the one and only mike wrote:
> the best thing i can say about john is that i am still learning the >things he taught me. how many teachers can you say that about?
Beautifully put, mike, as usual. I had one teacher whom I put in this category, the late Glenn Parker. (I'm sure others on the list know and remember him as well.) Glenn was an extraordinary accompanist and a born teacher, as well as a shining soul. He lived only forty-some years, but those years were jam-packed with musical accomplishment and continue to be an inspiration to me. His mind was incredible, his fingers godlike, and his sense of humor delicious: I remember his doing a Dichterliebe with Jean-Ronald LaFond (sometime vocalister) at college which was so spontaneous it sounded as if both of them extemporized the whole thing. After the concert I told Glenn I felt the Schumann sounded as if he'd written it, and he replied with perfect deadpan timing, "Oh Naomi, I DID."
Glenn was one of the first people in the music world to recognize and encourage my uniqueness -- it was he who originated the term Planet Omi, the only place I could possibly have come from!
I digress of course, but thank you mike for the opportunity to share my memories of this incredible human. I miss him.
Naomi Gurt Lind
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