Piano Recital

Our family had lots of changes with regard to piano lessons this past year.  Our daughter quit taking piano lessons this past summer, much to our dismay.  We have invested a fortune in three years of lessons for her so that she could take from the premier Suzuki piano teacher in the area.  I drove 30-45 minutes each way through rush hour traffic every week for private lessons, monthly group lessons, two competitions a year, and two recitals a year.  She reached the big milestone of giving a book one recital all by herself completely from memory.  After book one, the practice becomes more fun as students branch out into other music, but she refused to keep practicing, and the battles between her and us over practicing became more than any of us could stand, so we let her quit with the hope that she would miss it.

Then we sold our house and moved into an apartment in another suburb.  We did not want to pay to move the piano, nor did we have room for it in the apartment, so we sold it. We found a new teacher only a few miles from the apartment whose husband taught Greek at the kids' new school.  Two of her children ended up being enrolled in the same classes that our children would attend at the new school.  She had just moved to the area as well and was transitioning from homeschooling to private Christian school as we were, so we had much in common. However, she did not teach Suzuki method. Moreover, she does not approve of Suzuki methods at all, so we were initially at odds on that issue but decided a different teaching approach may be beneficial at this point, and frankly, we just needed something simpler for our family now that our daughter was doing competitive gymnastics at a gym an hour away.

However, our son could only practice on my very old electronic keyboard, so those lessons taken without having a real piano for practicing at home were probably not worth the investment.  After we moved into the new house, moved Mom and Dad's piano to our new home and got it tuned a few times, however, his progress accelerated, and he seems to enjoy music a lot more now, though he still does not feel comfortable on stage like his sister.  He's more like me in that regard.

Instead of holding piano recitals at a church like my piano teacher always did or renting out a music store where the kids played on six figure grand pianos on a stage in a mini concert hall, this new teacher holds her recitals at rest homes.  The pianos there aren't the best, but the residents certainly seem to enjoy hearing the little ones perform. Our son played three songs, which was the most anyone played, with much expression.  I love to watch him play because he bobs his head an taps his feet in rhythm with the music as though he is really enjoying the music while he plays.

He wasn't the only one tapping his toes.  Several of the residents seated in front of us kept their feet tapping and heads bobbing through every song whose title included the word "Boogie".   They were so cute to watch.

Residents beat out boogie rhythms with their feet.

After the recital, our daughter began practicing her old music pieces every day.  She even performed a piano piece from the previous year by memory for a talent show at school.  The look on her face in the following photo shows how much she did not like forfeiting the limelight to her brother this year.  She may consider taking piano lessons again, but I'm not sure when she would find time to practice with 9-12 hours a week at the gym, demanding school work, gymnastics meets, and all the other church and Bible study activities on her plate.

I'm so glad Nana and Pops drove into town for the recital.   They came to see us three times that week for the musical on Sunday, the recital on Friday evening, and the Mother's Day tea on Saturday morning.  They are such supportive troopers.  We enjoyed having them join us for a celebratory dinner out after the recital.


Here are some of our customary, obligatory family photos taken after his recital:

Play us a song, you're the piano man!

The star musician with his biggest fans!