Aunt Janey

I went to the Symphony's opening night (guess who else tagged along... Actually I think it was Katrina's idea) which was fun. Khachaturian piano concerto. We went to the little "reception" they have afterwards because we ran into Laura's (yes the Laura who got married) parents. Her dad plays french horn. Anyhow, it was crazy because a lot of my profs are in the Symphony. Strauch (who's leading my Europe trip), and Rick Westrick (whom I met at Laura's wedding and who was as enthusiastic about my piano playing as ever :-D), and Dr. Phil. That's not really the point though. The point is I found out there was going to be a benefit concert for the Ayer-Blegen endowed chair.

Jane Blegen was my aunt. She was married to my Mom's brother and definitely a very important force in my life. Her mother was Evelyn Ayer, who I also got to see on holidays and the like. Both of them played with the Symphony as second-violinists.

I have to postcards from "aunt Janey" on the door of my room at college right now. I discovered them when looking through the various mathoms we keep around the house. The back of one says "Dear Heidi: Thank you for all the nice pictures you mailed me! They are all over my refrigerator door & they look so nice! Hope you had fun dancing tonite! Love, Aunt Janey." There's a painting of a man playing violin and a girl dancing ballet on the front. The other says "Dear Heidi, Thank you for your pictures - They are on my refrigerator now & I think of you each day: Love, Aunt Janey XXOO. P.S. This card is for you to keep. It is a print of a famous painting! P.S. Would you like to go to Sym-funnies? (I already found out you cannot this time - maybe later in Feb?!)" They make me smile every time I see them.

And I remember going to those Sym-funnies concerts. I was probably a little ancy like any other little kid, but I remember loving them! I remember they had the "instrument petting zoo" where you got to try out all these different instruments and when I was 11 I felt so proud that I could play the trumpet a little because I'd just started band. Aunt Janey is the person who introduced me to Pink Martini, and who invited me to the jazz violin concert with Johnny Frigo (which I loved, although I can't remember who played before him but that other guy was my favorite). She had offered to teach me violin but by then I was already taking piano and not really inspired by the violin because my siblings didn't play it. Now I wish I could have, but I'm a pianist and that's how it goes, I can't imagine not being a pianist.

More than introducing me to music in many ways, I associate her with the holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving. We would always go over to Aunt Janey and Uncle Brad's every Christmas and see all the Blegens. She was always the last to sit down because she was running around getting the butter or the salt or whatever had been forgotten. Her brother Larry would get so exasperated. "Jane, sit down and eat!" he would say, and we would all look at her untouched plate of food on the table and wonder how cold it was by now.

By the time I was old enough to really know her she already had skin cancer, so I don't remember when she was diagnosed, I just remember that she had it. She got it treated and it never seemed too serious, to me anyways, I never noticed anything wrong. But one year something went wrong, they didn't catch a growth or something and it went deeper. She told us at Christmas, I think the last time we had Christmas at her and Uncle Brad's house. The last memory I have of her, before she got really sick that is, is at an outdoor restuarant at a local park. She gave me a CD of The Four Seasons and I'm so glad that I'll always be able to associate my loving, vibrant aunt with that piece of music.

As you can probably guess, she did pass away; she died, if you prefer not to use euphemisms. She was such a large part of the family, it was strange to go to my cousin's for Christmas instead, and I think the thing I miss most is Larry yelling at her to sit down and eat. :-)

So I was really excited about this benefit concert. I remember when the Symphony announced the Ayer-Blegen endowed chair. They had a special concert for it. I don't remember the composer, but I remember that I was in junior high and definitely a music nerd by then, so I was fascinated by the slightly more abstract music. Anyhow, back to the present, my parents visited me a couple weeks ago and noticed I'd kept the flyer for the benefit concert. My Mom was going to be out of town for her job, but Dad ended up taking me. I felt like the only person under the age of 60 (although this was not entirely true) and I got to see some of my family. Best of all, my old piano teacher, Mrs. Presley, from when I first started taking was there! She was absolutely great, my brother had visited her recently and she was thrilled to hear I was taking jazz from Brent! I will have to go visit her soon. Don't let me forget. Jaen's sister, Julie played the violin for the concert, accompanied by none other than Mrs. Presley's son (who is a famous local pianist in his own right). It was great fun and rather fitting for me to see these two people, who were each connected to my own musical education, (Julie through Jane, and Greg through Mrs. Presley), playing together.

I'm afraid I can't tell you as much about Evelyn. I do remember one story that Clarey (Jane's father) told us before he passed away. I only remember it vaguely so I hope I'm not too off. He had gotten a band together but he needed a band leader. He knew that band leaders played the violin and he knew Evelyn somehow (they weren't married yet) so he asked her to lead it. She refused. So he made up flyers advertising the band and listing her as the leader. She was furious! But she did it anyways. She had to. :-)

Was this an appropriate thing to post on a blog? Probably not. It's probably better suited for a private diary or something of that nature. I feel a little wrong including it here. And yet I feel like I should be telling these stories. They're important stories, they give some idea of these people who are now gone. So thanks for reading.