Excerpt: Black Classical Musicians in Philadelphia
By Elaine B. Mack
Writing Our World Press | Biography | Hardcover
December, 2009 | ISBN-10, 0976735601, ISBN-13, 978-0876735601
442 PagesPurchasing information:
$29.95USD/$30.99CDN
Contact Elaine Mack at elainebmack@elainecello.comLeslie Burrs, flautist/composer
I left my family in my last year of high school, at age 16. It was the saddest thing for my mom and me, but it was clear in my mind that the only way I was to realize my dreams of success was to go to Philly and re-establish my ties with those who could assist me in my quest, financially and otherwise.
There I was living on my own at 18th and Bainbridge. I can distinctly remember running down to the store and buying my breakfast of chocolate milk and donuts because I had the independence to do these things. My mom was fully supportive, but she would break down and cry while eating dinner, because all of a sudden I wasn't at the dinner table any longer, and I was her first child. There was a moment of understanding where she knew she had to cut the ties, but for some reason, there was no sense of separation on our part at all, which was interesting. When I moved away, she needed to have a sense of my safety and security, then she could allow me to get on with things. No one had ever gone to college in my family, but here I was with a vision of not only going to college, but ultimately being an artist.
Norman Johns, cellist
Being a Black cellist wasn't an issue. It never was an issue. Back then we were raised to believe that we could be whatever we wanted to be. It was part of the post World War I, Korean War hype, along with the rumblings of the civil rights movement. You know, "Be all that you can be. Be the best that you can be." Of course there was growing disillusionment with what was taught in the schools at the time. When Kennedy, Martin, and Malcolm were murdered, these were rude awakenings. Then the riots began just as I was coming out of high school, and questions started to pop up in my mind. I felt essentially that all those people were giving their lives and being abused so that I could have the opportunity to be all that I could be. It made no sense for me to shut the door on being a cellist just because most of the music that I'd be performing would be Eurocentric. It's not gonna make me any less Black. The dues that I'd have tp pay are the same as anyone else's.
It sounds like a short and sweet piece of logic now, but I started wrestling with that around 1970.
