A Musical Connection

D ayton, Ohio, has many wonderful cultural attractions, including the United States Air Force Museum and the state-of-the-art Schuster Center, but perhaps most influential in my early formation was 88.1 FM, the 24/7 classical music station. We would spend hours listening to it as Mom shuttled us to and from various activities, which meant we all preferred her music to my dad’s oldies station — sorry, Dad! It was used to soothe crying babies to sleep, and it now plays constantly on an ancient boombox in Sibling No. 7’s room. (This sibling now has a highly cultured turtle — appropriate for an animal named Clarence Thomas.) The radio hosts became like old friends, their voices as familiar to us as our parents’, and the strains of everything from Beethoven to Tchaikovsky to Satie were always floating around.

This early musical education had many effects on our family life, and a particularly special one for me is how it’s connecting me now with my brother, even though we live almost 2,500 miles apart.

Performance Today, from American Public Media, “features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews.” The St. Paul–based show is hosted by the mellifluous-voiced Fred Child, and one of its engaging features is the Wednesday “Piano Puzzler” quiz. Each week, Child is joined for a musical challenge by both a caller and musician-composer Bruce Adolphe. Our local station would run Performance Today, and we always looked forward to the Wednesday puzzles.

It’s always a treat to listen in as Adolphe merges a classical piece with a well-known popular song, hiding the melodies of Cole Porter, John Lennon, and many others amid the chords, cadences, and runs of Bach, Chopin, or Mozart. The trick is to figure out both the classical composer and the hidden song.

I’d fallen out of the habit of listening to “Piano Puzzler” until a recent conversation with my brother. For a while, he was working a job that required long daily commutes, which gave him ample time for listening to shows (and for extended evening phone conversations). He would occasionally pop into our family group chat to urge that we listen to the latest installment. When he and I were on the phone recently, he grumbled about how Bach’s ghost hangs over so much classical music, tripping him up on a recent show. I agreed and said that even though, for years, I’ve heard and sung the Bach/Gounod “Ave Maria” as well as Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” I still mix up the two versions (a decidedly bad weakness for someone who sings for weddings).

Anyway, we had such a lovely conversation about music, I was determined to start listening to this show again. It was a short-lived determination, alas, as I forgot to follow up . . . until my brother texted and asked whether I had listened to any of them yet. Cue my immediate dash for Spotify.

Ever since, this has been my lunchtime listening — I even keep a pen and paper at hand to jot down my guesses. I’ve been known to pause the audio so I can try humming what I think is the tune in hopes I can figure it out before the caller. My brother usually guesses the song tune first, but I’ve found I can pick out the composer more quickly — or at least get in the right musical era.

It’s delightful to listen not only to Adolphe’s composition, but to hear his explanation for why he melded each song and composer. Sometimes he heard the start of a melody already in the song. At other times, he emphasizes musical theory connections and includes chords used and appreciated by both the classical composer and a famous performer of the popular melody. This is a program full of gems, not the least of which is the rapport between Child and Adolphe, who’ve been collaborating on this show for many years.

If you have a few moments on your lunch break this coming week, give this show a listen. Spotify has the most recent ten, but if you’re hungry for more, I recommend you check out Performance Today’s website. While it’s helpful to have a musical background for solving the puzzles, these episodes are a joy to hear, regardless. And I’m deeply grateful that they have fostered not only the collaboration of Child and Adolphe and numerous listeners over the years but are now strengthening my own family relationships.

And if Fred Child needs a volunteer for any upcoming shows, I’m sure my brother would happily make the time.