When I was in third grade, my dad bought an old, upright piano for $50. It was probably the best $50 he ever spent! It needed a little fixing up and cleaning, but before long my mom had it looking pretty great. I started taking lessons that year and didn't quit playing until I went off to college and left my the family's piano behind. All those piano lessons, though I didn't always want to practice when I was younger, were incredibly important to me. Piano, to me, was one of my main forms of emotional release. When I was happy I played upbeat songs, when I was upset I'd play somber songs, and when I was mad or frustrated it was loud, dissodent, angry songs. If I hadn't been able to play the piano I don't know know how I'd have dealt with all of the craziness that comes with being a teenager.
Since Sweet Pea was born I'd been dreaming about the day that she'd start piano lessons. So you can imagine how happy I was when my parents gave me my the piano, and we got it tuned, and SP wanted to take lessons! Happy! Since I had taken 8 or 9 years of piano lessons and continued on my own after that, I decided to teach her myself for as long as it works for her. We just started two weeks ago!
After talking to a few friends of mine that teach piano, I decided on Piano Adventures by Faber. She was really excited to get her books when we took a trip down to Schmitt Music with Babydoll and Little Man. Can I just say that going there for just SP's books was like taking a kid to a candy store and telling them they can only pick up something for someone else and can't even look around? Because taking an 8 year old to a music store is fun, but taking a 3 year old and a 1 year old as well means that I have to constantly keep them from grabbing music off the shelves or pulling down electric guitars. And that means I wasn't able to browse. But it was still exciting to be picking up SP's books!
Anyways, we started two weeks ago and she loves it so far. This week we started unit 3 and she has been surprising me with how quickly she is picking it up!
My greatest hope is that piano gives her the same musical base, emotional expression, and joy that it gave me!
And that in a few years Babydoll wants lessons too. And Little Man a few years later.
Did you take any instrument lessons when you were a kid? Did you love it or hate it? Did you keep up with it?
