When the main piano player in the house was preparing to leave for college, I decided that I should start taking lessons so the piano wouldn't just sit there taking up space. Alissa's teacher seemed extraordinary to me, based on the many recitals I had attended. Her students all played musically, if not perfectly. I always appreciated their level of preparation, from the tiniest pianist to the high school senior. So I took the plunge and started taking lessons in the winters. It has been about ten years by now but I always take a big break in the summer plus at least a month off for travel in the winter. My friend Nell inspired me to do this -- she was already taking lessons from this excellent teacher.
From the very beginning, I had two goals. The first was to really learn to read music and the second was to learn to sight read something I did not know already and to make it sound like a song. Of course many other goals have developed along the way. Because I am an adult student, I feel perfectly comfortable asking questions or saying that I don't understand. It is so much more fun to have a teacher when you're old and I am learning technique and music theory that I knew nothing about.
However, it was never one of my goals to perform in front of people. Years ago I took lessons when the kids were taking piano from another teacher and I had to perform in the same recitals as the children. It was always hard. This new teacher eventually decided that she wanted her adult students to share their progress with each other, so she developed an annual "musicale." We all prepare a piece or two and we get together on a Saturday afternoon in May and play for each other. There is a wide range of experience, but we are all nervous and outside of our comfort zone (as our teacher says).
Over the years I have come to expect that I will be extremely nervous and I will not play my best in front of others. When Nell and I perform our duets I am a lot less nervous. It is fun to play with her, much more fun than playing by myself. This winter we prepared two simple pieces, and we worked on them for much longer than we wanted to, and we practiced more than we usually do. We also worked for a very long time on our solo pieces, playing them for anyone who would listen (my mother must have heard my piece 20 times).
So this morning I had to go to market for the whole day -- very rare -- and I woke up an hour earlier than I intended. I was up at 4:15 by mistake, went to market at 6 and finished my workday at 2:30. I was more sleepy than hungry, so I came home and got in bed for most of my free hour. Then I got up, got dressed, picked up my mother (the most loyal audience member ever) and went to Nell's for one last practice session and then on to the house of a fellow piano student who likes hosting these musicales.
As I was sitting with the other students, I realized that I am a member of yet another group. This group is gaining an identity over time. We see each other once a year, we applaud each other's progress, and we eat and chat. There are eight of us. Some of us play pieces that take 90 seconds and some play pieces that are pages long. It is really fun to listen to everyone once a year. As the host said today, "these are getting less like recitals and more like concerts."
Nell and I, as the most junior duet players, started off the program. And we nailed it. It was great fun. After that, everyone seemed to play more beautifully than ever before. Sometimes we all get flustered and mess up. Today we all were ready. Even I played my piece (from memory) without getting lost or hitting wrong notes. I felt triumphant.
The two ladies who are the most experienced and proficient (they can really play) ended the program with a rousing set of duets called "Spanish Dances." They explained that a 17 year old Jewish immigrant in Germany named Moskowski suddenly found that he was totally broke and needed to make some money quickly, so he composed a series of pieces inspired by an image of a Spanish dancer. They were very popular and he made good money. And the ladies said to listen and see if we thought that young man had ever been to Spain. Nope. Nell and Don heard snatches of themes from "Fiddler on the Roof" in one of the dances. Someone else said the dancers must have been wearing leiderhosen.
We all learn a lot by having to be ready to perform, and we are all very glad to be able to stop playing the same piece over and over (and spouses agreed). It is great to be learning something all the time and to have good company now and then.
Next year Nell and I want to try to play something slightly more difficult. We do feel like early elementary students. We are resigned to our slow progress, now that our brains have become crackly and old, but we still want to try to raise the bar a tiny bit. It is always good to have a goal.
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