She is the Music Woman who has seemingly done everything in life but lead a parade of 76 trombones.
And there's still time for that.
But, unlike Harold Hill, Cathy Block is the real deal.
A composer and educator, as well as director of the music department of the Solebury School for the past 15 years, Block is camping out these days in the foothills of the footlights as co-director of the Solebury StarCatchers Theater and Scenic Arts Camp (www.solebury.org/about/summer/starcatcherstheatercamp).
It is where kids get to warm up their talents with "Frozen Jr.," a "let's put on a show" camp finale that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland wouldn't have had a snowball's chance of producing.
But here, in the hills of New Hope, the sound of music is alive and theatrical, with training and tradition abetted by Block and the camp's other professional co-directors, artistic director/choreographer/educator Rebecca Wilschutz and Wendy Erholm, a pro costumer whose customers include a number of theaters.
But as much as Block blocks out time for school/camp activities, Solebury isn't the sole notable credit in Cathy Block's mile-long resume of hits and highlights:
She is the quintessence of composure not just for opening day of camp (June 26) but she has a rich legacy of composing for hitmakers such as Diana Ross, Kool & the Gang and Al Jarreau. She also provided the song over the end credits for Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing."
And she has in so many ways: This magna cum lauded Berklee College of Music graduate also has made the grade as a fine flutist who offers master classes in the instrument as well as private lessons in piano, guitar, ukulele, banjo and composition.
Block is founder/music director of The Living Green Children's Chorus, a fund and fun raiser for area land sustainability.
"As far back as I can remember, music has always affected me," says the Brooklyn-born, Buckingham resident. "My father played in the Big Band era with [such giants as] Dizzy Gillespie, and my mother was a Broadway chorus girl," doing more than okay in a career that included the original Broadway production of "Oklahoma!"
These days, Block is very much attached to Bucks County, to which she and her husband moved in 1990 and were delighted to discover "such a rich history of the arts."
Block learned early on that the metronome ticks in both directions, and sacrifice can be a key element in raising a family and elevating a career.
"I love that part of my life and its chapters," she says of songwriting for the stars.
But she concedes it's a far cry from family life.
"I have three fantastic daughters," she says with a smile in her voice. "I always had in mind what kind of mother I wanted to be," citing her own as a woman who scored success on all fronts, a role model to roll with.
"When I graduated from Berklee, I made a bucket list of the people I wanted to work with, and I was able to accomplish that with a number of them."
But it became clear, she recalls, that it wasn't really so hard to choose between a 2 a.m. recording session and a session burping the blues out of her baby. "I remember getting a midnight call from a member of Kool & the Gang that they needed a song right away."
Midnight rides were okay for Paul Revere, she reasoned, but not so much for a new mom.
Block started writing what turned out to be acclaimed children's music, including "Timeless," a tuneful accolade-attracting album (Editor's Choice Award, Best Children's Audio/American Library Association's Book List; and the Toy Portfollio Platinum Award/Best Audio).
“Being in this pool of people and working with groups like Kool & The Gang, was something that I had planned and worked toward my entire life,” Block said. “But I knew I wasn't leaving music. I could never do that. I was just changing the audience that I'd create music for."
Child's play? No condescension there: "When I put down my pop music pen and began writing more for children, I felt like much of the music available to them was patronizing or 'spoke down' to them — a lot of it was silly stuff. So it was a genuine interest on my part to try and create songs for very young people that spoke to children where they were, but not in a stooping way."
She didn't stoop to conquer, she raised the bar, which included a musical in the key of minors, "That's What Kids Do!"
"I want to share that passion I have for music with young people," Block said.
Block's is an egalitarian effort, offering her charges a chance to start out on an equal footing with college-age students. "I don't know of another high school that has it," she says of the insiders course she developed about the business of music-making.
Meanwhile, Block still makes it her business to compose: "Just last spring I finished two chamber music pieces, a jazz piece and the other was a classical music piece.”
Whether grasping a flute or strumming a banjo — or maybe one day sliding one of 76 trombones in a big parade — it reflects the rhyme and reason of this magical Music Woman's work. "Is that my theme?" she muses of making a difference in young people's lives. "Yes. I live by that."
Michael Elkin is a playwright, theater critic and novelist who lives in Abington. He writes occasional columns about theater.
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