According to family lore, my father hated his piano lessons with a fierce and implacable passion. While his parents kept the big family house open, this was one of the landmarks: a pair of worn tracks on the Turkey carpet, scuffed, it was said, by the truculent feet of young Hollis during the daily hour of practice as he sat at the piano bench, refusing to put his fingers on the keyboard. Month after month after season after year, swinging his feet for an hour at a time. My father played quite beautifully as an adult, mind you, but he was quick to point out that he played "by ear." He didn't cop to the ability to read music. He could play nearly anything he heard, including several 1920's-era Scott Joplin ragtime tunes -- the sprightly syncopation never failing to surprise the listener when paired with Daddo's general appearance. His abhorrence of "lessons" spilled liberally over the lives of his family; we weren't the kind of kids who got signed up for gymnastics class or swim lessons. It seemed a little hard at the time but it made my sister and me independent in the end. If we really wanted to learn something extra, we made it happen ourselves. I wrangled in-school music lessons with an excellent music teacher, Mr. Foreman, in fifth and sixth grades, though Daddo refused to let me take up the piano. Instead, I studied that most portable and effete of instruments: the flute. I forget now why I stopped -- something to do with band practice, probably, and needing a ride after school. Which leads me to my small point. Among the miscellany on my bucket list of ambitions is one smallish musical item: Cello lessons. And here's one reason why (though YoYo Ma is never too far out of the running either):
7 Comments
rumsdownrumsdown
11/20/2013 01:47:25 am
I hear Ruskin is a great place to learn and practice.
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Amy
11/20/2013 02:31:14 am
Ensign RumDown, I was thinking it would be handy to practice out in the boatyard --- especially now the weather is nice enough to leave the windows open!
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george a.
11/20/2013 12:17:05 pm
I hated piano lessons too. I had a music teacher, Miss Gustavson. She called me "incorrigible". I called her an "old bat". Never did make much progress with the piano but I'm still stuck with the one we had at the farm. Diaristwoman would let me send it to auction when Ma died. Still can see where I carved my initials in the wood during a very boring session.
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Amy
11/21/2013 12:29:18 am
Hi George
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george a
11/21/2013 01:03:49 am
I meant to say that she wouldn't let me send that piano to auction--I'm still stuck with it. Yes, she is smart. She somehow equates a piano sitting in the parlor as a mark of a civilized household.
Cath Mason
11/24/2013 04:46:21 am
Adore the 2 cellos, love this blog. x
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amy
11/24/2013 05:28:20 am
Thank you, Cath!
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