Flashback Friday ~ Lessons & Recitals
Mocha With Linda has started her very own meme. This is how she describes it:
This new meme’s purpose is to have us take a look back and share about a specific time or event in our lives. It will be fun to see how similar – or different – our experiences have been!.
I am enjoying this meme a lot. Grab the button and the link and come play along. Linda’s theme this week is:
If you have a child in your life, your calendar for April and May is probably quickly filling up with end-of-year activities – performances, recitals, etc. Did you take lessons as a child? Piano or another instrument? Gymnastics or dance? Other types of lessons? Were they weekly? How much were you required to practice between lessons? Did you participate in recitals? If so, do any of them stand out in your memory? Did they foster a love or a hate for that activity? Did you want to take lessons in a certain thing that you never got to? And if you have kids now, how did your experiences with taking lessons like these impact the activities you had/have them do?
I wanted piano lessons. In fact, I begged Gram for piano lessons. Gram said, “There is no piano teacher. There are free violin lessons at school. Play violin for a year, and if you can stick to it, we’ll get you piano lessons.”
I played the violin every single day in school and practiced it every single evening. I pretty much detested the instrument and from the sounds it made, I’d say it was none to fond of me, but I did not give up.
At the end of the year I again asked for piano lessons and once again Gram told me there were no lessons to be had in our little tiny town. I mentioned a couple of friends who were taking lessons and gave Gram the teacher’s name. Gram told me that teacher was far too expensive and I wouldn’t be able to get to her lessons anyway because Gram had to work. Then she asked me to stay with the violin for one more year.
I did — much to the dismay of my violin teacher who was actually a very nice man who probably tried very hard to get the violin and I to play nice with each other. Neither of us gave an inch though and we made horrid music together.
At the end of the year I asked again for piano lessons and Gram finally told me the truth. “You have to practice piano every single day,” she said. I told her I knew that and pointed out that I practiced my violin every single day. “Yes, but the violin is small!” Gram swung her arm to indicate her over crowded, tiny house, “Where would we put a piano?!”
Oh. No piano lessons for me. No violin lessons anymore either — which made me, the teacher, and the violin very, very happy!
24 Comments
I remembered to post this as well this week 🙂 Your Gram sounded the opposite of mine haha.
Teresa — I think I am thankful for that!
You certainly are tenacious and dedicated!
I quietly hoped none of my children would play the violin because those beginner sounds are like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. I feared the clarinet would be the same way, but MusicMan proved me wrong. MM also convinced me to buy a keyboard and he taught himself to play. Because we move every few years, a piano has never been on the radar — too expensive! It’s too bad that an inexpensive keyboard was not on your Gram’s radar; they are small and move easily. True, they don’t have true piano sound or feel, but I love to have music in the house. It is one of the good things I have passed on to my children.
SnakeMaster had not previously shown himself to be musically inclined, but he is very excited about his new plastic recorder (purchased as a required part of music class at school). He has already mastered “Hot Cross Buns.” 😀
Karen — I know the neighbor’s complained and I wasn’t allowed to practice between 6-7 p.m. when Mr. Anderson watched the news.
One reason I’m glad my girl chose viola is that it’s a lower pitch and doesn’t sound like someone’s torturing a cat when she messes up! LOL
Linda — well, the violin was chosen for me because the lessons were free!
I HAD to take piano lessons for three years! The piano and I do not mingle. I had a great teacher though, but she just could not get me to love that instrument. So, after three years of not practicing, I finally got to quit. 🙂 Never missed it.
My kids were the same. I couldn´t force them to practice, so they quit as well. Oh well, we survived. 🙂
Betty — I think I would have loved it and stuck with it.
It would have been nice if she had told you the real reason in the first place. 🙂 It’s too bad keyboards weren’t as readily available then as they are now.
Barbara — I know! And I don’t understand why she didn’t!
At least your Gram tried to compensate, but it would maybe have been easier to tell you the real reason from the get go 😉
I’m totally unmusicial,…. 🙂
Nicole — I agree. I wish Gram were alive so I could ask her to explain her reasoning.
Have you ever thought about taking lessons now as an adult?
Cathy — yes, I have. And I always seem to be too busy. 🙁
I can’t imagine playing a violin, and you stuck with it. What a let down tho, when you found out the real reason you were being put off. Too bad adults just can’t be honest with kids. Enjoyed your memories.
until next time… nel
Nel — yeah. This wasn’t my Gram’s normal style. I don’t know why she made the choice to not tell me.
I wanted to play the piano but my Mother didn’t want noise in the house.
So at school I tried taking up the violin but the music teacher saddled me with the big bass cause he needed one for his orchestra. I was not happy but I already took the course so it was not easy to get out of it. I dropped it the next year and he was very angry at me but had he allowed me to play the violin I would probably still be playing it.
I got a piano for my kids but no one plays it. Such is life.;(
Lady — I don’t know why some adults think they can just make a kid like whatever they want them to like.
enjoyed your story. i was never too keen on learning to play any instrument and nobody tried to convince me otherwise so i didn’t i had a music teacher, though, who tried to at least make me sing in a choir. didn’t work either – i can’t hit the right note
Polona — people are happier when I don’t sing!
I took piano lessons and totally didn’t like it. Where did that lead me…to accordion LOL Never tried the violin. Thanks for sharing your flashback. 🙂
Thom — do you still have an accordian? Do you ever still play it?
But now you’re glad. Mrs. Jim plays the viola and has a violin to mess with. This year she resigned from our church orchestra but is still the orchestra librarian, a non-paying job.
The kids all had to take piano lessons except the youngest son. None of them liked it. Mitch later graduated from Texas A&M with as a chemical engineer, with a job, and the first treat he gave himself was a new Chevy Camerp and a white piano. He had taken three years as a little boy.
Susie now has an associate degree in music and is STILL working on her bachelors. She writes music and has many of her songs posted, playing on her piano, on her music blog. My favorite is her Sermon on the mount which she recites from memory while playing her composure for that recital. It is LOOOOONG!
I know you didn’t need all that but I wanted to tell it. I like your flashback, I don’t qualify for one this week. I had a tonette but never took lessons. At the college whre I taught I took class piano lessons for two sememster as a Wellnes Class. My teacher said I was ready for ‘private lessons.’ 🙂
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Now I think I will post it. 🙂
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You know Jim, I think I read this over at your place, to ….
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