Monday, July 25, 2011

Lions and bees....oh my!

Lazy Lion sounded pretty good, actually. And Buzzing Bees....well, I excelled on that one! My fingers followed the teacher's instructions without too much trouble, and she said I exercised good pressure for a first timer.

Today was the July episode of my "doing something I've never done before" adventure. I did something I had often wondered about, but never had the opportunity to try. I took a piano lesson.

In elementary school, a man showed up in my classroom once with an assortment of instruments, and I fell in love with the violin. It was glossy and sleek and elegant to my 10 year old eyes. I don't remember why I never took lessons, considering how enamored I was with that beautiful piece of wood, but I guess that was my one opportunity. Such a thing never came up again.

I found a piano teacher by sending out a call to all my Facebook friends, and today was the day. She already knew about my year-long adventure and was willing to give me one lesson. She was gracious and patient with me, an adult with absolutely no knowledge of music other than I love it. She dug out a child's beginner book, a little hesitantly I noticed, thinking I might be offended. I quickly disavowed her of that concern. I may be a lot of things, but I know what I don't know. A kid's book is exactly where I needed to be.

We discussed terms I had never heard before, like steps with skips, traids, and solfeige. She showed me that my fingers are numbered and where to start on the keyboard. I never knew the difference between black keys and white ones, but I do now. I played Lazy Lion on the black keys once I got the finger-numbering system down. Then the two of us played an improvised tune, she on one side of the keyboard and me on the other. Just striking a succession of keys.....and it sounded pretty good!

She was intrigued with my struggles to learn ballroom dancing, things like hearing the beat and coordination (or my lack thereof). There seems to be some correlation that hadn't occured to me before. Interesting, all of it.


I have learned a great deal from this adventure, doing something each month for a year that I've never done before. Much more than I ever anticpated. I have done things that turned out to be one-time events, and I also discovered a passion in April that I never expected, one that I hope to continue forever.  I am so grateful that I have undertaken this mission, as I have discovered corners of my soul I never knew existed. And today, to feel music begin in my fingers and then wrap itself around me was a wondrous happening.

Even if it was only Lazy Lion and Buzzing Bees.

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.  ~Berthold Auerbach

Visit Martha McKie's website at http://pianolessonsmandarin.com/ to learn about piano lessons.

2 comments:

  1. Oh at last, Deborah, I find this entry! So nice to read it and recall your visit to my piano studio. It has been a busy summer, and now, tomorrow, my "normal" year will commence once again.

    I like your blog. I look forward to reading all of it. Do you wonder if it will continue after your One Time Adventures Year is over?

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  2. Thank you for the piano lesson and for reading my work! The Aged to Perfection blog will continue, and I'm finding that I'm doing more new things these days without even thinking about it....so I'll guess that will continue, too!

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