Good-Bye to the Piano Man

We said good-bye to our Piano-Man Teacher tonight. He is a lovely man. He has worked with four of my kids for over a year. He had a talent for teaching chords, improvisations, and embellishments, in addition to the basics of piano theory and technique. He came to our house each week with such a cheerful and can-do attitude. It really was wonderful to watch the kids grow, under his tutelage, in their piano-playing skills.

But, the kids are done. While they enjoyed learning with the Piano-Man Teacher, over the last few months their hearts have not been in it. I know that I could have buttoned down and forced them to practice more. I know that I could have provided incentives for their continued participation. I am consciously choosing not to. 

Rose is in the high school choir this year. She has spent hours each day in vocal practice. She sits at the piano, not to practice the Piano Teacher's assignments, but rather to pick out the Alto part of the new choir piece she is learning. Her interests have turned from piano to voice. And I'm going to let her run with it.

Nonny is still a percussionist in the middle school band. Between that and the rigor of her school courses, she is feeling a bit strained. She still loves piano and wants to continue to progress and learn. But she's at a point where she wants to concentrate on learning individual piano pieces rote. And I can help with that! So she has also opted to forgo piano lessons.

Monroe and Joe still love piano, but after a long day of sitting at school all they want to do when they get home is run and play. Sitting for another half hour or so to practice piano has become awful for them.

The truth is, I felt kind of bad about signing them up for piano lessons in the first place. The reason...  I play piano and I have taught piano. But when I tried to teach them some basics, they would get frustrated with me and with themselves. I talked to my Mom about it years ago. My Mom is a talented pianist, but she didn't teach her own kids to play the piano. She had other people do it. Her reason...her kids (ie. me and my siblings) would get frustrated with her and with ourselves. When she first realized that, she and another piano teacher decided to swap kids. My Mom taught that gal's kids piano and that gal taught us piano. And surprise, surprise: the kids started learning the piano instead of getting into fights with their Moms.

Although I will miss the Piano-Man and the beautiful music he brought into our home, I think we'll be alright. He gave my kids the fundamentals. He encouraged them to find joy and fun in the piano, to not be afraid to make things up, and to not fall apart if you made mistakes. My kids may be done with the Piano-Man, but they are definitely not done with the piano. We are going to restart piano lessons with Mom.

Wish us luck!

Three Reports...

My reports from the last week...

1. Pigeon Battle Report: The pigeons sneakily returned to our front porch. The silly things thought they could hide out on the other post and I wouldn't notice them. They even hid on the side of the post that you can't see from the driveway and is partially hidden by a tall tree. Sorry little pigeons. You are smart, but I am a little smarter. Maybe... The pigeons didn't return until nighttime. I called for my son to help me get rid of them. His job is to turn on the water while I aim the firehose nozzle at the pigeons. It was dark, but I had the porch light on so I could see to aim. I should mention, at this point, that I don't think pigeons can see very well in the dark. As soon as the water hit the pigeons, those birds scrambled to get of the post. It being dark and them not being able to see very well, they bomb-dived off the post and directly toward my HEAD!!! Aaaah!! I dove to the ground, backwards, to avoid the assault. The pigeons missed me and flew off to a neighbors and my son burst into laughter. Thanks for the concern buddy! ;)

2. Church Report: Hubby and I are in our the ward choir. Sunday we had our Christmas program. It was so much fun! My parents and two sisters came to town to visit and they sat with our kids during the program. Oh! And I played the piano for Sacrament--as a sub. I really love music. Singing, playing the piano, or any other instrument. I'm so grateful that my hubby and kids share that trait. :) Also, on Sunday we were sustained in Church callings. Hubby will be a Ward Missionary. I will be the Ward Bulletin person and a Nursery Worker for one hour. I have to admit, nursery was not a top-choice for me. I've worked in primary for so many years and nursery is often a sure-fire way of being exiled in a ward. Seriously! It all depends on the primary presidency and Bishopric. Fortuantely for me, ours are Great!! And their are four ladies who work the nursery in teams of two. Each team covers one hour and they switch the hours each week. So one week my partner and I will cover first hour of nursery, then go to Relief Society while the other team covers the second hour of nursery. The following week, we'll switch and I'll get to attend Sunday School. Hooray!!!

I'm really glad that I'll be able to attend Sunday School and Relief Society. Here's a funny story...Back when I was Primary President and had been in primary, in one calling or another, for many years, I was preparing a sharing time lesson. I was trying to teach a very basic gospel principle. As I was getting my stuff together, I completely could NOT remember what my scriptural basis was or if there was one for that matter. I asked Hubby if what I was teaching was actual gospel or just something I had made up. He laughed and told me which scripture confirmed the principle and assured me that I wasn't just making stuff up. Ey-yi-yi!

Anyways, I'm glad that I'll be in nursery. I've subbed in there once and met several of the little ones. They are darling kiddos. I've already started thinking about different activities that I can do with the little ones. After all, hanging out with a bunch of toddlers every Sunday is sure to be a Blast!! :)

3. House Report: I really like this house! It's not my favorite style. My favorite style is a Ranch House. But it is four bedroom, two bath, and has a nice big kitchen and a space for a dining room and family room. Hooray! We finally got all of the couches we ordered. They are nice big fluffy couches. So comfortable! And anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about being comfortable. Haha! Now I just have to figure out what color to paint my living/family room and kitchen and dining areas. I want to paint them a really rich and bold color, but it can't be too dark. I want something light and airy too. Ummm. I think those are contradictory statements. Oh well. I'll just keep looking. A wonderful gal in my ward lent me her True Value Color Collection. It has every color that True Value makes. The collection makes it much easier to pick a color, because I can see right off the bat if it will clash with the pink tile in my house. That's right...I said PINK Tile! Ugh!!! But I'm too cheap and too lazy to pull it out. I'm just working on loving it. Haha!! It actually is growing on me. Anyhoo, if you have any suggestions on colors to paint either room, please let me know.

And that is the end of my reports.

Play Me A Song Dear Piano Man!

I received an early Christmas Present last week. My Hubby arranged for my piano to get a tuning. Hooray! A previous Piano Man had told me years ago that my floorboards (?) would need to be replaced because they were so old and falling apart. The floorboards affected my pedals, rendering one of them useless. This Piano Man said he didn't know what the other guy was talking about. The pedals weren't working because the pegs had come loose. He popped them back in place in Five Seconds!!! Oh yeah!

He took great care with this old piano. It belonged to Hubby's Grandma previously. She gave it to Hubby before she died, but told him he couldn't actually take it until she had officially kicked it. Until then, he had to sing to her whenever she asked. Haha! It makes me think of the old saying, "Sing for your supper." Hubby sang for a piano. And I'm SO grateful to have it in my home. ;)

The Piano Man fixing and tuning our piano.

My boys were so excited to see the Piano Man take the piano apart. They watched almost every second of it. It really is a wonderful thing to see a piano's insides. Such a beautiful instrument!!