Chopsticks

We saw a sign on the corner of 50th and Ashworth on our way home from work today - "Learn to Play Piano". Paul told me it would be a good way for me to earn money too - to teach kids to play piano. That would be swell if they only wanted to know how to play part of "Skip To My Lou". I don't think their parents would spring for the big bucks for that.

It is pretty impressive that Mary Lou Sandhorst taught me that song long ago and I still know how to play (part) of it. Three whole years of tickling the ivory keys. I know I didn't practice much - despite Mom's harping. Each week I'd ride my bike to the Sandhorst home, just a few blocks from ours - where I'd assault the ears of the Sandhorst family. Our wiener dog Jud would follow me over and hang around in the neighborhood while I had my lesson.

When I hit sixth grade, Mom gave up and I finally was able to quit piano lessons. We were all relieved - Mom, Mrs. S and me. A few of my friends kept playing and later I found that I was a bit jealous of them - their skill. Good job Candice and Chris and all you others who stuck with it.

Fast forward years later. I'm a parent. Daughter Amy decided piano might be nice to play. She started on a keyboard - fed by several sized D batteries. That worked for a bit - but it didn't cut it once she got a little more sophisticated. Hmmm. We needed a real piano - but how? That's where Creston Radio's Trading Post came to the rescue. Someone had a FREE piano down by Diagonal - it just had to be collected.

Not our "barn" piano - but similar, except these ivories are better

Paul, Steve and Jeff were on it. It was in the barn - complete with bird poop. Not every key had ivory and grime abounded. We did our best to clean it up and it cost $60 to get the thing tuned. Then I had the bright idea to sponge paint it - that was big then. Cream for the base - with dusty rose and a country blue. How very 90's! Still, it did look cheery. And oh how she played it! "I'll Be There For You" the Friends theme was a fave.

Maybe someday Amy can give piano lessons - teaching kids that song. haha

Piano

Not sure what got me thinking about piano lessons this week. Perhaps it was hearing a piano player at Von Maur - the department store a couple times lately. Yeah, right, I sounded like that. NOT

The Bullock girls - Susan thru Leslie took piano lessons from Mrs. Sandhorst, my classmate Tom's mother (Tommy was the kid who peed around the floor tile clock in Kindergarten - Mrs. Christensen wasn't happy). I think Cindy also had a Sandhorst classmate (Nancy? - don't believe any peeing by her, at least in public).

The Sandhorsts lived in a modest home just a few blocks from our house. I started taking lessons in third grade. In decent weather, I would put my piano books into the white wicker basket (I ditched the plastic flowers) on my cool stingray bike and pedal over for my lesson.

At Mrs. Sandhorst's, the piano was in the front room - complete with a metronome on top. At first I was so thrilled to be doing what my big sis's were doing, making beautiful (maybe not...) music. Then practicing got to be a drag.

We had to do scales of course and learn to read music. We also had John Thompson piano music booklets - they were red. Oh how I loved some of the songs in those books. Of course I would sing along.

Our piano was in the playroom. Not sure why Mom and Dad didn't ever insulate that sucker - the playroom that is. You could see the floor joists - and the sound would just shoot right upstairs to the bedrooms from there.

When I was young, I didn't even consider the sounds I was producing. But the whole noise thing was distinctly brought to my attention when home from college, sleeping in with a hangover. Betsy was in the high school musical - can't remember the name. Bets was always an early riser, so there she was playing "Cotton Blossom" over and over again, singing along. Arghhh Betsy took lessons from my classmate Candice Drake.

Back to my piano playing days. I was happy to learn to play the ol favorites - that song you play with your fist. Chopsticks. And I like dinking around on the piano. But I was petrified about playing for recital! I'm proud to say I can still play a bit of one of my recital songs - Skip to my Lou - cross handed. I think Mrs. Sandhorst through me a bone there and gave me an easy song. By sixth grade, Mom realized I wasn't into it. I wasn't ever going to be Liberace. I was into horses and sports. She got tired of fighting the practice thing. So she let it go.

I never did learn to play the guitar, like Susi did at Camp Lake Hubert and lessons in Atlantic. Or the ukulele like Cindo did - it's on her wall at her house as a decoration now. I did enjoy Dad's bongo drums though- they were in the closet under the stairs. And that zippy zither fish thing he got in Mexico - it had ridges on it and you could run a stick across it to make noise. I wish I would have gotten a drum set - I coulda rocked at that - but looking back, the uninsulated playroom would not have been good for drums!