My Bucket List and my Studi Di Lingua Italiano

As a person reaches that ripe old age of fifty something happens that brings that old bucket list more clearly into focus. I'm sure it's partly because you know you aren't really middle aged, for how many of us actually live to be 100. Yes there is something about 50 that creates that much welcomed sense of urgency that taps you on the shoulder every day and says, hey ... do you remember all that stuff you always said you wanted to do with your life... well you better get to it because you're running low on time outs and every day someone is trying to get the ball away from you to run their own set of plays. So when you feel that pressure take a firm grasp of those helmet ear holes, slide that  helmet on your head, fasten the chin strap then call a play. And for God's sake break that huddle, place your hands under center, call the signals and run the damn play no matter what defense has been called on the other side of the ball.

Almost exactly a year ago this week I began to seriously study singing American Classic Jazz Standards. What led me to this glorious and fulfilling endeavor? Well I've  been kind of a frustrated crooner my whole adult life getting the opportunity to scratch those sub-dermal itches at the occasional family wedding and party from time to time. One thing led to another and as luck would have it a dear friend invited me to sing with him at a neighborhood little league fund raiser. Fortunately  for me I'm  surrounded by dear friends and family who have always urged me to do this more seriously , most of whom attended the fund raiser and have seen me perform in the past. In 2012 I finally heeded their advice and took up singing more seriously. Since then I've had the great fortune to study with a true maestro and to perform in venues that go beyond the occasional family gathering. This has been one of the most life affirming experiences I've ever had. It's something I've been able to check off my bucket list or, at the very least, say its a work in progress that I hope will carry me  as far as my vocal chords will allow.

Fast forward to this summer. Yet another itch has been slowly working its way to the surface. Since I was a second generation Italian boy growing up in a predominantly Italian neighborhood with grandparents and parents who spoke Italian when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about,  I've always wanted to know how to speak fluent, Florentine style Italian. Nothing against the Italian that is spoken in southern Italy, but I figure if you are going to do it, keep it pure and simple. Dialects will follow in their due course as the need arises. So now here I am, eyebrows deep in Italian language books that run the gamut from verb conjugation, grammar, vocabulary, usage and believe it or not, simple Italian book readers. This is truly learning by immersion, much like they do it in the CIA. Since starting this journey I've surrounded myself  with Italian movies, music and everyday usage. I'm driving my wife and friends crazy because I've taken to only texting in Italian thereby forcing them to translate my messages and respond only in Italiano. Fun for me, for them, not so much.

Long story short, this journey into teaching myself  Italian has filled whatever free time I can muster with a tantalizing  challenge that has been replete with frustration, reward, but most of all, flat out satisfaction and fun. It has become so much a part of me that I literally try to say every English sentence I utter in Italian either to myself  or out loud. I'm far from crossing this off the bucket list because I've not yet achieved any level of fluency. However I'm well only my way and become better every day.

A very wise man once told me that there is really no teaching, there is only learning. What he meant was if you truly burn  to learn something bad enough you will go out and find a way to learn it. That has never been truer than it is today with YouTube, Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, and the ever expansive and omnipresent internet.

So go check that bucket list of yours and commit to do at least one thing right now. If you truly want to learn it the tools are there. Use them and by the end of 2013 you will be amazed and fulfilled by how far you've come.

Please stay tuned for more Musings from Studio 618. If you like like them please tell a friend.

All my very best,
Anthony

1 Year Anniversary Studying with Ed Rose of The Rose Center for Music in Audubon, NJ

I've just completed my first year under the musical tutelage of Mr. Ed Rose. More grateful I could not be. 

Dear Ed, 

Thank you for taking just another fat Italian guy from Jersey who thought he could sing the standards and making him truly understand how to pay homage to, and expertly perform, this beautiful music. Here's hoping that the years ahead will be as fruitful and enriching as the one that has just passed. Thank you also for your friendship. I'm a better man for having met you and to have had the privilege to study with you. You are the heart and soul of The American Songbook.

Bravo Maestro!!!