For a musical family on the Plains of South Dakota, it was a tragedy that left ashes in the soul – not just that a fire on Nov. 26, 1898, burned down the log house at Oahe Mission north of Pierre, but also that it destroyed the Steinway Grand Piano inside.
It was that same Steinway that had traveled up the Missouri River by steamboat for Nina, the first wife of missionary Thomas L. Riggs, in the early 1870s when the Missouri River country was still Dakota Territory. It supplied just the right tone, full and powerful, to fill that big empty space in the grassland. It helped carry the message of the ancient faith to Dakota and Lakota converts through music.
Very likely it was on the Steinway that Nina taught her first son, Theodore Foster Riggs, what a piano sounded like after he was born in 1874; probably it was a silent reminder of Thomas Riggs’ grief when Nina died in childbirth in August 1878. In spring 1885, when Louisa Irvine Riggs, also with a love for music, moved into the log home at Oahe Mission as the second Mrs. Riggs, the Steinway sat along one wall; and she started to play.
And now, in November 1898, it was burned to cinders…
The drive you need to accomplish whatever you’re attempting—big or small—needs fuel. Instead of letting slip-ups set you back, psychologist and author John Norcross recommends you make them the fuel:
“If you are learning to play the piano, you don’t give up because you miss a note. It’s not whether you slip, it’s how you respond to the slip.“
Cut yourself some slack and remember that things take time and hard work. Listen to the sound of your “missed note” and let that push you forward. You missed that note yesterday, but that doesn’t mean you’ll miss it today.
Well-maintained pianos can make music for 50 to 70 years, said Peter Stumpf, a piano technician for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Carnegie Mellon University, also in Pittsburgh.
Stumpf acknowledged new piano retailers are challenged by technicians like him who restore well-made used pianos and sell them at a fraction of the cost.
The piano’s design, durability and new flexibility brought by technology helps keep the instrument created by Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori more than 300 years ago relevant today, said Joe Lamond, president and CEO of the National Association of Music Merchants, a music products industry trade association.”Having all the notes laid out in front of you spatially is really an important way to learn music,” he said. “It’s why it’s one of the most important instruments for people to begin on. That’s not going to change.”
• 1901 ~ Marlene Dietrich, German singer and actress
• 1903 ~ The barbershop quartet favorite, Sweet Adeline, was sung for the first time, in New York City. The song was composed by Henry Armstrong with the words of Richard Gerard. The title of the song came from a theater marquee that promoted the great operatic soprano, Adelina Patti. Now female barbershop quartets call themselves Sweet Adelines.
• 1906 ~ Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer, writer and radio personality
• 1911 ~ Anna Russell, Operatic parodies
• 1927 ~ The Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) musical, Show Boat, opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. Its star, Helen Morgan, received excellent reviews from critics of the show; a musical about riverboat show people and their romances and disappointments.
• 1931 ~ Walter Norris, Pianist, composer
• 1932 ~
Radio City Music Hall, in New York City, opened. It was the largest indoor theater in the world. The gala grand opening show was a six-hour extravaganza that lost half a million dollars within three weeks. The theater has since been renovated to recapture its original decorative charm. An Art Deco cathedral of entertainment, it seats more than 6,200 people and is still a must-see for those visiting New York. During the holiday season, audiences continue to get a kick out of seeing the world- famous Rockettes perform in precision on Radio City Music Hall’s nearly 10,000-square-foot stage which is a combination movie palace and live theater. It remains a showcase for many exciting musical events. It has a seating capacity of 6,200 seats.
• 1939 ~ The Glenn Miller Show, also known as Music that Satisfies, started on CBS radio. The 15-minute, twice-a-week show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and was heard for nearly three years.
• 1940 ~ Singer Al Jolson and actress Ruby Keeler were divorced after 12 years of marriage. They had separated a year earlier; but Jolson talked Keeler into co-starring with him in the Broadway show, Hold on to Your Hats. She left the show before the opening and then left the marriage.
• 1941 ~ Leslie Maguire, Pianist with Gerry and The Pacemakers
• 1944 ~ Mick Jones, Guitarist with Foreigner
• 1952 ~ David Knopfler, Guitarist, singer with Dire Straits
• 1953 ~ Elliot Easton (Shapiro), Guitarist with The Cars
• 1975 ~ The Staple Singers reached the top spot on the pop music charts for the second time in their career. This time with Let’s Do It Again. The song, the theme from the movie soundtrack of the same name, was the last hit the group would have. I’ll Take You There was The Staple Singers’ first number one hit (June 3, 1972).
