Wednesday, October 23

The Sound of Music...







For awhile now, Father John and I have been discussing music lessons.  We both had piano instruction growing up and sing in church, and we hope that we can foster some musical ability in our little ones.  We decided that we wanted to invest in a piano sometime last year, but with all the goings-on at the church, we did nothing about it.  

Once the school year started up, I began thinking about piano lessons more.  We would talk about it and plan to look for pianos sometime soon.  It was all very vague.  On Friday of last week, I idly looked up desks (we're looking for one for Sugar Plum...  though as of tonight, we seem to have found a solution that we already had!) and pianos on Craig's List.  I showed Father John some of the ones that I found and then went off to take care of the children.  Excitedly, Father called me back to the office to show me a 100 year old single strung English piano that was gorgeous and unique.  We e-mailed the people selling and made an appointment to see it (with some parishioners that are professional pianists) on Tuesday night and by lunch time today, this beauty was in our playroom waiting to fill our house with music!  It needs a little work, but the couple that sold it to us gave it to us for a song (ha!)!

I remember going to buy a  piano with my mother and father when I was a little girl, and I really think that our little ones will remember our piano outing when they get older.  The couple who was selling the piano were so nice and accommodating to our family.  They had two little cats (Inky and JoJo) and allowed the children to play with them and feed them little cat treats.  Their home overlooked a harbor with boats docked and we were able to watch the sun set from their many windows while the piano was inspected and the couple told us about their family.  It was very sweet!

Sugar Plum seems to be the most eager about lessons and has been "playing" away for the whole day.  We'll be getting a piano book soon and then Father John will begin reacquainting himself with playing and then will start teaching the little ones.  I really think that it will be a great thing for him and for the children...  it is good for them to each get to spend some time with him learning something new!

Do you have any suggestions for piano books?  I saw that Teaching Little Fingers to Play has good reviews and I seem to remember using it when I was a little girl, but that was obviously a long time ago! 


11 comments:

elizabeth said...

yay!!! so glad you were able to get this!!! :) :) and it looks beautiful there!

tanyakoenig said...

We were blessed with finding a great piano on Craigslist as well! The lovely people actually delivered it to our home for free(and gave us the piano for free). It was his wife's piano and he had just gifted her with a baby grand so they wanted her old piano to go to a good home. They chose us! Our boys have been playing for about 5 years.

Michelle M. said...

Beautiful! I hope your children will enjoy making music with it. :)

Jane G Meyer said...

This story is so beautiful and I'm so happy for you all! Two years ago we decided to do the same thing. All three of my children said they wanted to play, and even though the older two were "old" 14 and 17, we figured that it's never too late to learn. We found a piano on Craigslist--a baby grand that the owners were willing to sell for just a tiny bit of money! They said they were so happy to see the instrument go to a family of kids wanting to learn.

You will have many happy days ahead. My daughter was so dedicated toward learning that she played for several hours a day and in one year was accompanying herself on stage. Amazing... Such beautiful learning...
Blessings

Maria said...

I am excited for you! I want a piano but I'm pretty sure I would want to cut off my ears after about a week.

Lisa A said...

What an exciting find!
Since you asked for book recs I hope you don't mind my chiming in to suggest looking into Suzuki piano lessons. I was trained traditionally, but I've been using the Suzuki philosophy/method with my own kids and I can't even begin to praise it highly enough. There are several books you could read on it and I'd be happy to share more info if you're so inclined.
(I know this is the first time I've ever commented on your blog, but I promise I'm not a random visitor trying to advertise Suzuki.)

Or if you'd rather stick with traditional methods the beginning Faber books are very good.

Hannah said...

That's amazing you found one so quickly! I hope to have a piano in our home too one day. This is my first time commenting, but I'm a long time reader, like Lisa - who happens to be my sister-in-law. :)

Flambeaux said...

After the digital keyboard we had died, we prayed for two years for a piano and, this past summer, some friends of ours mentioned they needed to get rid of theirs.

For the price of the piano moving service, we acquired a lovely upright in need of love.

We're budgeting repair and tuning for this spring.

We've really liked the lesson books put out by Alan Jemison Music.
http://www.aljem.com/

We've also had good experience with Suzuki Method.

Kate said...

Some friends of mine hauled a spinet into our small house two April's ago. I called a local tuner and he worked on it while I was penning a letter to my penpal. When he played a piece to check his tuning, I burst into tears of joy. Having real, live piano music in my home was so special to me.

After he left, I dug out all the old, faded and falling apart music books my parents had passed on to me. I've never had a lesson, but I knew chords and can plunk out a melody and can read music well enough. It felt amazing to actually play music. Not well, but it still is nice.

Last year, our oldest started piano lessons at a local studio and having some fun plunking out made up tunes. We didn't really expect much, thinking we'd hear nothing but dissonant scales for some time. Imagine our surprise when he progressed to reading music and playing simple songs rather quickly! Once he caught on with the basics and learned some vamps, he started playing his own music and it was GOOD!

This past June was his first recital. When it was his turn at the piano, he ran out on stage, jumped onto the bench, pounded out his little piece with gusto, jumped off the bench and took a bow to strong applause from an otherwise bored to death audience. When he descended the stage stairs and ran down the aisle to take his seat with us, he received another round of applause.

He just received his third piano lesson book yesterday. I hope his love for it never dies and we can continue with lessons no matter how tight things become.

MamaBirdEmma said...

Thank you all for sharing our excitement! I will be checking out all of the books that have been mentioned!

Vicky Jame said...

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Dil meri na sune ringtones
Tula Pahate Re ringtone
Hindi ringtones
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Wish you the best music. Thanks for care!

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