The Skin Above My Knee
Read by
Marcia Butler
Release:
02/21/2017
Runtime:
6h 51m
Quantity:
“Marcia Butler narrates her memoir of rising above difficult circumstances through music…Her delivery is clear and well paced even as she recounts the pain of growing up…The narration is book-ended by short oboe performances, a fitting addition that provides context for the listener.”
AudioFile
Washington Post Top 10 Book of Books We Loved
The unflinching story of a professional oboist who finds order and beauty in music as her personal life threatens to destroy her.
Music was everything for Marcia Butler. Growing up in an emotionally desolate home with an abusive father and a distant mother, she devoted herself to the discipline and rigor of the oboe, and quickly became a young prodigy on the rise in New York City's competitive music scene.
But haunted by troubling childhood memories while balancing the challenges of a busy life as a working musician, Marcia succumbed to dangerous men, drugs and self-destruction. In her darkest moments, she asked the hardest question of all: Could music truly save her life?
A memoir of startling honesty and subtle, profound beauty, The Skin Above My Knee is the story of a woman finding strength in her creative gifts and artistic destiny. Filled with vivid portraits of 1970's New York City, and fascinating insights into the intensity and precision necessary for a career in professional music, this is more than a narrative of a brilliant musician struggling to make it big in the big city. It is the story of a survivor.
One of 2017's 35 over 35 One of the Washington Post's Top 10 Classical Music Moments of the Year
Music was everything for Marcia Butler. Growing up in an emotionally desolate home with an abusive father and a distant mother, she devoted herself to the discipline and rigor of the oboe, and quickly became a young prodigy on the rise in New York City's competitive music scene.
But haunted by troubling childhood memories while balancing the challenges of a busy life as a working musician, Marcia succumbed to dangerous men, drugs and self-destruction. In her darkest moments, she asked the hardest question of all: Could music truly save her life?
A memoir of startling honesty and subtle, profound beauty, The Skin Above My Knee is the story of a woman finding strength in her creative gifts and artistic destiny. Filled with vivid portraits of 1970's New York City, and fascinating insights into the intensity and precision necessary for a career in professional music, this is more than a narrative of a brilliant musician struggling to make it big in the big city. It is the story of a survivor.
One of 2017's 35 over 35 One of the Washington Post's Top 10 Classical Music Moments of the Year
Release:
2017-02-21
Runtime:
6h 51m
Format:
audio
Weight:
0.0 lb
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781478964155
Praise