A good accompanist is hard to find, and when you do find one, you often have to pay them money. A much better solution is to create your own. I started this process over six years ago, and we are now on to the second phase of the plan. Yesterday afternoon, Ruby had her first piano lesson.
She was super excited about it, and when we pulled up to the piano teacher’s house Ruby said “This is a very small parking lot.” I don’t know where she thought we were going, but we parked in the driveway and I explained that the lessons were at the teacher’s house. Skeptical, but still eager, Ruby walked into the house to begin her training.
From what I could observe of the lesson, it went very well. The teacher was super encouraging and Ruby seemed to be progressing quickly as she learned the notes on the piano and which numbers her fingers were. Unfortunately I spent most of the lesson unsuccessfully trying to make sure Edward did not vandalize the house.
The first thing Edward decided to do was to open all of the cabinets and drawers in the house and pull things out of them. I tried to explain to him that this was not socially acceptable, and that this was not our house, so he decided to go over and play the piano. Sadly for him, there was currently a lesson going on at the time, so I dragged him screaming away from the top of the 88s and tried to distract him with the pet turtle that, in my mind, should have fascinated him.
The problem with the turtle was that it was asleep, and so was only interesting for a few seconds. Not that Edward didn’t try to break the top off of its habitat to play with it, because he did, but his mean old dad wouldn’t let him complete this task. I guess that’s why he open the wood burning stove and attempted to decorate the room with ash.
The teacher only had to fully stop the lesson once, to help me chase Edward out of the other end of her house, which was not open to the public no matter how much my son protested. Otherwise it all went pretty well. When we left Ruby couldn’t wait to get home and start practicing. And she practiced for hours at our own piano, working until she could play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by memory.
It was great to see how much Ruby loved her lesson. This was definitely the strongest positive reaction she has had to any of her after school activities, and I really hope her love for it continues. Because I have a recital coming up in about ten years and I don’t have an accompanist yet.
