As I mentioned in the post on Saturday, Rachael has begun taking piano lessons from Ms. Betty at our church. Ms. Betty is a wonderful woman who has opened her heart and her home to our crew many times before, not minding our noise in the least, and welcoming us in with open arms for a friendly few visits since Matt first came to our church to serve. Ms. Betty is one of those rare diamond in the rough ladies who hold strong to her gospel convictions and has the natural ability to edify and open up her heart to you in hospitality. So when I thought about who would be a great teacher, with such patience and compassion for our little Rachael’s budding interest in piano, Ms. Betty was a surefire fit.
Once a week, Ms. Betty comes by the house and picks up Rachael for her piano lesson (she’s one of those wonderfully thoughtful people who think about the fact that I have babies who need to nap and other kids to tend to which would cause an inconvenience in the “please sit quietly and mind while Rachael does her lessons” category). Rachael, feeling so big and grown up, walks on over to the church with Ms. Betty and does her half hour to forty-five minute lesson with her. And you should see that big smile as my “big kid” returns home with her sucker (Ms. Betty is so kind enough to get all three of the older ones suckers each week as a reward for Rachael’s hard work).
Since the piano won’t teach itself, Rachael practices each day for 30 minutes. And since Rachael is four and a half years old, I sit down with her to help her learn. It has been another fun journey of play mixed with hard work for the two of us. I’ve been brushing off my old “how to read music” skills and Rachael has been learning quite well. She is a wonderful student, as always, and I enjoy seeing music through her eyes.
And since piano is really a lot of hard work between learning to read music, learning the piano keys, learning correct fingering, learning how to hold your hands and sit appropriately and then adding in some meter and time… we also have to add in some silly helps to keep things carefree in the world of SUPER multitasking.
So naturally, I taped balls of paper to her hands to help her keep the right form while practicing.
Her fingering before habits.
Her fingering after new habits.
We all had a good laugh about that one. And she plays better now too. =)
– Proud of her.
Leave a Reply