Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Mr. Medoff



I - The Lesson

Mr. Medoff sits comfortably, legs crossed in his grey suit, at a paper-strewn desk, smoking a cigarette. A few feet away, I sit at his grand piano. It is the last few moments of the last piano lesson before Christmas. I ask a question about theory.

“How do you know what key a piece is in?”

“What do you think?”

“Well, is it the first chord of a song?”

“No.”

“Is it the flats and sharps in the sheet music?”

“No.”

“Does it have to do with the chord sequence?”

“No”

“Um. I don’t know then.”

“You think about that, and we’ll talk about it next time.”

With that, he adds up the letter grades he gave for each of my lesson performances, and congratulates me for an A- overall for the day. He dodders across the room and sticks his head into a small storage closet.

“Do you have Mozart yet?”

“Yes.”

“Brahms?”

“Yes.”

“How about Schubert?”

“No.”

He emerges from the closet and hands me a miniature vinyl bust of the Austrian, my eighth such prize in 18 months of study with him. I’m happy because it will create lovely symmetry at home, four on each side of my piano sill.

II - All Lessons Are Cancelled

Two weeks later, my mother hands me two quarters for two subway  fares and a $6 check for that day’s lesson. I board the T at Government Center and head out to Mr. Medoff’s Brookline home.

My mother was steadfast in her desire for me to play the piano. She wanted to take lessons as a child, but couldn’t because they were poor. So in first grade, my folks bought an Acrosonic spinet piano, and I started lessons.

As I make a snowy five-minute walk up the hill from the T stop, I ponder the question from the previous lesson. I have no new answers. If sharps and flats don’t determine what key a song is in, I am eager to hear what Mr. Medoff has to say on the matter.

To enter Mr. Medoff’s studio, you have to walk down a side walkway and use the lower level entrance in the rear of the house. I stop and read a handwritten message that greets me from the storm door:

“Due to an unfortunate circumstance, all lessons are cancelled.”

After a moment’s consideration, I turn my ass around and take the train back home.

III - Resolution

My mother’s reaction to my story is measured. “There must have been a funeral or something. Just go back there next week.”

The next week I repeat the drill, with two new quarters and the same $6 check. On the storm door the same note greets me:

“Due to an unfortunate circumstance, all lessons are cancelled.”

Mom calls Mr. Medoff’s house. His wife answers. “Oh, Arthur died.”

Taking a seat in the comfy chair in the den, I mourn.

IV - Arthur Medoff

A native of West Roxbury, MA, Arthur Medoff died on December 26, 1975 at 55 years of age. I could have sworn he was older. But hey, I was 11.

Four decades later, Arthur’s memory lives on the internet. One of his former students, now a piano teacher, cites his influence on her professional profile. You can find Arthur’s magazine writing, a column called Interlude for the Boston Musician’s Union and book reviews for American Music Teacher. He had four children with Evelyn, who outlived Arthur by 31 years.

V - The Question Remains

Through the years, I’ve asked musician friends to answer the question, “how do you know what key a piece is in?” Nobody has given me a satisfactory answer, because every idea staggers after we discuss paradoxes or debilitating edge cases. The three responses I gave to Arthur make some sense, but fall apart under the slightest scrutiny.

The internet provides no consensus, just a bunch of overly complex stabs that ultimately miss the mark.

I consulted my copy of Arthur’s 1956 book called Fundamentals of Style in Popular Music (not available anywhere). Rich in theory, it never directly addresses the question.

Musicians ask no questions if told a song is in the key of F, yet nobody has a pithy definition for this process. 

Everyone knows, but nobody can explain. Maybe that was Mr. Medoff’s point?


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Image references
https://www.themusicstand.com/Composers-Vinyl-Mini-Busts-p/599350.htm

References for the biographical information


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