Michele Cusack
Mr. Trautwein was a legend in his own time and truly sui generis. It is inspiring to read all these postings and to learn how many lives he touched, and I have to add my voice here even though much of what I will say echoes what others have already posted. I was only his student for two years, since I was in the first graduating class of BBHS (1975), but he was a favorite teacher (along with the incomparable Daphne Dewey) and occupies a prominent and permanent place in the landscape of my memories. He introduced this pagan to the beauty of sacred music, especially that of Mendelssohn’s The Elijah. He made me feel special and appreciated for what I contributed to the choir even though I wasn’t one of his stars. He kindly wrote a thoughtful recommendation for my college applications. His love for musical theater was shared by my whole family; of course my mother, Jane Paris Sweeney, worked with him for years, as accompanist and choreographer, and still says “I was in love with two Georges.” (also the name of her late husband.) Some of his favorite expressions were absorbed into our family lexicon and are well known by my three children and my mom’s other five grandchildren: “hootchy-koo” (for anyone whose name you can’t remember, or can’t be bothered to recall) and, in an apparent variation, “that’s rude, crude and socially unacceptable” - most often heard at the dinner table, alas. My brother, Patrick Sweeney, and sister, Heather (class of 79) are both active in community theater, carrying on the traditions started at BBHS. Only a couple of weeks ago, attending a performance of my 16 year old’s Concert Choir, I fidgeted in my seat as the minutes ticked by after the 7 pm scheduled start time, unfavorably comparing the choir director’s tardiness with GT’s insistence on raising the curtain promptly. And I won’t let my younger son quit piano lessons because, since I live a continent away from my mom, I need an accompanist! Mr. Trautwein, we are ALL STILL SINGING AND DANCING!
Michele Cusack
OK, here is the first verse, please, all you talented people, continue: (sung to melody of the first song in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)
Way, way back many decades ago
Not long after Blind Brook High School began
George Trautwein came from Goldsboro, NC
A fine example of a musical man
Trautwein, Trautwein and choir
Met in the LGI and sang all day
Trautwein, Trauwein and choir
Only fifty minutes, but we wished we could stay
Mr. Trautwein was a legend in his own time and truly sui generis. It is inspiring to read all these postings and to learn how many lives he touched, and I have to add my voice here even though much of what I will say echoes what others have already posted. I was only his student for two years, since I was in the first graduating class of BBHS (1975), but he was a favorite teacher (along with the incomparable Daphne Dewey) and occupies a prominent and permanent place in the landscape of my memories. He introduced this pagan to the beauty of sacred music, especially that of Mendelssohn’s The Elijah. He made me feel special and appreciated for what I contributed to the choir even though I wasn’t one of his stars. He kindly wrote a thoughtful recommendation for my college applications. His love for musical theater was shared by my whole family; of course my mother, Jane Paris Sweeney, worked with him for years, as accompanist and choreographer, and still says “I was in love with two Georges.” (also the name of her late husband.) Some of his favorite expressions were absorbed into our family lexicon and are well known by my three children and my mom’s other five grandchildren: “hootchy-koo” (for anyone whose name you can’t remember, or can’t be bothered to recall) and, in an apparent variation, “that’s rude, crude and socially unacceptable” - most often heard at the dinner table, alas. My brother, Patrick Sweeney, and sister, Heather (class of 79) are both active in community theater, carrying on the traditions started at BBHS. Only a couple of weeks ago, attending a performance of my 16 year old’s Concert Choir, I fidgeted in my seat as the minutes ticked by after the 7 pm scheduled start time, unfavorably comparing the choir director’s tardiness with GT’s insistence on raising the curtain promptly. And I won’t let my younger son quit piano lessons because, since I live a continent away from my mom, I need an accompanist! Mr. Trautwein, we are ALL STILL SINGING AND DANCING!
Michele Cusack
OK, here is the first verse, please, all you talented people, continue: (sung to melody of the first song in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)
Way, way back many decades ago
Not long after Blind Brook High School began
George Trautwein came from Goldsboro, NC
A fine example of a musical man
Trautwein, Trautwein and choir
Met in the LGI and sang all day
Trautwein, Trauwein and choir
Only fifty minutes, but we wished we could stay