• 1980 ~ The John Lennon hit, (Just Like) Starting Over, began a five-week stay at #1 on the pop charts. The hit was from the album, Double Fantasy. Lennon was murdered on December 8th of that year, as the single and LP had started their climb up the charts.
• 1981 ~ Hoagland “Hoagy” Carmichael, American composer, singer and actor (In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening), died at the age of 82
• 2003 ~ Vestal Goodman, a pioneering gospel music singer who performed for half a century, including a stint on “The PTL Club” with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, died. She was 74. Goodman and her late husband Howard “Happy” Goodman were part of The Happy Goodman Family act, which recorded 15 No. 1 gospel music songs and performed more than 3,500 concerts. In the mid-1980s, the couple were regulars on “The PTL Club” television show starring the Bakkers. They left in 1988 after three years on the show, and were not linked to financial improprieties as others on the show were. The Happy Goodman Family was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998. They were original members of “The Gospel Singing Jubilee” syndicated TV program that was a pioneer in gospel music broadcasting, appearing on more than 100 U.S. stations. The Goodmans sang at the White House in 1979 for President Carter.
• 2003 ~ Bobbie Nell Brookshire Gordon, a singer who toured in the 1970s with jazz great Duke Ellington, died. She was 64. Gordon, a Dayton native, was discovered in 1961 while singing at a bar in her hometown. She performed with pianist Betty Greenwood and had come to the attention of Ellington, the noted bandleader. Gordon toured from 1970 to 1974 with Ellington. A newly released digital video disc of a 1971 performance, “Live at Tivoli Gardens,” includes Gordon singing “Love You Madly” and “One More Time.” Gordon was featured as “Nell Brookshire” with Ellington on the cover of Jet magazine in September 1971.
• 2003 ~ Dick St. John, half of the Dick & Dee Dee duo, whose 1961 hit, The Mountain’s High, made No. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, died. He was 63. Dick & Dee Dee’s biggest hit was The Mountain’s High, but they also cracked the Top 25 pop singles chart in 1963 with Young and In Love and 1965’s Thou Shalt Not Steal. St. John, born Richard Gosting, began performing with his friend Mary Sperling in junior high. With St. John as the chief songwriter, the two soon attracted the attention of Liberty Records in Los Angeles. St. John and Sperling, who was renamed Dee Dee by the label, combined elements of doo-wop, soul and R&B in their sound. They toured with the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. Dick & Dee Dee were semi-regulars on such musical shows as “American Bandstand.” St. John also wrote songs that were recorded by Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, the Four Seasons and Quincy Jones, and he contributed music to many television shows.
• 2025 ~ Pianist Gary Graffman died at the age of 97.
Graffman’s artistry was marked by extraordinary clarity, strength, and integrity. A towering figure on the concert stage, he was equally revered for his devotion to teaching and mentorship, shaping generations of pianists through his long tenure at the Curtis Institute of Music.
After focal dystonia ended his ability to perform with both hands, Graffman did not retreat from music. Instead, he transformed adversity into purpose, becoming one of the great champions of the left-hand repertoire. His performances and advocacy gave lasting life to works written for resilience, including the monumental concerto by Maurice Ravel, which remains a testament to human endurance and artistic will.
Graffman often spoke not of loss, but of responsibility. Responsibility to the music, to students, and to the act of making something meaningful despite limitation. In that way, his legacy extends far beyond the piano.
Florence Foster Jenkins was an American socialite and amateur soprano who was known and mocked for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. The historian Stephen Pile ranked her “the world’s worst opera singer … No one, before or since, has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from the shackles of musical notation.”
Despite (or perhaps because of) her technical incompetence, she became a prominent musical cult figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Cole Porter, Gian Carlo Menotti, Lily Pons, Sir Thomas Beecham, and other celebrities were fans. Enrico Caruso is said to have “regarded her with affection and respect”.
In the 1940s, New York socialite Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) dreams of becoming a great opera singer. Unfortunately, her ambition far exceeds her talent. The voice Florence hears in her head is beautiful, but to everyone else it is quite lousy. Her husband St. Clair goes to extreme lengths to make sure his wife never finds out how awful she truly is. When Florence announces her plans for a concert at Carnegie Hall, St. Clair soon realizes that he’s facing his greatest challenge yet.
