A Fine Balance

Piano has been a mixed bag this school year.  Both I and Seth and Sam’s piano teacher have had babies this fall and winter and both of us took a month off from piano after our respective deliveries, much to my boys’ delight.

In spite of the frequent hiatuses, it’s been a positive thing.  I wrote last year about girding up my loins in my piano battle with Seth, but because of several factors, mostly the time off but also some better music selection by his teacher, I haven’t had to put on my armor yet.  Of course, that also means neither boy has progressed as much as he potentially could have but not as much doesn’t translate into not at all.  I’m proud to report that both are improving and playing increasingly difficult music.  Sam, my perfectionist, fights or ignores my requests to practice even more than Seth because he hates doing things that aren’t easy for him and piano isn’t easy.  Seth also ignores me but fights me so much less than last year that it feels like success.  Maybe that was his sinister plot all along.

Five weeks ago, Seth’s teacher sent him home with Bach’s Minuet in G Minor saying she thought he could learn it quickly and play it for our local Bach Festival Student Recital.  Considering we would be gone for an entire week at Taos over winter break, I expressed my concern about his ability to learn it well enough to have the performance be a positive experience.  She trusted Seth’s abilities and we’ve been forging ahead.

I was quite impressed with how quickly he learned it.  More than impressed, I was kind of giddy.  I love listening to my children play the piano.  It’s horrible, I know, because I should just want them to do whatever things they enjoy and are interested in but I selfishly want them to be pianists.   Beyond my own selfish interests, I also I think they have the natural talent, opportunity and means to learn to play the piano and when those variables are combined, the could becomes a should - both for their own musical benefit and as a benefit to their future families and wards.

Back to my giddiness, I enjoyed every moment of his performance today.  Yes, I wish he had been able to perform it without any mistakes but I was proud of how he handled his nerves and his mental lapses.  It’s so clear to me when I watch him play that we learn music so differently.  He had no interest in taking his music up to the piano with him.  I convinced him it was in his best interest as he has only been playing it from memory for two days.  If you watch the video, you can see his brain resetting from playing it by muscle memory and ear and switching back to reading the music.  I never would have done that.  If I have music in front of me, by golly, I’m going to use it.  But, I have never, ever been able to play by ear.  As frustrating as it is to watch him ignore his perfectly marked music, I must admit that I admire his gift.  I hope he one day appreciates it as well.

I think the biggest compliment was what the director of the Bach festival told Seth’s teacher after his performance.  He is a piano and organ virtuoso and he told her that even though Seth messed up, he could tell he understood the piece and played it musically.  I told Seth that I feel the Spirit when he plays.  I do.

It’s still a tightrope that I walk - nagging just enough to get him to practice but not too much that he resents it altogether - but I’m hopeful that experiences like today, mistakes included, convince him that he’s too talented not to play.





please excuse the shaky camera work. I was holding Daniel with my left arm and, several times, felt him start to fuss and bounced him up and down with my arm.