I blame the smile that is on my face today on the folks at 99PercentInvisible.org. I listened to episode #328 from November 6, 2018 called, “Devolutionary Design” and learned stuff about the band “Devo” and Chi Chi Rodriguez that I didn’t know. In addition, and this is the part that leads to the smile, I learned about the “Langley Schools Music Project“. About 26-ish minutes into this 99PercentInvisible episode, Roman Mars introduces an interview that Katie Mingle did with Hans Fenger, who was the driving force behind the Langley Schools Music Project. I was so intrigued with what I heard that I immediately went out to find a copy of the recording. Fortunately, Amazon had one, so I bought it. I’ve been listening to it, and I absolutely love it!
Listening to the recording and looking at the pictures in the booklet that came with the CD reminded me of the time I was in a school-sponsored music program at my elementary school in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1971 (wow, 50 years ago!). I was in the fifth grade at the time, and I was one of the many students in the chorus. I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it. One of the songs we sang was, “Downtown” that was made popular by Petula Clark. To this day, it’s one of my favorite songs. I don’t have a recording of the event, but I still have a copy of the program that was handed out that night. This is what the cover looked like:
And here’s a picture of me in 1971 wearing the shirt my Mom bought for me for the program. We were told to wear a pastel-colored shirt and I chose pink.
A few years later, my family moved to Cedar City, Utah. As I’m attending my new school, I heard that there was another new student in our class, Lana Smith. When I saw her, I thought to myself, “I know that girl! She used to go to Morningside Elementary!” Sure enough, she did and she was in the same music program I was in. We were in the same grade, but we weren’t in the same class, but I remember one time when she came into our class to share her talent as a singer and musician. She played the guitar and sang, “American Pie” by Don Mclean. That’s another memory that brings a smile to my face. Thanks, Lana!
