Family Music
A few days ago, Hubby said, "I had a thought...we could list the piano for sale and get a little money that way."
"You promised that wherever we moved to, it would have room for the piano, that you would never take my piano away."
"Oh. I guess I did. But you never use it."
Well, it's true that since the last two injuries I haven't sat down to really practice, and that my fingers have reverted to limp spaghetti status, but that doesn't mean that I am ready, EVER, to not have a piano. I guess it means that I need to start playing. Even if I can only tolerate five minutes at a time.
Really, the practicing was impacted by middle age, specifically the need for bifocals. I can't see well to play--it requires a separate pair of glasses for a single-vision middle distance, and we haven't had the money. I need new glasses now, but there's no way to do that, and my eyes haven't changed so badly that I have to. The thought of paying for two pairs instead of just the one makes it even less possible. Add a shoulder injury (and other connected pieces of me) and I haven't worked on building up the tolerances for piano practice.
But that doesn't mean I've given up! And I still want to be able to line out a new piece of vocal music, if the ward choir will actually be called up again, or if one of us is asked to do a solo--which I admit hasn't happened in a while. Our last duet, I think, was for a funeral where we sang, "His Eye is on the Sparrow."
Music has been a big part of our family life. At one point, the money we shelled out for music lessons every month was equal to our mortgage payment. (I wish that was our mortgage payment today.) We had five sets of music lessons: Emily, Roseanne, and Jonathan taking piano, and Emily also taking trumpet, Roseanne also taking harp lessons. (And no, she just had a folk harp, not a big one, and got to play a full sized one sometimes at her lessons.) Once Emily left home, we had Geoff as another piano student, and then Carole, the youngest. We had two clarinet players who got by on school band instruction alone, and ditto for the saxophone after Carole tried to play the flute and couldn't make it work for her.
(By the way, I adopted the family rule of musical friends of ours: two years of piano is a requirement of being a member of our family. After that, you can change instruments or talk about letting it go, but some musical literacy is important. Our second daughter, Christina, did not continue with piano after the first two years, but she picked up the clarinet in high school and was part of the marching band, content on the third part--the most elementary--but involved. All the other kids had lessons for several years.)
I loved the families I knew who played strings; my mother had played the violin and I didn't have a good enough ear. (Hubby had the ear, and wanted to take violin, but his parents didn't have money for lessons. The school people told him that he was too old to start at twelve when instruction was available in orchestra--today they would have given him the chance.) I always hoped I would produce a child who would; Jonathan had the ear, and the natural musical talent. He was tall--perfect for the cello! Wouldn't that be wonderful! But he had no interest. After several years of piano lessons, he took voice, and he has a beautiful bass/baritone. Geoff is a deep bass, but was turned off by a high school choir teacher. Carole was in the auditioned Tacoma Youth Chorus as a first alto. (Emily sings soprano, Roseanne alto; Christina is the only one who didn't end up being a singer.)
If we sing you Happy Birthday, it sounds good! Ditto for Family Home Evening hymns or showing up at your door with goodies and Christmas carols. Music is so much a part of our lives, and it brings us a lot of happiness. We love the chance to be part of choirs on the ward and stake and regional level.
I was never fabulous on the piano, not very advanced, but I was very well trained, with a remarkable teacher. I quit piano because I was unable to manage everything in my teenaged life with chronic illness. But it's always mattered to me a great deal, and I need my piano: my home would feel barren without it. I guess I'd better work it back into my life activities to prove it still matters.
"You promised that wherever we moved to, it would have room for the piano, that you would never take my piano away."
"Oh. I guess I did. But you never use it."
Well, it's true that since the last two injuries I haven't sat down to really practice, and that my fingers have reverted to limp spaghetti status, but that doesn't mean that I am ready, EVER, to not have a piano. I guess it means that I need to start playing. Even if I can only tolerate five minutes at a time.
Really, the practicing was impacted by middle age, specifically the need for bifocals. I can't see well to play--it requires a separate pair of glasses for a single-vision middle distance, and we haven't had the money. I need new glasses now, but there's no way to do that, and my eyes haven't changed so badly that I have to. The thought of paying for two pairs instead of just the one makes it even less possible. Add a shoulder injury (and other connected pieces of me) and I haven't worked on building up the tolerances for piano practice.
But that doesn't mean I've given up! And I still want to be able to line out a new piece of vocal music, if the ward choir will actually be called up again, or if one of us is asked to do a solo--which I admit hasn't happened in a while. Our last duet, I think, was for a funeral where we sang, "His Eye is on the Sparrow."
Music has been a big part of our family life. At one point, the money we shelled out for music lessons every month was equal to our mortgage payment. (I wish that was our mortgage payment today.) We had five sets of music lessons: Emily, Roseanne, and Jonathan taking piano, and Emily also taking trumpet, Roseanne also taking harp lessons. (And no, she just had a folk harp, not a big one, and got to play a full sized one sometimes at her lessons.) Once Emily left home, we had Geoff as another piano student, and then Carole, the youngest. We had two clarinet players who got by on school band instruction alone, and ditto for the saxophone after Carole tried to play the flute and couldn't make it work for her.
(By the way, I adopted the family rule of musical friends of ours: two years of piano is a requirement of being a member of our family. After that, you can change instruments or talk about letting it go, but some musical literacy is important. Our second daughter, Christina, did not continue with piano after the first two years, but she picked up the clarinet in high school and was part of the marching band, content on the third part--the most elementary--but involved. All the other kids had lessons for several years.)
I loved the families I knew who played strings; my mother had played the violin and I didn't have a good enough ear. (Hubby had the ear, and wanted to take violin, but his parents didn't have money for lessons. The school people told him that he was too old to start at twelve when instruction was available in orchestra--today they would have given him the chance.) I always hoped I would produce a child who would; Jonathan had the ear, and the natural musical talent. He was tall--perfect for the cello! Wouldn't that be wonderful! But he had no interest. After several years of piano lessons, he took voice, and he has a beautiful bass/baritone. Geoff is a deep bass, but was turned off by a high school choir teacher. Carole was in the auditioned Tacoma Youth Chorus as a first alto. (Emily sings soprano, Roseanne alto; Christina is the only one who didn't end up being a singer.)
If we sing you Happy Birthday, it sounds good! Ditto for Family Home Evening hymns or showing up at your door with goodies and Christmas carols. Music is so much a part of our lives, and it brings us a lot of happiness. We love the chance to be part of choirs on the ward and stake and regional level.
I was never fabulous on the piano, not very advanced, but I was very well trained, with a remarkable teacher. I quit piano because I was unable to manage everything in my teenaged life with chronic illness. But it's always mattered to me a great deal, and I need my piano: my home would feel barren without it. I guess I'd better work it back into my life activities to prove it still matters.
Go for it! Before hubby takes it away! The only instrument I can play is the radio. Well, that's not quite true; I play my iPod. At my age, my singing voice is gone. I used to be a tenor.
ReplyDelete