"Life is lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back through the valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale.” Jill Savage

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Happy Birthday Amy Marcy Cheney Beach September 5


Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867 – December 27, 1944) an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music.

A child prodigy, she was able to sing forty tunes accurately by age one; By age two she could improvise a counter melody to any melody her mother sang, she taught herself to read at age three, and began composing simple waltzes at the age of four. She began formal piano lessons with her mother at the age of six, and a year later started giving public recitals, playing works by Handel, Beethoven, Chopin, and her own pieces . . . and so on.

She married in 1885 to Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach – a Boston surgeon 24 years older than she – she agreed to limit performances to one public recital a year, with proceeds donated to charity. Following her husband’s wishes, she devoted herself to composition.

After her husband died in 1910, Beach toured Europe as a pianist, playing her own compositions. She was determined to establish a reputation there as both a performer and composer.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Think about that for a minute. She was a child prodigy. She gets married and to please him she has to give up her dreams. As soon as her husband dies - she goes back to her dreams and does both - plays and composes the music!


It's never to late to kick butt!

I wonder if she and her husband were kindred spirits? Was she resentful of having to give up what she wanted to do or be?

What is a kindred spirit?

Be the Sugar, not the substitute.

Be the cat in the hat, not the black cat.

Be the harbor, not the hidden rocks.

Be the teleprompter, not the heckler.

Be the Lullaby, not the alarm.

Be the green light, not the gridlock.

Be the envelope, not the postage due.

Be the saddle, not the burr.

Be the coupons, not the hidden charges.

Be a Smile, not a Fault line.

Be the faucet, not the drain.

Be the hug, not the Bluetooth ear bug.

Be the Harmony not the false note.

Be the umbrella, not the rain.

Be yes, instead of maybe.

Be We Instead of me.

I found this in Skirt Magazine December 2007 Atlanta - do you have a kindred spirit?
Love, Chatty

4 comments:

Olde Dame Penniwig said...

I think when people marry people and then rules and should's and shouldn'ts start flying around, it's time to vamoose!

Buttercup said...

I'm with Penniwig, but I would extend it to no "shoulds in general." I just bristle when someone tells me what I should do.
I am really enjoying your bios. They're interesting and thought provoking. Thanks.

Chatty Crone said...

I'm with the two of you!

A Lil Enchanted said...

Oh my... what an amazing lady! Do I think they were kindred spirits? NO! I know things were different back then... but asking someone to give up something that they love and that is a part of who they are is just wrong. I'm glad he kicked the bucket in time for her to persue her dreams. Maybe that's wrong to say and think but I never claimed to be always miss sweet... lol

I left you an award over on my blog :)

A Lil Enchanted,
~LaShan~