The Piano Lesson

Last year I took Spanish. I got to the point where I knew enough so that I could, if I kept studying and practicing (big if!), teach myself. But I didn’t feel like enrolling in a 4-hour class at the community college—which is some distance from my house—just to take the second year, even though I did enjoy it. But I like learning, and structure is conducive, so I looked for something else I’d always wanted to learn that might be more readily available than a language.

Answer: Piano!

However, the last thing I need is an actual piano, so I got a 76-key Casio keyboard that does all kinds of things I have yet to explore (including imitating a hundred instruments), and looked for a teacher. That was harder than I expected, though, and my keyboard gathered dust until I saw an ad in our local free progressive monthly, eightyone. I recognized the name of the teacher offering lessons as a member of our City-County Democratic Party (it’s not that large a group, so recognition isn’t that surprising) and for the past few months have been spending 45 minutes every other week at her house getting the basics. It’s been great, and despite several cancelled lessons, mostly because of my travels, I feel that I’ve made a lot of progress. Haven’t moved out of the beginner’s book yet, but that will come soon! My lesson was yesterday and because I'd been practicing (New Years Resolution), it went reasonably well. Not quite ready for Carnegie Hall, but not ready to give up either.