I was Muriel Grossfeld's pianist and arranger from 1968 to 1975 for women’s floor exercises. By exploring the many types of music in arranging music for gymnastics, she was instrumental in changing my attitude towards music. I became interested in all music, not just the narrow world I had experienced as a student.
As a creative musician, I enjoyed the opportunity working with Muriel, an artist as well as athlete, to use my talent and training in composition and piano to create arrangements for her gymnasts. I was pianist-arranger for the U.S. Olympic gymnastic team in Mexico City 1968 as well as the arranger of music for the U.S. Olympics gymnastic team compulsory in Munich 1972.
My work with her in arranging helped motivate me to write a beginner’s book Classroom Keyboard: Play and Create Melodies with Chords and recently create this new music learning website (keyboardcosmos.net) with my piano arrangements.
Muriel Davis Grossfeld, a pioneering Indianapolis gymnast who made three Olympic teams, became the first American to score a perfect “10,” was a longtime coach and had a brief Hollywood career, died January 17, 2021 in Milford, Conn. She was 80.
Muriel competed at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and was a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 1963 Pan American Games. She earned a “10” at the 1964 Olympic Trials in floor exercise and won 18 national championships.