We have established that regular practice routines will not happen without proactive piano parents. So, how can parents be proactive practice assistants even if they have never touched a piano?
Day 1. The Practice Practice Bouncer: Let’s begin with the simplest of tasks for piano parents. To encourage effective daily practice, proactive parents must act as the Piano Practice Bouncer.
This job requires parents to keep family pets, siblings, and friends out of the piano room.
Even more importantly for older students, this job requires keeping cell phones quiet during practice sessions.
• 1854 ~ Moritz Moszkowski, Polish-born German pianist and composer More information about Moszkowski
• 1900 ~ Ernst Krenek, Austrian-born American composer, conductor and pianist
• 1905 ~ Constant Lambert, British composer, conductor and writer
• 1912 ~ Gene (Eugene Curran) Kelly, Dancer, actor: Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh, The Three Musketeers, Marjorie Morningstar, Inherit the Wind, North and South Book I; director: Singin’ in the Rain, Hello, Dolly!, A Guide for the Married Man, The Cheyenne Social Club
• 1917 ~ Tex (Sol) Williams, American country-western singer
• 1923 ~ Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, The Happiness Boys, were heard on radio for the first time. The two were billed as radio’s first comedians and were also credited with creating and performing the first singing commercial.
• 1936 ~ Rudy Lewis, Singer with Drifters
• 1942 ~ Patricia McBride, Ballerina: New York City Ballet. For many years she was Mikhail Baryshnikov’s only partner
• 1943 ~ LIFE magazine spotlighted a dance craze that was sweeping the U.S.A., the Lindy Hop
• 1947 ~ Keith Moon, Singer, drummer with The Who
• 1947 ~ Margaret Truman, daughter of U.S. President Harry S Truman, presented her first public concert. Margaret sang before 15,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert did not get great reviews. In fact, the critics didn’t like Margaret’s singing at all. And Margaret’s dad didn’t like the critics, and said so, from the White House.
• 1949 ~ Rick Springfield, Singer
• 1951 ~ Mark Hudson, Singer with The Hudson Brothers
• 1966 ~ The U.S. premiere of the motion picture Help!, starring The Beatles, was held for thousands of moviegoers wanting to see the group’s first, color, motion picture. Their first film, A Hard Day’s Night, had been produced in black and white.
• 1990 ~ David Rose passed away
• 2001 ~ Kathleen Freeman, a veteran character actress whose face if not her name was known to audiences from television sitcoms, the film classic “Singin’ in the Rain” and Broadway’s “The Full Monty,” died of lung cancer at the age of 82. Freeman gave her final performance in “The Full Monty”. She played a sassy piano player in the hit musical and earned a Tony nomination in May 2001.
Big, brash and funny were Freeman’s trademarks in playing recalcitrant maids, demented nuns, mouthy housekeepers, battle-ax mothers, irate landladies and nosy neighbors.
Starting in the Golden Age of television, Freeman appeared in such shows as “Topper,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Hogan’s Heroes,” “The Lucy Show,” “The Golden Girls,” “Murphy Brown” and “Married … With Children.”
“This will sound very corny and I’m sorry,” Freeman said last year in an Associated Press interview, “but I have always had the sense I was put here to do this: I am somebody who is around to help the world laugh. I have always had that sense. Corny but absolutely true.”
In “Singin’ in the Rain,” considered by many to be the best movie musical ever made, she played Jean Hagen’s frustrated voice teacher. Among Freeman’s other films were the sci-fi thriller “The Fly,” “The Rounders” with Henry Fonda, “Far Country” with Jimmy Stewart, and “North to Alaska” starring John Wayne. More recently she appeared in “Dragnet,” “Gremlins II,” “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” and both “Blues Brothers” comedies.
Freeman was born in Chicago and was propelled into show business at age 2. Her parents had a vaudeville act, Dixon and Freeman, in which their daughter did a little dance.
Freeman attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where she majored in music and was going to be a classical pianist. Then, she said, “A terrible thing happened. I got in a play and got a laugh. I just said a line and, `boom.”‘
Freeman then worked in many small theater groups, including the Circle Players, acting for such eminent directors – and actors – as Charles Laughton, Charlie Chaplin and Robert Morley.
At the same time, the early 1950s, the television explosion took over Los Angeles. From her first regular sitcom role, as the maid in “Topper,” Freeman went on to do just about every sitcom of the last 50 years.
