Mornings Without Wings

I have proof! No matter what you’ve thought, the months and weeks haven’t just flown by.

The Classic Mornings playlists are my key source of evidence. I have rather quick access to all of them. You do as well, though for you it might involve a bit of scrolling.

My version of the lists includes lots of marginal notes. There are pronunciations of not-so-famous performers’ names that took nearly forever to find online. I also have jottings about some of the musical celebrations that took place each day as well as about all sorts of little discoveries I was excited to share with you. 

I add “mile markers” too, namely periodic reminders of where I should be at approximately what time. I tend to plan on playing as much music as possible. So if I suddenly get excited about a particular piece and begin to share all sorts of related stories, I’m sort of warned that if I don’t wrap up quickly, I’m going to have to boot something that I planned to play later in the program. I’ll even remind myself with bold type that a particular piece has a false ending that has fooled me perhaps more than once. I’m sure it embarrassed me too when I “stepped on” the tail end of the music with my “back announcement.”.

It’s all there. In fact, sometimes there’s so much there that I get lost in all of it. You may have heard such moments. But with the prompting of the playlists, I can remember some of the fun I intended with certain pieces of music as well as the variety of composers, genres and performers. As you probably guessed, the online lists include only the basic information about the selections I played.

At the very least, I’m reassured that the mornings didn’t just fly by. The timings of the pieces and my notes confirm that. We spent three hours each day enjoying classical music and all sorts of stories and information connected with that music!

That’s not to say that things don’t get so busy during the program that even I begin to think: “Is it that time already?” But I know not to get alarmed or to call one of the engineers to look into whether the studio clock is malfunctioning. 

It would be interesting if you kept a list of pieces you heard and enjoyed for the first time, or pieces you particularly liked, whether it was the first time you heard them or one more time. That would help you put it all into perspective. For one thing, you’d realize that a list like that isn’t created all in one day. On the other hand, if there’s a program that you found to be amazing from start to finish, I’d really like to know! I probably would try to present it again.

I’d love to find out what moved you, caught your attention, made you go back to your instrument, made you want to learn an instrument, made you want to learn a language, travel to a foreign city, read a particular book upon which a piece of music is based, hear a particular performer in concert or just get hold of a recording by that artist.  At the very least, I’d love to know what music distracted you from your work, made you late for an appointment or got you daydreaming. And which composer or performer’s name were you most interested in learning how to spell or just to see how it looked after you heard it?

Once in a while some of those questions are answered. It may be a telephone or online inquiry. It may be a donor comment made during a fund drive that’s passed along to me. I’ve learned that a lot of folks don’t call or go online with comments. But that doesn’t stop me from imagining what many other listeners might be thinking.

With all of the possibilities that are sparked by classical music, I hope you’re excited that it’s on the air in central Illinois! During the past year or so, WILL-FM has been the round-the-clock concert hall, the never-ending music festival and the familiar place where there’s always someone to share music and to keep you company. Once you realize how special that is, you might even think about making a contribution to support that cultural treasure for yourself and everybody else in the community.

The end of our fiscal year is coming up on June 30. If you haven’t had the chance to make a contribution, please call 217-244-9455 on go online to willgive.org. Any gift would be appreciated. Do it today, before you find yourself saying: “Oh, I meant to, but the time just got away from me.” And thank you for your support!