Piano prattle

My parents took the kids for the day as an anniversary present to us, so I have a bit more time to myself today.  So, what does a mother do when the kids are away, and she has alone time with her husband on their anniversary?  She scrapbooks and blogs about the kids, of course. Lest that seem too depressing, let me note that my dear husband has been loving me through acts of service around the house today, so while he's busy hauling old clutter to the dump and tidying up the yard, I thought I would slowly begin the process of updating my blog before our fancy date tonight.

So much has happened since my last post.  The kids finished up school and most of their wonderful extracurricular activities. We have hosted guests several times a week for the past four weeks which has been a great joy for me. I have discovered a new fitness passion that makes my previous running obsession seem wimpy.  We have purged the house and listed it for sale after much reluctance on my part. (That's a long story for another post.)  It has been a fun, exciting, exhausting, and exhilarating few weeks.

Piano consumed much of our time and thoughts during the month of May.  Our daughter grew so frustrated with piano that we gave her teacher notice that we would be discontinuing her lessons unless our daughter's attitude changed considerably before the end of the month.   We suspected that having to sit through her brother's lessons each week without getting to play herself may be the motivation she needed to continue.  Thankfully, the Lord orchestrated just the right circumstances to transform her attitude.  For the recital program this spring, the teacher had each student play at least one duet with another student or with a parent or sibling.  She assigned our extremely social daughter to play with another young girl in the same grade as our daughter.  Scheduling conflicts kept the girls from practicing together during regular lesson times, so we arranged for the girls to practice together at our home for the first time only two days before the recital.  We turned the practice into a fun play date, and both girls became fast friends.  They bonded that evening in such a way that they were determined to learn their parts well so as not to negatively reflect on the other.  Their duet performance was flawless at the recital.

Every other month, the kids' teacher hosts a series of group lessons at her home.  This month's lesson centered around playing duets, so my husband got to play a duet with our daughter, and I played a duet with our son for the group.  We both felt nervous with the teacher next to us after not having had lessons in over 21 years.

The recital this year was far more entertaining than any others we have attended.  This brave piano teacher asked the parents of her students to blow the dust off instruments they had not played in 20-30 years, and perform in a parent orchestra at the recital.  She arranged a piece of music composed by one of her musician friend for each of our instruments which included an eclectic collection of  flutes, violins, guitars, bass guitars, oboe, alto recorder, alto saxophone, cornetto, trumpet, french horn, harp, and piano.  I had never seen a cornetto before. It was so amusing to play with such an unusual combination of instruments.  My husband played the saxophone, an instrument I find especially romantic.  I played the piano part which copied most of the other instruments parts all together and formed the glue of the piece.  Just before the performance, the teacher put some pressure on me to hold the orchestra together during the performance.  Mom and Dad, who paid for me to take piano lessons for 12 years, drove up to attend this recital, so for their sake as well, I really hoped I could hold it together during the piece.  God was faithful as always to assist in my time of need. We were all rusty amateurs, so when the piano teacher announced that the composer of the piece would be directing us, we feared that our performance would embarrass and/or offend him.  Thankfully he seemed pleased.


Now I'm ready to start a family band and hit the road, but my husband is not as enthusiastic about that idea.

The recital was long but much more enjoyable this year with each student playing a duet.  The piano teacher, who has recently begun taking harp lessons, played a beautiful harp duet,  composed by the harp teacher's husband, with her teacher at the recital. 

Our son's piano recital scrapbook page

Our daughter's piano recital scrapbook page

Six days after the recital, our daughter participated in Piano Guild where she played four pieces from memory.  By then, her attitude about the piano had changed completely, and she played beautifully for her piano guild judge.  She is a gifted pianist, and I hope her love for music will help her continue to press through the difficult stages of learning.