A note about money

After I wrote my last post about the financial dealings around my cello, I started worrying that some people might think I was some kind of little coddled princess, with parents who showered me with gifts of expensive musical instruments. I know some of the people I came across in the years I had that cello thought just that. 

But here's the deal: I didn't ask for much in the way of material things. I wasn't interested in clothes or going out to expensive places or going on vacations or in having nice cars. I didn't even go away to college -- I lived at home for most of the time I was an undergrad, and tuition was cheap back then. The good cello cost about what a modest new car would have cost. In today's dollars, it would have been around $24,000. It was a tool that I needed for what I was doing at the time. And unlike a car, it appreciated in value (or did until it was stripped of its name, at least).

If you're interested in a comparison, take a look at this article that appeared on CNNMoney.com a few years ago. It was startling to me to what lengths these parents went to spend money on their musician children.

Exceptional costs of exceptional kids

Anyway, I thought I should clarify that, for whatever it's worth.