Both my parents had musical training.  My father, like many Jewish boys
of his generation, was sent to violin lessons in his parents' hope that he
would become the next Heifetz.  My mother studied to be a concert pianist
(she and Rosalyn Tureck shared a teacher).  The first two classical pieces
I remember were Bach's English Suite No.  2 and Debussy's Second Arabesque,
both played by my mother and which I pestered her for.  We always had
classical (and other music) in the house, and I made absolutely no
distinction between any of it.  There was music I liked and music I didn't.
I liked Debussy and Bach, but I also liked Jimmy Durante, Rosemary Clooney,
Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, and Broadway.
I also liked the junk I heard on the radio (anybody remember "Shimmy,
Shimmy Koko Bop?").  My parents indulged me by buying me Kiddie Classical
records - a lot of Golden Records (Roy Rogers singing "Swedish Rhapsody,"
Alfven with lyrics, was a fave), an in-retrospect weird arrangement of
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, fitted with words and performed by Fred
Waring and His Pennsylvanians.

Although I had taken some piano lessons, I didn't start getting serious
about music until I was about twelve.  I remember the first recording
I ever bought with my own money:  Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.  2,
with Richter and Sanderling.  I had no idea who Richter, Sanderling, or
Rachmaninoff were.  However, I was with a high-school buddy browing in a
record store and I asked him if I should take a chance.  He said yes.  I
was knocked over by the recording, and I've been collecting ever since.  I
also took weekly trips to the public library and checked out its collection
for free.  I was able to listen to a lot of music that way.  I also sang
with a lot of choirs, another great way to learn repertory.

Steve Schwartz