FOR DEAN ALDRICH

An appreciation, on the occasion of
his retirement after four decades of teaching.

Composer of ten-thousand classes,
        this is one musician who knew the score,
     forty years worth,
                  who saw it all and never missed a note,
who knew when to sit and when to strike the key, leaving
                      whole rooms startled at the clarity
         of a sound utterly incontestable,

a pianist whose bench was carved from New Hampshire
                  granite, solid, honest, faithful, enduring, who found culture
      in conservatories far from the small town that never
 left him,

                   who came to work each day
                          sharing entire symphonies of kindness and good sense,
                                   and leaves now because
                                              the irresistible harmony of such a round number

         meant it was time to go.


June 1998

All written material © Bill Schechter, 2016
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