The New Piano

If you have ever moved an old piano, you know it is an ordeal.  That's why most old pianos are free to whomever has the brawn to handle them.  Our new piano came to us as an offer we couldn't refuse, but the whole process was fraught with problems.

My husband and I bought our gorgeous old Schiller cabinet grand piano for $25 early in our marriage.  It had to be tuned to itself which wasn't a problem until we cajoled the renters after us into keeping the piano for six months until we could move it into the house we'd bought.  The guy was a guitarist, so it was very annoying to him that the piano was a whole step flat. Oh.

  When it was time to move the Schiller, it had to be turned on end to get it through the front door of our new house.  Then, my husband's best friend, a professional musician, warned us that we were ruining our children's pitch, and the piano tuner said it couldn't be tuned again. 

So, when my uncle called in August and said he was getting rid of his piano, we gritted our teeth and said yes.

The Schiller being turned on end to leave.

We had to off-load our beautiful, but not very musical, old Schiller piano.  We tried in various ways (and my husband discovered that our piano, restored, was valued around $9000).  Finally, the night before the new piano was coming, he disassembled the Schiller into its parts for wood, metal, and beautiful bric-a-brac.  I helpfully stayed out of the dining room.

The new piano is now here - less majestic, less mellifluous, but eminently paintable when we have the time.  And yes, it can be tuned.  Notice how I skipped the trying details of the move? I fed everybody pancakes, bacon, and coffee. That was helpful.

 Piano lessons got scrambled in the process (this was the beginning of August - I'm trying to catch up with my life), but Genevieve and I got started again once we got the homework-beast tamed.

Now, the problem is that Genevieve is struggling with this phase of piano lessons and I can't work out a new way to explain things, so she's very reluctant to practice her songs.  She is still at the pinao, though, because she has just figured out all by herself how to sound out some simple melodies she loves.  So I'm taking that as a sign of progress, and hoping we creep along with our thin patience until she can actually read music.

 I proposed to my husband that we paint the piano dark, deep, bottle-green.  But I'm not looking for projects right now, so I think the piano looks just fine.

Cooking Lesson: Gingerbread French Toast

I am losing my thoughtful, calm approach to these cooking lessons.  Instead, at the last minute, I try to squeeze it into the plan for the day and get impatient when Genevieve wants to help at other times.  Piano lessons, truthfully, are faltering and it's not because the student is unwilling but rather the teacher (me) loves the idea in theory but is less willing to invest the time. 

That's a little embarrassing to admit.

I am trained as a teacher and I love teaching, but I am having a hard time transferring those skills and plans to my homelife and parenting.  I think of myself as a scheduled person with lists and plans and goals, but really, I often just go with the flow of the day and so I can't be bothered to do something formal with the children. 

Genevieve is also thirsting to sew.  I did recently set up her machine and let her go - showing her oh-so-incidentally how to sew a seam with the right sides together.  She was thrilled.  She made a little purse for herself of the crudest construction and carried it to church on Sunday.  I know this was a good, fun learning experience for her, but I would like to take myself in hand and be patient and instruct my children and teach them the skills and basics in the areas where I am accomplished.

Things are not looking good for homeschooling, ever.

Unless maybe I grow as a parent, as a person. (Pause for meditation)

So, Gingerbread French Toast. 

It comes from Mollie Katzen's cookbook for children, Honest Pretzels.  Mollie Katzen makes great-tasting food and this was no exception.  It was simple French toast (dip bread in egg and milk mixture and fry) with gingerbread spices added to the liquid.   Genevieve did a good job handling herself by the stove and the breakfast was delicious.

This French toast lesson actually comes from two weeks ago. We were at the beach last week.  We are at home now and maybe we should go to the pool less and cook and sew more.  Must meditate on that.

Finally, a Solution for Playing Out of Hymnals

Back when we toured a local historic farmstead, a musician was playing out of tight little hardcover music books from the 1800s.  He kept them open with large wooden clothespin-looking things.  I couldn't concentrate on his talk because I was staring at the wooden pins.

I love to play hymns out of my hymnals where I jot notes to myself on the margins, but it was a perennial problem to keep the hymnal open.  I was always propping it under books or grabbing at it as it flapped shut midway through the song.  I don't like to use the spiral-bound hymnal for accompanists at church (no notes!) and I don't want to make photocopies (an avalanche of paper!).

Clearly, I needed those wooden pins or their equivalent.

There are giant binder clips, but the ones I found were about $10 apiece.  Then, one day in the local art store, I came across large silver clips for $1.25 apiece. 

They work!  They are large enough to handle the biggest hymnal I have, and I am so pleased.   I haven't seen this solution among the musicians I know, but perhaps this is a common trick for professionals and I just missed it all these years.

Piano Lessons at Home

Both our children show a musical bent; we told them that when they learn to read, they can start piano lessons.  I decided to see if it would work for me to teach Genevieve at home for a while - a little toe-dip into homeschooling, if you please.  I took 10 years of piano lessons as a girl, and I still play for church occasionally.

For accountability, I marked the calendar for a 10-minute lesson each Friday afternoon; Genevieve calls it "turning the page" because we just turn a page a week.

I borrowed most of the books from a friend, a former piano teacher; I got the first three on amazon for about $20. 

For the first few lessons, Genevieve was enthusiastic; now I am seeing that her learning style with me is fear of failure, so she can be reluctant to try a new step because it won't be perfect.  She is supposed to practice her page every day, but, you know, it doesn't always happen.

 

As long as her musical ability is blossoming and we're working well as teacher and student, we'll keep going.  I also really love not herding the children out the door to get somewhere on time every Friday afternoon.

(all photos on this post courtesy of my husband)