Earlier today, as I was surfing around on Hive voting and leaving some comments, part of a comment response back to me from Hive account@dswigle included this sentence "Every good mother makes sure their young lady plays a proper piano." (She was speaking of the past of course.) As I was attempting to comment back to her I found I got stuck on that one thing where I nearly wrote a blog in her comments, decided it was simply too much, deleted it and so brought my childhood grievance over to my own page to aire.
I have a good mother, but I don't know about good mothers and piano. I took 6 years of lessons, from the summer before the 6th grade to the summer before the 12th grade. I could do it, but it just didn't turn into a passion for me, in fact, after a couple of years, I asked to quit, but I was not allowed too. I got tired of having to stay in and practice every single day, when all the other kids were out playing, laughing and having fun. It was terrible and wasn't fair!.... and worst of all, recitals !
My Mom took lessons when she was teenager and it just so happened that we had moved to an area when I was 8 or 9 where her music teacher lived just a few houses away on our same street. Since Mom could play, within a year or two of moving there, we got an old upright piano. At some point after that my Mom asked me if I would like to take lessons, I was unsure of it and was having a hard time making up my mind. Normally, when I wasn't sure of something, I would just say no. So to help me decide, she told me that if I started taking lessons and didn't like it, I could quit, so on those terms, I greed to try it.
Forward a couple of years later when I gently approached her to tell her I would like to quit, quoting what she had said to me, she replied that she did not remember saying that..... WHAT ???? I yelled !!! (but only inside my head, because it was a different day and time and that was not allowed)....I could not believe she was saying that, she wasn't old enough for dementia yet ! I totally didn't understand and was devastated.. ...but that was the end of the conversation..... and on I went for years, resenting it and drudging through practicing every day.
We had recitals every year and I totally and mortally hated them. They made me anxious and scared and I dreaded every one SO bad. My Mom and my Grandmother (who played piano and organ for the church her whole life and loved it).... would always attend with many other friends and families of the other girls that were in the same recital. It was always at the music teacher's church, where there was a stage with only a piano, where when it was your turn, you walked out, sat down and played whatever piece you had been assigned. If you knew yours by heart, which I always did, you didn't have to take your music sheet out with you to perform, but I was always afraid that in my terrorized state of mind, I would forget and what would be worse than having to go out there and play would be going out there and forgetting how to play and be stuck there to be further embarrassed on stage in front of family AND strangers. My Grandmother would always buy me a little trinket to present to me after. It was not worth it. I was totally traumatized every.single.year !
Here is a photo of my Mom, once when it was recital time for her. She is on the middle row, 2nd girl from the left, behind the short girl that is the second girl from the left on the front row. (Was that confusing?? LOL) They got to wear long pretty dresses to theirs. We dressed nice for ours, but all those years later, no long pretty dresses.
Most of my adult life, I did not own a piano. I believe I swore I never would ! Since I didn't play, as you can imagine, I became pretty rusty. Some years back I inherited my Grandmothers black Wurlitzer. I wanted it... what ?? ....My Grandmother was ALL about playing the piano and organ. She however, was a natural. She never took a lesson, but by a young age, she could play by ear, nearly anything she heard. Back in her day, at school, the boys gym class use to do their calisthenics to music and the school had asked my Grandmother to play as they marched around.... and she did ! Playing the piano ended up being part of her entire life. When she and my Grandfather chose a church, she became the pianist. Some years into it, one of the other members thought the church needed an organ and told her if she would learn to play it, he would donate one. She said she would and he gave the church an organ !
Many years later, as two small churches merged, they no longer needed the organ as it was old and still used tubes to play. Nearly no one it seems knew how to change or repair them anymore, but my Grandfather did ! So the church offered my Grandmother the organ and she took it !
.....Where it then sat beside her piano in her living room. This photo shows her playing and a man from their church listening on the couch. I think it was at a Christmas gathering for some of their old friends after their church no longer existed.
Anyway, like I said above I inherited the piano. It actually went to my Mom. She already had one and liked hers better, so she started asking some of my siblings, one at a time if they would be interested in Grandmother's piano. Fortunately no one took it. Some had never had lessons and some had no space ! I guess you could say it was supposed to be mine, so they all declined till it got to me.
I've had a few years now. I started trying to reteach myself to play. It had started out good and then I was in a car accident and my hand was broken. I could not use it for playing for a long time and so.... I never got started back.
I'm thinking I should start adding that back now, practicing every day. At least my friends won't be playing out in my front yard without me this time, making me wish I was out there too and there won't be any recitals.... you can bet all that you have that you won't be seeing any posts in the future that shows me doing that !
Either way, as you can see in my first photo, it makes a great place to put my TV, art and other assorted doodads, so it is not totally wasted till I learn again. 😄
See what you made me do Hive account@dswigle ?? You brought up the sore subject of my childhood trauma, but then, I got to add good memories of my Granny, so I will almost forgive you this time..... maybe.
I'm living in the last day of my Christmas vacation ! I said that first day it would be over and a flash and it is has been LESS than a flash for sure. Fortunately, I only need to work 2 days before the New Years holiday makes 3 day weekend. I think I can live through two days of working even though I feel so lazy now..... I think.
included this sentence "Every good mother makes sure their young lady plays a proper piano." (She was speaking of the past of course.) As I was attempting to comment back to her I found I got stuck on that one thing where I nearly wrote a blog in her comments, decided it was simply too much, deleted it and so brought my childhood grievance over to my own page to aire.
