Get Those Fingers Movin'!

Like many people, as a child I took music lessons.  I was so excited when I started.  I remember begging my mom to let me take lessons.  Then as time wore on and the practicing was not as much fun as I had envisioned, the begging changed.  It turned into a battle.  I begged to quit.  My mom begged me to practice.  Finally tired of the fight, my mom agreed to let me stop.


Like many people, I have regrets.  As a child I would have never understood but now I truly wished that I had stuck with it.  Trust me, as a momma myself, I do not hold me mom responsible in any way shape or form for these regrets.  For much of my adulthood I had dreamed of returning to lessons.


Fast forward several years, now I am the momma with the sweet girl begging for lessons.  I put it off as long as I thought I could and then I gave in.  We didn't even own a piano but we found a teacher who agreed to give her some summer lessons on a toy keyboard to try it out.  Perfect!  Two months, not a long term commitment.  Well, would you know it - my sweet baby girl is amazing.  We ended up picking up a better keyboard.  Fast forward two years and I simply can't get over the music she can play.


After we purchased the keyboard, my dream kept nagging at me.  I asked if my daughter's teacher would have room to give me lessons as well.  Taking music lessons as an adult is a whole different ballgame than taking them as a child. I am really enjoying it but at times need an extra little push to practice (and my mom refused to nag at me now).  Enter my IHC personal requirements!  One of my goals this year is to spend 100 hours at the piano.  Sounds like a lot but not if I just keep picking away at it each day (just like every other requirement).


For the last year or so I had been learning these lovely flowing pieces.  Then after Christmas I was marveling to my teacher at the amazing speed in which some of her young students can play.  She went and pulled out this book and asked me if I wanted to learn one of the songs.  I looked at the music.  Didn't look too hard, yet not too easy.  Fantastic!  What I didn't realize is that this piece is to played at light speed!!!  Can you say fast twitch and  coordination (both important kung fu skills)!  I can say it but not fast and not without tripping over my tongue.  Yes, I do stick my tongue out at times.  Each week it gets a little faster and there are less pauses in it but I still have a long way to go to get it to where it is supposed to be. 


This beautiful song is Sonatina in C major, opus 36 number 3 by Clementi.  I did find a very talented young lady who plays it absolutely beautifully on youtube.  After working on this piece for over  3 months, the talent in this child amazes and inspires me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIKiRH-fRx4