For all her voluminous credits, Freeman’s stage credits were mostly on the road – touring as Miss Hannigan in “Annie” for 18 months, then in “Deathtrap” and later with Lauren Bacall in “Woman of the Year.”
Her only other Broadway appearance was for five months in the 1978 production of “13 Rue de l’Amore” starring Louis Jordan.
• 2001 ~ Frank Emilio Flynn, a blind pianist and Latin jazz pioneer who performed with many great American jazz artists, died at the age of 80.
Flynn lost his sight at age 13 but continued to study and perform classical works, transcribed into Braille, with the Symphonic Orchestra of Havana.
Flynn’s great passion was jazz, and in the 1950s he developed his own jazz-influenced ballad style, known in Cuba as “feeling.”
Performing with the Quinteto Cubana de Musica Moderno, or Cuban Quintet of Modern Music, he developed into one of the most important Cuban jazz musicians of his era.
I’ve recently started playing the organ a bit at my church again. I started playing piano-organ duets with a friend and people were so glad to hear the organ again that the Director of Music asked me to play for final hymns and such.
So, I dusted off my old Organmaster shoes and started practicing again. I was thinking back to how I got my start with organ – we have 2 now in the O’Connor Music Studio. One was my aunt’s Yamaha organ that I had shipped here from Maine when she died and the other is a Hammond that my mom brought with her when she moved in with us. That organ traveled a bit, too from Springfield, MA to Barre, MA to Wilmington, DE, to an apartment in Fairfax, VA, then to our home.
My mom learned to play piano by sitting in on my lessons with Miss Pashley and actually practicing. When my dad became pastor of the Barre (MA) Congregational Church, my mom was off at the local Catholic Church playing organ for their masses. Interesting division of religion!
Years later, my DH and I moved to Alexandria, Virginia, about a block away from a branch of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). At that time, their music department featured organ classes and I jumped on the opportunity.
Ben Dobey actually taught on the organ at St. Albans Church in Annandale. The organ was in a small balcony, accessed by a narrow spiral staircase in what seemed to be a small closet. How they got the organ up there was a mystery to me unless they built the church around it.
Looking at their website, I got this picture of the organ and information about how it was updated in 2023. How workers accomplished the update I have no idea.
Our organ was manufactured by the John Leek Organ Company (Oberlin, Ohio) in 1982. It has two manuals, three divisions, 13 stops, 16 ranks, tracker action, mechanical couplers, no combination action, in the North German style.
In the fall of 2023 the organ was refurbished by Taylor and Boody Organbuilders of Staunton, VA, one of the finest firms specializing in mechanical action instruments. The organ was thoroughly cleaned, degraded leather was replaced, the action was reregulated and made even, and damaged pipes were repaired and fortified against future harm. The instrument was also tuned to a slightly unequal temperament, lending a special authenticity to the Baroque and Renaissance music so suited to this organ.
Ben was a stickler for Organmaster shoes. These days, I prefer to practice in socks – or barefoot – but I always wear the Organmasters to play. I even recently invested in a silver pair!
I always think of Ben when I’m wearing these shoes. I thought of him on Easter Sunday (4/20/2025) when my friend and I played a medley of Easter hymns for the postlude.
As it turned out, the 20th was the anniversary of his death. From this obituary, I assumed that he died on Easter of this year and shared on Facebook.
A couple friends posted:
Robert Benjamin Dobey, 72, died April 20. Born August 14, 1950, he was raised in Arlington, Virginia. He progressed from playing piano to organ by the age of 13. Dobey graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, in 1972, studying organ with Garth Peacock, before earning his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance and literature from Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, studying with David Craighead. Dobey studied music with Michael Schneider in Cologne, Germany, on a Fulbright scholarship and resided in England for two years as a member of the Wells Cathedral choir. His musical activities ranged from playing organ and harpsichord to singing, composing, and conducting. After years of building his career in Washington, D.C., as keyboard artist with the Washington Bach Consort, assistant director of the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral, as a singer in the Woodley Ensemble, and various parishes, Dobey moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he served as organist and choir director at Grace Episcopal Church.
