I can truthfully say that the piano has changed over time from being my enemy to being my friend. It has been a long process and it did not occur without a lot of tears and frustration, but it has occurred. This may bring some hope to members of my family who embark on the quest to see this same thing happen to their children.
I began piano lessons when I was quite young. I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I started but lets just say it was “in my gentle youth” and well before I got anywhere close to being 12 years old. I would guess it was closer to when I was 6 years old or so. I guess I had to know how to read to play the piano or I would have started even earlier. I believe my first piano teacher must have been Terry. He was assisted by Mom who was the one who made sure I practiced my piano each day for at least a half hour. At first it was great fun. I think that probably lasted for a week of so. After that, it was pure “compulsion over the heart and life of one young boy”. My Mom was very diligent. She had already been through the same process three times before I started to learn. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was lost before I got started. