Musical Musings

Helping kids to learn about the piano has to be one of the most enjoyable things that I have ever done. Tonight I started thinking about some of the funny things that the little ones have said, and couldn't help laughing a bit at the memories. It wasn't that they were trying to be funny... they just were!

Like the darling little boy who was learning "Up on the Housetop" for Christmas. He made it through the first page, and smiled proudly at his accomplishment. He took one look at page two, and his face fell. "What's wrong," I asked, "don't you want to learn the rest?" He eyed me seriously, motioned for me to lean my head down, and whispered in my ear: "Umm, see those words?" "Which ones?" I asked, and then read the song aloud: "Ho, ho ho, who wouldn't go... Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go... up on the housetop..." He stopped me and nodded urgently. "Those words! You know, ho ho ho? My mom doesn't let us talk like that!" The light of understanding dawned, and I tried hard not to reveal my desire to crack up. We then had a talk about what Santa says when he laughs...

That same little man tickled my funny bone yet again one day when he spied a scale pattern I was working on with an older child. It was comprised of a series of Whole steps and Half steps, and was written out like: Whole, Whole, Half, etc.; but was abbreviated to: W W H-W-W W H. He looked it over, and nodded smugly. "I know all about that part of music," he declared. "You do?" I asked. "Oh yes!" He replied. With his index finger, he pointed to the scale pattern, tracing each letter. "It means W, W, H...WWW.conn!" "Well," I replied, fighting a smile over his mispronounciation of the word "com", and stifling a giggle at his rationale, "That's a good guess all right, and I'm proud of you for trying to figure it out, but these W's are different from the WWW. com ones that we use on our computers!"

Then there was the sweet little girl from church that was learning about the repeat sign. It's a symbol that indicates when a piece is to be played again, rather than ended. "Do you know what this is called?" I asked her, thinking she would read the name of the symbol from off of the page that I was pointing to. "Yes!" came her excited little voice, "it's called a Repent sign!"

I have learned so much from working with children; things like: certain skirts made of a super shiny, slinky material do not get along with a slick piano bench. One little girl came to her lesson dressed so adorably, one afternoon. Unfortunately, she is a fidgeter. Things were progressing nicely, however, when suddenly, whoops! There she went, off of the front of the bench. I helped her up and got her settled, and then, whoops! Down she went, again. Now she thought this was hilarious, and so I made the decision to finish up the lesson with her standing rather than sitting...

Some of my favorite memories are of the little guy that would get so excited about his piano lesson he'd dance in place, and the little girl that didn't want to go home, and got quite grouchy about it, too.

The pictures colored "just for me" always make me smile, the hugs warm my heart, and what a joy to help a little one learn to play "Amazing Grace" or "Oh How I Love Jesus" for the very first time. To see their eyes light up with pride and a sense of accomplishment, is just too dear for words.

I have helped many children learn many songs, and have explained too many musical terms and "rules" to count. In taking the time to see and hear music through the eyes and ears of a child, however, I have learned far more than I have ever taught. And in the learning, each precious one of them has added one more note of joy to the music of my soul.