My
mother by her maiden name, Maria T. Vazquez, started her piano lessons at
4 years old under the tutelage of Maria Luisa Del Comté. On November 11, 1941 when my Mom was 11
Madame Comté rented one of the rooms alongside the Main Auditorium of Carnegie
my mother played the "Military Polonaise" by Chopin
winning the gold Technical Excellence Medal awarded by the Figueroa Brothers of
Puerto Rico. During my own life, I was
very fortunate to hear her play this same piece many times for various
audiences where each performance was moving and inspirational.
While
she was still 11 my Mom entered the Julliard Institute of Music (now simply
known as Julliard) which then was located near Columbia University. My Mother was assigned to be in a top tier
class of musicians in which only she and one other (Leonard Bernstein) were the
top two elites amongst elites as they were the only musicians determined to
have the gift of "perfect pitch" meaning that from within any
phrasing, or arrangement of notes, they both could correctly identify the key,
timbre, identity and beat of each note from merely hearing it played by any
instrument. At 15 yrs old, she received the degree from her to teach elementary and intermediate piano, music theory, sight/singing and reading. I had the opportunity to
meet Mr. Bernstein (much later of course) who kindly reminisced their shared
experiences of their school years at Juilliard and personally observed the joy
and warmth of their interaction and friendship.
Mom
also played "No Me Toques", "Recuerdos de Borinquen" and
"Mis Amores" at the Teatro Puerto Rico when it was administered by
Chu Chu Montalbán (Mom's first Manager, whose brother was Ricardo
Montalbán). Mom was 15 yrs old when she
received top billing at the Teatro Puerto Rico engaging in her first
professional contract performing 3 shows daily for one week. Also at 15, she was awarded a degree from
allowed her to teach elementary and intermediate piano, theory
and sight singing/reading. She also
played at the Palladium with Tito Puente, Charlie Palmieri, Machito and other
great orchestras. She also auditioned as
a conductor for Cesar Concepción and was to tour with the 18 piece male
her mother felt her daughter was too young, at 15 years old, to
travel with the group. The Maestro,
for his part, thought she was 18-19 years old.
Around
the time of the Choirmaster of St. Paul's Catholic
Church in which she wrote and prepared original music integrating a variety of
Spanish songs from Puerto Rico, Cuba and many other countries throughout
Spanish America for her Choir then known as "Las Hijas de Maria" for
Spanish Mass. This was a radical move
and development in the early-1960's. She
played the church instructed the young ladies in song and
music. I still recall the music produced
then as nothing short of heavenly singing of angels.
In
her later years, during my early teens I had the opportunity to see her be spontaneously
invited to play on the stage and jam with the band whenever she was spotted
within a venue amongst the crowd by Tito Puente, Machito or another musical colleague. She also was also invited by Bobby Capo to
accompany him in several venues whenever he spotted her in the audience. My mother also had a standing invitation from
Myrta Sylva herself to play at The Alameda Room (which she owned) and at La
Bodequita del Medio, whenever my mother felt in the mood. Watching my mother play was always an education
in Music.
Her
work life included working for the Federal Government's Air Force, then the
Navy Department, and then the U.S. Department of Education - Office for Civil
Rights. After 18 years as a Federal
Investigator, she transferred to Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Fair
Housing and later Equal Opportunity. It
was during her employment with Equal Opportunity when she investigated a
complaint based on disability against the Co-op City complex. My Mom and the Attorneys for Co-op City
(Riverbay Corporation) argued the case based on the no-pets policy of the
complex. My Mom won the case based on
the mental disability of the tenant affected by this discriminatory
policy; it was the first winning legal
argument of this kind which became U.S. Law. This case was presented in front of an
Administrative Law Judge and published as a new Law, in the Prentice Hall Legal
Library. A copy is available here for anyone who is interested in the details. Basically, the complainant (who suffered a
mental disability) could keep her dog because she had medical documentation
supporting her need to keep it.
After
her retirement from the Federal Government (October 1994), she volunteered for Lenox Hill Neighborhood in the same
neighborhood she resided within since 1960. She taught English for 13 years in the "English as a Second Other
Language" (ESOL) Program. Later she
became involved with the Lenox Hill Senior Center where she worked as a
Receptionist and at times taught Spanish Class whenever a Spanish instructor
would go on vacation. As her health worsened,