Thursday, August 2, 2012
Play Ball!
I'm not a big baseball fan nor do I play a keyboard instrument but, with Larry watching the Milwaukee Brewers on TV most nights of the week, I've come to appreciate how the stadium organist increases the excitement of the game. If I had the skill and the opportunity, I think it'd be fun to play the organ at baseball games. Of course, it'd help if I understood the game and knew which songs to play and when! But, all practical things aside, I think it would be really enjoyable and rewarding to know that by doing my musical part, I was helping increase the baseball experience for the crowd. Music plays an integral, though sometimes not consciously noticed, role in many of our everyday experiences and our perceptions of them. Just recently, I suddenly became aware of music playing in the food court of a shopping mall, its pulsating beat acting almost like a racing heartbeat, thus likely (if not subliminally) heightening people's urge to shop. So, the next time you attend or watch a baseball game on TV, pay attention to the organist and thank him or her for adding excitement to the phrase, "Play Ball!"
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Once, at a White Sox game, my son who was about 10 years old, found the organist. Then he took each of us, one by one, to meet her. She was the "best in the league" at that time. I have her baseball card which she signed at my friend's request, to give to me. And I heard an interview with her on the radio. Her mother was a concert pianist, but she (Nancy Faust) plays entirely by ear. People listening on the radio know by her playing what has happened, even before the announcer spells it out. You hit on a happy memory, dear friend!
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