Jon Bernard inquires how members of this List came to value CM.  A fair
question.  In my experience, I would credit two major influences.  The
people who raised me saw that I received music lessons.  Although I had
no particular talent, I was a dutiful student, and the experience left
me with an appreciation of the art form and those who practiced it more
ably than I could have dreamed of doing.

A second, not wholly unrelated phenomenon, was being taken to CM concerts
when I was a child.  I still recall, as a pre-schooler, being taken to
a movie version of Aida, which left me with a curiousity about opera.
But I was not to overwhelmed with visual images as are so many children
today.

Mimi (the retired violist) on this List once sniffed that piano teachers
were paid simply for showing up.  I suppose that may be true, but I would
not be too quick to dismiss the influence of piano teachers on their
young charges who show no real talent.

Larry Sherwood