This is a personal essay -- illustrated with short excerpts from old-time radio programs and music -- on how I learned to love classical music, not from having piano lessons, but from music appreciation teachers with names that were so unusual, I've never forgotten them. One was called the Lone Ranger. Another was called Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. A third was called the Shadow! Later there was a teacher called Alfred Hitchcock and one called the Big Story. The strangest thing about this is that they taught me to love classical music without ever talking about sharps and flats, sonatas or symphonies. They just played the same excerpt from the same piece every week at the same time. And I learned at home, not in school, just by turning on the radio!

This is a personal essay -- illustrated with short excerpts from old-time radio programs and music -- on how I learned to love classical music, not from having piano lessons, but from music appreciation teachers with names that were so unusual, I've never forgotten them. One was called the Lone Ranger. Another was called Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. A third was called the Shadow! Later there was a teacher called Alfred Hitchcock and one called the Big Story. The strangest thing about this is that they taught me to love classical music without ever talking about sharps and flats, sonatas or symphonies. They just played the same excerpt from the same piece every week at the same time. And I learned at home, not in school, just by turning on the radio!