When my mother was a child, she took lessons on guitar. Somehow she also took piano lessons, although at this point in life I think maybe I remember that fact incorrectly and she just figured out where enough notes were to help with guitar tuning. As an adult, she took up banjo. She also sings. My mother sang in choir for a very brief period when she was a teenager (I think), and when I was in Middle School she sang in the worship band for our sunday morning youth church.
When my father was a little more singularly rigorous. He took piano lessons and trombone lessons. The piano didn't stick, (I learned on the same piano,) but the trombone did. My dad continued trombone in college before he dropped out, but also remained a prominent member of our church's sunday and special music ensemble. As I think about it, our church back then must have had every trombonist in the city counted among the members. We always had at least three trombones in all musical ensembles. That's a lot for church!
I started studying piano when I was nine years old. My paternal grandfather passed away, and we inherited my grandmother's piano. She had passed years earlier. I hated it. After one year of lessons, my father had his hours cut back at work. My family, including my two younger brothers, got by without my mother working up to this point. Our solution, instead of my mother working to cover the loss, was to cut back on unnecessary expenses - like unwanted piano lessons. My father's hours were reinstated after about a year. That next year, I was able to start in orchestra at school. It was no extra charge, the instrument was provided and lessons were not necessary since everyone in the orchestra was starting new and we met three days a week. I continued to play Viola in school with my rented instrument until I entered middle school. We decided since I was starting my third year, they would buy me my own instrument. That year, I was pulled out of public school so that my mother could teach me and my brothers at home. While she started the boys both at the start of the year, I attended public school until the end of the first quarter, sometime in November. Since I no longer had school orchestra, and since my brothers had both started piano lessons this time, we found a private viola teacher and I started piano lessons again.
That was a lot of explaining just so that I can share my feelings about starting and stopping lessons. My mother was allowed to stop lessons because she simply didn't want to go. She was shy. My father liked lessons. My mother liked playing, but not lessons. She regretted it. When I wanted to quit, the only reason I was granted that wish is because we didn't have the money. When we all started private lessons again, we were not so lucky. I ended up loving piano and hating viola. But really I just didn't get along with my viola teacher. Maybe I wasn't as good as I thought I was? Whatever the reason, I stormed out of lessons and finally wasn't made to go back. But the piano, on the other hand, well I loved that. Even in the two years that I didn't take lessons, I played. I read the lessons myself, and I played the music. Luckily, I have two musically inclined parents that would help me when I had questions; although, I don't recall ever asking! I stayed with piano. To the point where I would rather practice than do anything else. (I truly wish I still felt that way!) I chose not to study in college. Probably because I wasn't aware that was something I could do. I didn't know any adults who studied piano who were not professionals or striving to be professionals. But guess what I dropped out of college to do? Yeah, I dropped out to play piano. Go figure.
At this point in life, I'm thirty-seven years of age. I started my piano journey by hating it. The piano is my life partner. I take a break - never very long - and I sometimes pile so much on top of my piano that removing it is more of a chore than practicing, but I always play. I have always played. When I'm not studying, I'm still playing. I'm writing my own pop-folk songs, learning pop songs, working on musical theatre for fun, and now I'm starting to learn composition on my own just by using musical transcription software.
I'm lucky to have parents who didn't want me to quit. But I'm also glad to have taken breaks, and to still know that I CAN take a break if I need to. Learning an instrument shouldn't be forced, but it does need to be nurtured. How do we know what is really in a child's head when they haven't practiced for three weeks? Maybe they're over it. Maybe their teacher said something that made them uncomfortable. Maybe we just need to learn to communicate with our students and children and teach them to do the same with us. Innocence is something we all need to keep in mind. But also remember that a gentle wind can still move a loose leaf just as far as a wild gust... maybe even farther than you imagined.
Just my two cents!
Miss Lindsay Q.
- The Machine
Images:
1. Performing as 1/2 of Thelma & Theodore at the Mariana Kisler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State Universtiy in Manhattan, KS
2. The Steinway Grand in Wiedemann Hall at Wichita State University in Wichita, KS
3. my POV of my current home instrument, a Casio Privia, with a partial view of Venetian Boat Song No. 1, Opus 19, No. 6 by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
4. my POV of a Yamaha upright in a WSU practice room as I prepare to conduct and accompany Handel for class
5. Performing at Weidemann Hall, WSU campus, for Convocation with chamber trio (Milhaud)
6. Performing as 1/2 of Thelma & Theodore at the Donut Whole in Wichita, KS
