Remembrance of music's past

What's your first memory? It's no easy thing to recall. Musicians are no exception. The difference is their first memories often are accompanied by the sound of music.


One of the strengths of the Savannah Music Festival is its diversity. Classical and bluegrass, the blues and jazz - they are all treated equally, no one better than the other.

What's surprising after talking to these musicians is how similar their first musical memories are despite coming from their individual musical traditions. No matter where their careers take them, these musicians' careers emerged from similar impulses.

Morris Robinson, opera singer, bass

"I learned to sing from growing up in the home of a Baptist preacher. There's something in that old Southern music, from being from that area where life and freedom began in the church, where music is in the soul, where singing at home is another way of expressing your inner most. My parents were married in Savannah. My father was stationed at Fort Stewart before becoming a preacher. He moved to Atlanta. I live in Manhattan now, but my wife and I have a child that we want to take back home. I want him to have Georgia in his blood, too: the marching bands, the free-cut grass on Saturday mornings."

Morris Robinson performs Tuesday at the First African Baptist Church.

Anoushka Shankar, singer and sitarist, and daughter of Ravi Shankar

"My first memory is of my father playing. I was always being taken to concerts and to dance performances. Even though we lived in London, we were very connected to Indian art. I remember going to concerts and coming home to practice. I grew up in London, India and California. I got really confused, because I developed differently in different places. In India, I was a very shy person. In the States, I became extroverted. Then friends in India didn't know me. I had to learn to be sure of myself on the inside and adjust, like putting on a jacket for different kinds of weather."

She performed Thursday. To read the Savannah Morning News review, go to savannahnow.com/node/238912. For more on Shankar, go to anoushkashankar.com.

John Pizzarelli, jazz singer and guitarist, and son of Bucky Pizzarelli

"My first memory is hearing music. The Beatles when I was 4 years old. I learned the banjo from my father's uncle when I was 7. I remember the whole feeling and thinking 'Boy, this is something, playing with my uncles, and what an amazing sound.' I've had amazing experiences playing with my father over the years. It doesn't matter what kind of music you play, as long as it's sincere. I love hearing from sick people who are reminded of good times from a song of mine. I love when fathers and sons hear us play and tell us about it. I love that we play so much together we can ruin any room."

John Pizzarelli performs March 31 with the New York All-Star Big Band.

Isabel Bayrakdarian, opera singer, soprano

"I have a degree in engineering. Music was a hobby for me. I took my first lessons when I was 18 so I could sing better in church. My voice was very different by then. It's a good time to start singing, because the voice has just gotten out of puberty. You don't want to start formal training on an almost-formed instrument. So the teaching took root rather than being just a phase in my life. I was able to digest what was being passed on to me and make decisions that would determine where my career was going."

Bayrakdarian performs Friday at the Telfair Academy. For information, go to bayrakdarian.com

David Finckel

"I grew up in a musical family. My father was a professional musician. When I knew him, he was a teacher, but prior to that, he was a jazz musician, composer and arranger. He was a jazz pianist. Then he turned to classical, teaching young children. He learned many instruments. As I approached 10, my parents decided to establish a summer music camp in Vermont. I grew up at that camp also as a behind-the-scenes staffer. Music was our profession, like we were farmers' kids in line to take over the farm."

Finckel performed Sunday with his wife, Wu Han. For more on Finckel, go to artistled.com.

Ryan Holladay

"My earliest memory is in my granddad's house. He was playing all these Earl Scruggs records. I was attracted to the sound. I decided right then that I wanted to play. I don't know, I just liked how it sounded, and decided I wanted to do it."

Ryan Holladay, 15, performed Friday at the Trustees Theater.

Siobheann Leahy, bassist, dancer and singer for Leahy

"In our house, there was sacrifice, hard work and discipline. When you're a child, you don't want to practice. But our parents set those priorities for us. We had a balanced childhood. We grew up with no TV, but we had lots of instruments around. Mom was a wicked piano player. Father would drive her to play harder and drive us to perfection, but not overboard. We had sports, we worked on the farm all day and then we'd get all cleaned up and dressed to play at the dance hall on Saturday. And the Mass on Sunday. Religion, family, music, sports and farming. That was what we lived and breathed."

Leahy opened the Savannah Music Festival last week. To read the Savannah Morning News story about opening night, go to savannahnow.com/node/244087. For more on Leahy, go to leahymusic.com.

Daniel Hope, violinist

"I started at 4 years old. It's like learning a language. Everything is instinctive at that age. You're not thinking about technique. It just happens. I remember the terrible moment when I started thinking about what I was doing. Suddenly, I had this terrible thought about why I am not hitting that note or what my arm is doing. From then on, it's been downhill all the way. That's the moment when I stopped being spontaneous and oblivious. I found myself at the bottom of a huge journey of knowing what I'm doing. It's the paradox of knowledge. The more you know, the more complex things get."

Hope performs the "Sensations" series today, Monday and Thursday. He performs Saturday with the Beaux Arts Trio and Brahms' Violin Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on April. 1. For information, go to danielhope.com.

Brian Stoltz, guitarist and singer for funk band Porter-Batiste-Stoltz

"My cousin left a guitar in my house. At 10, I started banging on it, literally banging on it. There was a nice old gentleman across the street who was the guitar player for a Bourbon Street jazz band. I brought it to his house, he tuned it and showed me four chords. By the end, I was playing all four chords and a couple of little songs he taught me. I realized I do have a knack for this. I was playing by the end of the evening."

Brian Stoltz performed last week with Porter-Batiste-Stoltz

Susan Tedeschi, blues singer and guitarist

"I started singing really young. My dad's cousin ended up becoming a famous opera singer. Her name was Josephine Sabino and she had leads all over the world. She taught me how to breathe and how to project without a mic. She was an amazing woman who spoke eight languages. Very intelligent and very sweet. It was interesting, because when I went to college, my principal instrument was voice. I had classical training and learned the structure of music, like scales. I learned how to fit into different situations. If you get the basics down, you can chose whatever style you like."

Tedeschi performed a double bill last week with jazz singer Dianne Reeves. To read the Savannah Morning News review of their performance, go to savannahnow.com/node/244767. For more on Tedeschi, go to susantedeschi.com.


For a full schedule of events, go to www.savannahmusicfestival.org. Tickets can also be purchased at the Trustees Theater box office, 216 E. Broughton St., or by calling 525-5050.


For live coverage of the 2007 Savannah Music Festival, join in on our "Artful Talk" at savannahnow.com/node/238912.


Looking for daily podcasts? We'll post one every day of the festival at savannahnow.com/node/235985.