c-d-e, c-d-e, d-c-d-e-c-c. Those of you who may not have taken piano lessons as a child may not recognize this sequence. This is the first “song” in the John Thompson “Teaching Little Fingers to Play” primer. It was the very first song I learned to play on the piano more years ago than I can count. This week I heard it again for the first time in a very long time. My grandson played these notes, using his mother’s old music book, reading music for the first time in his life. Yes, of course I have a video of it ! The look of concentration as he placed his hands on the keyboard, the seriousness as he studied the notes, the firmness with which he struck each key AND the huge smile of pride when he realized he had just made music. It was music to my ears and joy for my heart.
Among all the other things I attempt I also have taught piano lessons to children off and on for 30 years. Watching a child make music for the first time is one of the most rewarding things in my life.
Remember the first time your first grade teacher put 2+2=? on the chalkboard? It was pretty intimidating. What if you didn’t remember the numbers? What if the answer was different the next time? It was new and important and SCARY. But you learned it and then went on to learn more numbers and multiplication and division and equations. Somewhere along the line you realized you could do it and felt proud when you got the right answer when you were called to the blackboard.
Its the same thing with a child and music. Lines and spaces, black notes and white notes, sharps and flats, fingering, counting time, moving both hands at the same time,fast and slow. Its scary, confusing, hard ! But little by little it all comes together and one day the child is really making music.
Aside from building self confidence, improving self esteem and giving a child a life long appreciation of music, piano lessons offer much more. Sports aren’t the only things that teach coordination. Music lessons teach fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, reading and counting skills, and discipline. Music is a stress reliever, a depression lifter and a blank slate for self expression. Not all children are athletically talented but all children need a way to express themselves, to excel at something. Music can be this outlet.
We didn’t have much money when I was a child and we didn’t have a piano but I so badly wanted to learn to play. Somehow my mom managed to find $1 a week ( in 1956 that was a lot of money !) for my lessons and the elderly couple across the street let me practice on their piano. Fortunately they were hard of hearing. After a year someone gave us an old upright piano. It was better than a pot of gold.
I know my mother tired of hearing the basic songs I learned to play in those early days of lessons. I played them over and over and over – cde-cde-dcdecc. But it was and still is one of the greatest joys in my life. I was making music. That $1 a week she sacrificed so I could learn to play the piano was a gift I will never be able to repay but I can pay it forward by teaching others how to play.
Think about giving this gift to a child you love. If you live in the Cleveland area I still teach part time. Check out your local phone book for piano instructors wherever you live. It is a gift that will last a lifetime.
Will my grandson ever study at Juliard? Will he play Carnegie Hall? Probably not but his simple little song on my piano was Music to my Ears.