If you're a baseball fan, you might have heard about Detroit Tigers hitter Prince Fielder's recently an unusual choice in his at-bat music. Last Thursday, the music that accompanied Fielder's steps to the plate wasn't the throbbing strains of the pop singer or classic rocker du jour. Instead, it was some of the more hellfire-and-brimstone moments of Mozart's Requiem, according to mlb.com. When asked why he chose the Mozart, Fielder reportedly said he just "liked it." I get that. Unfortunately for Fielder, he then hit into inning-ending double play But Fielder's musical selection got me thinking, too. For a major league hitter, I would guess that at-bat music is something like a theme song, music that says something about who you are and how you're going to play the game - at least on a particular day. Wouldn't it be fun if each of us had our own equivalent of at-bat music - our own theme song? In addition to our cell phone ring tones, that is. So I wondered: If I could choose at-bat music - music that tells the world something about how I'm going to play the game of life - what would I choose? I think I might select something by Brahms. It's beautiful, warm, passionate, and well thought out. If my theme music could announce my "brand" with all of these attributes even before I entered the building, wouldn't life be grand! Of course, it doesn't really work that way. But what if it did? If you could have your own classical at-bat music, if you could choose your own theme song to announce who you are to the world, what piece would you choose? And why?
Jennifer Hambrick unites her extensive backgrounds in the arts and media and her deep roots in Columbus to bring inspiring music to central Ohio as Classical 101’s midday host. Jennifer performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before earning a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.