Back to Where It Began

Dang, blogging twice in one day, when was the last time this happened?

I didn't really have to blog again; but I want to, because I think it was a really neat experience.

So there's a piano/music teacher that uses our church to teach her lessons a couple days a week. It seems that this time around, she's got some really young students that are just beginning to learn what music is and be able to apply that to something concrete. I was sitting in my office, and the teacher has been using a room that's basically right across from my office. So while she's teaching her little group, I get to hear all that's going on in the room. I was trying to do things throughout the lesson, but I couldn't help but smile every time they did something that I thought was amusing or cute.

They say that you start developing your long term memory around the age of 4 or 5. The earliest and fondest memory that I have was actually the first couple times that I started playing piano. I do believe I was four because, as far as I know, I started to learn when I started Kindergarten. I was at my cousin's house one afternoon. She sat me down, opened a book, and showed me what the keys were all about and how the notes worked. I remember some reluctance in doing it because I didn't really like the idea of having to sit down and learn.

Little did I know, that as where it all began for me: the incredible journey of music that has so strongly influenced my life up until today. I am not sure what my parents or teachers had thought of me when I initially learned piano, but as much as I'm probably fabricating the details to try to make myself sound legendary, I learned insanely fast. Any and every memory that I have of learning different pieces, notes, scales, and all that kind of stuff was almost second nature to me. By the time I was in second grade of school, I was playing grade five material in piano. Shortly after that, I learned how to play Für Elise (the actual one, not the nooby simplified and toned down version). I also remember my piano teacher having to alter some of the chords that I'd have to play because my hands just simply weren't big enough to reach all the notes at the level of piano I was playing relative to my age and development - not to mention that I was a really small boy anyway.

But of course, all this time, my hate for piano grew and grew, and ultimately lead me to slowing down drastically and my eventual downfall. And that's where I stop, because this is already more than enough for why I'm posting this!

So hearing all the kids get introduced to notes and a keyboard today was really awesome. It's in my hopes that at least one of them will turn out to be a decent musician or even better! You never know what can happen if God has given you a gift, and it's up to us to nuture these kids and to give them every opportunity to grow and blossom. I hope that these kids are far more gifted than I am, and that their parents will be able to recognize it as well. Then, one day, they might be able to stand where I am now and see the same thing with some other kids that are just starting out as well.