Over The Hill
The Would-Be Musician
Somewhere in the brain or
inner depths, the place where
ancient longings or remem
brances or never-have-beens are
kept — somewhere in these
spaces of many an old hag there
dances the young, supple girl, the
beauty queen she feels herself
really to be. Hidden within many
a TV sports-watching man is the
strong, square-jawed athlete, the
conquering hero.
My own inner, impossible
person is different. Male or
female, graceful or gawky, ugly
or not, it wouldn’t matter. The
leashed, untutored creature
within me, somewhere between
the solar plexus and the larynx, is
a phantom musician, reproach
ing me for keeping it chained all
these years.
It would be reassuring to blame
it on careless parents, or
mocking teachers, or taunting
schoolmates. All were above
reproach. Or on the unavailabil
ity of instruments or music
teachers; again, no. The facts,
hard as they are to face, are that
real musicians are either highly
motivated and self-propelled
from early childhood, or pushed,
cudgeled, or coerced into
practicing throughout their
youth. While the rest of us
climbed trees and pulled the cat’s
tail they learned scales and
arpeggios. While we snoozed
through all the calls to breakfast
they were up at five to practice.
I was philosphical about this,
as I was about not being a movie
star or a baseball player either,
until I made a remarkable
discovery. At an early age I
learned how to hide between two
good singers and pretend to be an
alto in choral singing. When
you’ve practiced this deceit for a
number of years, you can
elaborate on it with some
satisfaction. In my case, if I can
sit (or stand, if I’m not thrown
out before a real performance)
between a strong alto and a
soprano so that I can hear both
parts, and not hear (especially
not hear!) my own voice, I can
carry this fantasy to the
mind-boggling conclusion that
I’m a part of a mini-symphony.
George Plimpton, of course, is
the all-time master of this kind of
thing. He has, with hard work and
some success, taken on top prize
fighters, big-league football and
playing the cymbals with the
New York Symphony Orchestra
under an indulgent Leonard
Bernstein. He does it on the grand
scale, I do it on the small; the lion
and the mouse are both God’s
creatures.
Tom Grenfell good-naturedly
let me carry on this pretense for
several years, in spite of the fact
that I tend to faint at the real
performance and sit humming
harmlessly to myself in the
wings. So has Joe Erwin; and
Hans Vigland has given me
cautious encouragement. Now
Mary Ann Kilver, who has
courageously started a choral
singer’s dream, a small year-
round group that for its kind and
for my taste is practically
perfect, is exhibiting the same
tolerance. I must live in the care
of a guardian angel with a kindly
feeling for frog-throated humans
who like music.
If you’d like to try this rather
off-beat group — 15th century
madrials are just one kind of
music we do - let Mary Ann
know. We still need a few tenors,
altos and basses, and you can
reach her in Saluda. There is a
limit of twenty singers in all. Or
19 and me.
Mary Ann is a present-day
Renissance Woman in jeans. Ask
her for her expert opinion on
scale, and she’ll ask you which
kind, a musical scale or the pest
that is ruining your euonymous.
She earns her living tending the
gardens of her clients in the area,
and her other interests run to
music and English literature. She
is about a comma and a semi
colon short of a PhD in literature,
and she has taught it in college,
but she prefers her rural life and
independence. One of her
sweatshirts observes that “A
women without a man is like a
fish without a bicycle.” Inde
pendent and sure of herself, as I
said.
She’s patient with people like
me in our choral group, now
called the Chamber Singers, and
when we know a piece well
enough we sit around in a circle
to practice so that we can hear
each other and so that she can
sing, too.
If you can read music and like
to sing chamber-type (and other)
music, call her for an audition.
But if you’re an alto you’d better
be good. One like me is enough.
Margaret Wheaton
The love of liberty is the
love of others; the love of
power is the love of our
selves." William Hazlitt
Communication
For three months, fifty
captivies have languished in an
Iranian Embassy jail! For three
months, endless unproductive
plans to free them. Refusal of the
President and his unelected
advisors to release, the Shah for
trial. No, no, a trial would reveal
the identity of the planners, the
plight of the hostages and the
Iranian people: The confusion
brought the President of the U. S.
to the microphones to address the
Congress, our Nations and the
World about the general confu
sion concerning hopes of stopping
the complete encircling of the
world with the Satanic Octipus of
Russian Communism! Too
late, with too little to do that, all
in the bitter cold of winter!
The President stated twice our
complete committment to the
sate of Israeli, the underlying
cause or woes of the Iranians,
Egyptians, Palestinians, Pakis-
tanian, etc., which has been
avoided by the media for three
months. In the name of peace,
our President has awarded funds
to assure no peace, World War III
and Armageddon. The President
was careful not to insult anyones
religion by calling on the
Christian God, the word made
flesh, upon whose word our U. S.
Constitution was founded to help
him of others of like mind to deal
with the world problem! Ponder
that!
Yes, our boys and girls will be
drafted, the nation’s cream of the
crop, our potential future leaders
will be taken from their loved
ones as a sacrifice to another no
win war, the grief and carnage
that accompanies such action
ensuing!
Those who do not spiritualize
Genesis 3:15, with grief of
compassion .have watched
world affairs, and the possession
of the City of Jerusalem! Under
the covenants, who are the
rightful owners?
J. F. Gallimore
Dividend For
Mid-Continent
HUDSON, OHIO,January 24,
1980 — Mid-Continent Telephone
Corporation’s Board of Directors
declared regular quarterly divid
ends today on the common and
preferred stock of the Company.
The 42c quarterly dividend per
common share is payable April 3,
1980 to shareholders of record as
of February 29, 1980.
On all series of preferred stock,
Tryon Daily Bulletin, Tues., Jan. 29, 1980
quarterly dividends are payable
on March 15, 1980 to owners of
record as of February 29, 1980.
The Board of Directors
resolved that the Annual Meeting
of Shareholders will be held at
2:30 p.m. on April 24, 1980. The
meeting will be at Denison
University, Granville, Ohio, in
the service of the area of The
Newark Telephone Company
which was recently acquired by
Mid-Continent. Shareholders of
record as of February 29, 1980
will be entitled to vote at the
meeting.
Mid-Continent, the Ohio-based
telephone holding company, has
operating subsidiaries in 13
midwester, eastern and southern
states, serving more than 1
million telephones.
DANCE COMPANY
IS ORGANIZED
A dance company for serious
young students has been organ
ized in Spartanburg.
Green Creek area students
enrolled include Tammy Thomp
son, Krista Cantrell and Wendi
Wolfe.
At their recent organizational
meeting, the Parents Advisory
Board voted to name the Group
"Miss Marion’s Youth Dance
Theatre.” The group wiR be
under the artistic direction of
Marion Feinstein and will
provide an opportunity for
serious young dancers to perform
for an audience, while offering
entertainment for local groups.
The group is a voluntary
non-profit company available to
perform free of charge for
nursing homes, civic groups and
other community functions'
Any group interested in having
this group of young dancers
perform for their organization
may contact Miss Marion at (803)
582-8557 or Margaret White at
863-2194.
TAX TIP
(Rentals)
Question: My wife and I are
both over 65 and we receive social
security. The only other income
we'received last year was from
a rental house. Our gross income
from the house was 7,600 and our
net income was $3,300. Do we
have to file a return?
Answer; Yes. The filing
requirements are based on gross
income and your $7,600 gross
income exceeds your minimum
filing retirement of $7,400. —
Provided as a Public Service of
H&R Block, The Income Tax
People