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In memory of Marvin Schneider, who was very supportive in the creation of the Rob Schneider Music Foundation.

A Few Words about Music and my Dad

By Rob Schneider

My father, Marvin, had a love affair with music that lasted his entire life. Marvin played any saxophone he could get his hands on - Tenor, Alto, Soprano, or Baritone. There wasn't any woodwind instrument in the world he couldn't make a sound out of, including some strange 'Lute' he bought while we were in China.

Marvin played piano and organ pretty darn well, even with his small fingers. But my Dad's instrument of choice, and the one he excelled at, was his beloved clarinet. He was a marvelous clarinet player, and he could sight read the most difficult music. He would just pick up a piece of music he'd never seen before and make it look and seem easy.

Marvin went to school in the 1940's. It was all about 'Big Bands', baby! There was Count Basie, who my Dad always remembered as being 'old', the great clarinet player and bandleader Benny Goodman and his favorite, the progressive Stan Kenton. It must have been a great time to be a teenager and a wonderful time to be playing in a band, especially if you loved music as much as my Dad did.

Band classes made up over half his class schedule. In junior high, he took four classes of music a day, including marching band, jazz band, and orchestra. At Poly High School, he played in two jazz bands and after school he would make money playing in jazz bands at dances.

As I've said, Marvin could read any music, but, he wasn't much of an 'improviser.' So, he had a pretty good solution: he would write out his own jazz riffs and improvisational solos and when it was time for his solo, he'd sight-read it.

Marvin graduated from Poly High School in 1949. Big Bands were to give way to Rock and Roll and my Dad decided to make a living in the real estate business. But, he never stopped loving music, and he continued playing music the rest of his life. He'd pull out the Clarinet and play in the kitchen.

He also taught music. He would fill in and help the music teachers in the elementary and high schools in Pacifica for the better part of three decades.

Marvin was very proud of the Schneider family music foundation, bringing music back to the children of the Pacifica School District. I'll never forget my Dad telling me after the band performed last year "Rob, it was beautiful, we're really doing a good thing."