we drove to and from school and to various activities. At some point, Emma hijacked the CD for closer study. She learned every word to every song, including the parts of all three salesmen in Rock Island. We got such a kick out of hearing her perform that song (chant?) for us. She never missed a beat.

Emma would not have been up on stage for the high school’s production of this favorite, however. She would have been back in the pit, where she had performed for the last two years. She played four instruments in the high school’s pit: flute, piccolo, clarinet and sax. I liked to get a seat right up front and close to the pit so I could watch her switch back and forth between instruments during a song. It amazed me that she could do that. It amazed me that she wanted to do that! But she truly loved it.

Last year when we went to watch Emma perform in the Western Regional Musical Festival, I bought Emma a t-shirt from a vendor at the festival. It said, “The Pit is It!" Emma loved that shirt and wore it all the time. She had really come to identify herself as a musician and her dream job would have been playing in a Broadway pit. She definitely had the talent to do it.

At times like this it’s hard not to dwell on the lost dreams and gifts. She should be there in that high school pit, playing those songs she loved. But I said when I started this blog that I would focus on what she did, not on what she could no longer do. What she did was bring music to life for me and many, many others. In fact, I know that Emma will be there in spirit when her high school performs The Music Man, because she was an inspiration to so many of her schoolmates and they will carry her in their hearts as they bring it to life.

Click here to see a video performance of Rock Island from The Music Man and then try to picture Emma doing all three parts.