We sat our young nephew down. “Well,...

We sat our young nephew down. “Well, Joey, is there anything we can tell you, any shards of wisdom we can take from the rich tapestry of our life and share with you?” we asked.

“I doubt it,” he said. He paused. “There is one thing.”

“Let’s have it, boy,” we said.

“Tell us about music,” he said. Here was the chance we had been waiting for. Should we start with Dylan or the Beatles? And what about the Rolling Stones? And Elvis? Chuck Berry? Gads, there was so much to pass on, and so little time. His mother would be picking him up in a short while. The whole Motown oeuvre would have to be saved for another day. We decided to start with the Beatles, and how they were one of the seminal rock groups of our generation, when he interrupted.

“Tell us about a sonata,” he asked.

“Well, he has his following,” we conceded, a little confused. “He does a decent job with ‘My Way.’ ” Joey looked at us a little cross-eyed.

“Did Mozart really write all that music at such an early age?” he asked. “And what about Beethoven? Is he better, do you think? And what’s a deceptive cadence? And how does the Romantic era differ with the classical period? And just where does Bach fit in with all of this?”

He waited for an answer. Just then, a car horn honked outside. As we shoved him out the door, he told us how excited he was to be going to the American Youth Symphony’s performance at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Sunday night at 8. The program, conducted by Mehli Mehta (pictured above), will feature music by Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Mozart. Admission is free. For information, call (213) 476-2825.

“You oughta go, Uncle R.D.,” he said. We thanked him for his suggestion and slammed the door.