An Ode To Classical Piano Music

I don't suppose it makes a lot of difference, really but oh my the joy it brings to be able to play at my 88 key Yamaha! I play only slightly better than at sixteen years of age but it still brings me a sense of peace and calms the whirlings of my mind. After a half hour or a whole hour;depending on the arthritis; then I am rejuvenated and the stress is gone from my mind and the tension from my shoulders.

I watched, as I know thousands did, this past weekend the PBS special on "Musical Minds" and was awed and humbled at their abilities to play and understand music to the 'inth' degree. Indeed, the people showed on that program that we, the haha normal humans, are NOT using all of our brain matter to it's highest potential! But instead of causing me to say, my goodness here I am at nearly three score and I still play like a teenager...why even bother? Oh no, thank you Ma'am, this Bethard learned that lesson at sixteen and I regret my rashness to this day!

There were many facets of my childhood, many inconsistencies as well as many good times. The one thing that was constant was my sister's love. Mary Louise is nearly but NOT quite :) three years older than I,one born Nov 1950 and the other born March, 1953. If ever there was a picture in the dictionary for "Anything you can do I can do better" it would show the two of us, arms wrapped around each other and grinning/laughing at each other! We were very fortunate to be introduced to music as toddlers; still, that meant Mary always had the jump on me!

Quite disconcerting!!!

We sang, we played the piano, we learned music theory, we gave our little recitals for our piano teacher, we sang The Messiah from the age of three. That is true, though of course all we did at three and five was walk down the aisle of Central Park Baptist Church in our white robes, holding a little candle and join in the Hallelujah Chorus as we all lined up at the altar. Every year, we learned a bit more...I remember trying to sneak into line next to Mary when she got to sing ahead of me and I was still stuck with the "LITTLE KIDS!"

But the best of all was the day Daddy bought Mary and I an upright piano, antique white, from the church for $25.00!

On the other hand it was also the beginning of a hard lesson to learn all of which you guys know as the answer to "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?"

Yeah, no fun, a lot of times. Chords and arpeggios and redundant mindless fingering when I wanted to play Jesus Loves Me and other really COOL songs! The older I got, the better I got at reading music and being able to sight read for choir and choral but my ability at the bench remained the same. No matter how many arpeggios I practiced I still, to this day, can learn a piece of piano music the same way.

I have to take the first six measures, treble first, pick it out, hum along, then reverse it to the Bass cleft, pick it out and it always takes longer than the Treble! Finally put the two together and play those measures over and over and over. Then, back to the next six measures, ad infinium, until I can play from the beginning to the end then I just keep on practicing over and over. No metronome, stupid old lady piano teacher and that horrid thing and a ruler...gives me nightmares still.

So my voice became better than my fingers and I excelled more at singing than at the piano. Mary could always do both, Mary could always and still does, do anything she wants and does it better than anyone else! She is so very talented at whatever she chooses to do and dadgumit she never had to practice as much...she just had the touch...I loved to sit and play Heart and Soul with Mary...She had the Bass of course, the hardest part. I played the repetitive Treble and we would laugh and try to go faster and faster until I would be laughing so hard I'd fall off the piano bench! Which was actually just the excuse I needed when I could no longer keep up but didn't want to admit it!

Two sisters who loved music from an early age and two different ways of playing. Mary would read the music start to finish, then just pick it out, both hands, and have it down pat in no time. I would struggle and struggle but keep at it; especially if I really wanted it. Mary could have all the Nutcracker Suite she wanted, not me! I love the Russians though, don't get me wrong, that is still the music I can play the best. Scheherazade, movements 1 and 2, Prelude, Scherzo and Barcarolle. But they do not need to be played as fast as any of the pieces by the "BIG T" himself :)

The point is this; there are as many ways of learning to play piano as there are people. The Neurosurgeon who was struck by lightning, remember? He taught himself, perhaps with some of the self taught books off the Internet but it all started with an overwhelming desire to hear the music in the first place! Once heard, it went from listening to the desire to actively participate and he kept at it! He perservered, he practiced, practiced, practiced! Don't give up! Whether it is the piano or anything else, Do Not Quit!

I've changed my mind.

It's too shameful.

No. Don't pester me, I've made up my mind.

You have a lovely hub now on clasical music and more than one wonderful memory, let it go!

SIGH

Oh all right. If you must know it started with Beethoven. Midnight Sonata. Dude, I wanted that piece of music like I wanted to breathe! Unfortunately the music lessons were long gone, I just kept on playing "AT" the piano, same as always to this day. And now, of course, I realize there are many renditions of the Sonata and I was not playing at tempo, in fact, I was playing too fast!

I practiced without the belt thank God, two even sometimes three times a day, much longer than the required thirty minutes and Beethoven's 5th was all I played. Every time I headed downstairs to the playroom here would come Rebecca Sue, rotten number four of five and ten years my junior, so tiny even at six I had to pick her up to sit next to me on the piano bench. She was quiet as a mouse, never bothered me, smiled and touched my left arm now and then and pat me, she was and still is a sweet heart and soul! Catch that you guys?

It took the entire summer, but finally in August I had it, note perfect, start to finish and off I went yelling to Momma "I did it! Come Hear IT! And Momma smiled and followed me to the playroom. We got to the top of the stairs and wafting up from the playroom came the 5 TH. Not note perfect, but as Beethoven himself had intended.

Gorgeously played, such a searing presence it broke my heart and brought tears to both Momma and my eyes. My tears quickly turned to anger as Mother laughed and praised the Baby Sister and laughed at me. That anger festered in my heart, to my shame and I did not touch a piano again until 1996, fitting year, transposed but close.

The point of this of course is as I mentioned prior, how important it is not to give up. Do not do as I did, out of jealousy and shame, stop you from learning ANYTHING you desire. Whether it is music or nursing, engineering or blacksmithing. If it something you have always desired, no matter how old you may be...Go For It!!! Have Fun With It!!! Life Is TOO Short, DADGUMIT!

I started out with a 52 key keyboard. I still had my music, despite my pain, I had kept them, moved them with all my rocks place to place. I started not with the classics but with the standards and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was my first good attempt. Finally my David bought me a digital piano upright. That was the best. The 52 keyboard went to Mary :) and she plays it a bit, now and then. Her artistic talent is in pyrography and painting and gourd work that one day will bring her fame and a living! I will write more of that, another time.

Wth the move here, to our heart home, the Sonoran desert, the poor digital gave it up and we saved and David got me the Yamaha Digital I have today. It is the finest piano I have ever had the pleasure to play and brings me joy. The classical music I still play better and easier than the standards but am working on it, one measure at a time!