Dobey recorded several discs for the Pro Organo label, among which are Herbert Howells & the Organ: The 30s & 40s, recorded on the Roosevelt-Schantz organ in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Syracuse, New York; The Wanderer, recorded on the Ernest M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner organ at Girard College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Magnificat: Organ music and chant in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, recorded on the Schoenstein organ of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; The Intimate Reger and In Sweetest Joy: Christmas Carols for the Organ, both recorded on the Schoenstein organ at Grace Episcopal Church, Sheboygan.
Robert Benjamin Dobey is survived by his sister, Mary Carol Coleman, and brother-in-law, Cameron Coleman, as well as nieces and nephews. A Mass of Christian Burial May 6 at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Sheboygan.
I later read another obituary that said Ben died April 20, 2023.
Dr. Robert Benjamin Dobey passed away on Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the age of 72, following a determined and hard-fought battle with cancer. Born on August 14, 1950, Dr. Dobey was raised in Arlington, Virginia. Ben, to his many friends and colleagues, and Benjy, to his family, Dr. Dobey lived a full life steeped in his love of music, gardening, and deep friendships. In a family otherwise bereft of musical ability, Dr. Dobey’s extraordinary talent can only be considered providential. He progressed from the piano to the organ by the age of 13 and continued to develop as a musician of great talent until his passing. Dr. Dobey attended the Oberlin Conservatory before earning his doctorate at the Eastman School of Music. Among his travels and pursuits, Dr. Dobey studied music in Cologne, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship and resided in England as a member of the Wells Cathedral choir. The breadth of his musical talent extended from organ and harpsichord to singing, composing, and conducting. His mastery of the organ spanned virtually every school and composer and resulted in multiple recorded works. After many years of building his career in Washington, DC with the Washington Bach Consort, the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral, the Woodley Ensemble, and prominent parishes, Dr. Dobey opted to devote himself to community, family, and friends in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he served as a beloved organist and choir director at Grace Episcopal. Dr. Dobey’s lifelong passion for gardening left a legacy of spectacular beauty in his wake. He cultivated floral gardens wherever he lived, attended church, and made friends. Responding to news that his niece had planted bulbs that he provided, Dr. Dobey’s proclamation that “you have so much to look forward to” was among his final words. That desire to cultivate and share beauty animated his life, work in the garden, and vocational devotion to music. Notwithstanding his accomplishments, Dr. Dobey’s compassion, generosity, and open acceptance of all were his defining traits. His penetrating sense of humor produced satire and wit that brought real joy to family, friends, and colleagues. True to these characteristics to the end, Dr. Dobey’s final performance was “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” sang to his two-year-old great nephew shortly before his passing. Dr. Dobey will be missed by many and is survived by his beloved sister, Mary Carol Coleman, and brother-in-law, Cameron Coleman, as well as the nieces and nephews on whom he doted. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at Holy Name of Jesus Church, 8th & Huron Avenue, Sheboygan. In lieu of flowers, memorials in Ben’s name made be made to the Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice, the music fund at Grace Episcopal Church or the St. Luke’s Community Cafe. The family would like to thank the nurses and staff of the Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice for all of their loving care and support. The Olson Funeral Home & Cremation Service has been entrusted with Dr. Dobey’s arrangements.
1791 ~ Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer whose vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works.
His books of studies for the piano are still widely used in piano teaching.
More information on Czerny
Czerny is in the center top of this image. He influenced many!
At the age of fifteen, Czerny began a very successful teaching career. Basing his method on the teaching of Beethoven and Muzio Clementi, Czerny taught up to twelve lessons a day in the homes of Viennese nobility.
His ‘star’ pupils included Theodor Döhler, Stephen Heller, Sigismond Thalberg, Leopoldine Blahetka and Ninette de Belleville.In 1819, the father of Franz Liszt brought his son to Czerny.
Liszt became Czerny’s most famous pupil. He trained the child with the works of Beethoven, Clementi, Ignaz Moscheles and Johann Sebastian Bach. The Liszt family lived in the same street in Vienna as Czerny, who was so impressed by the boy that he taught him free of charge. Liszt was later to repay this confidence by introducing the music of Czerny at many of his Paris recitals.
Shortly before Liszt’s Vienna concert of 13 April 1823 (his final concert of that season), Czerny arranged, with some difficulty (as Beethoven increasingly disliked child prodigies) the introduction of Liszt to Beethoven. Beethoven was sufficiently impressed with the young Liszt to give him a kiss on the forehead. Liszt remained close to Czerny, and in 1852 his Études d’exécution transcendente (Transcendental Études) were published with a dedication to Czerny.
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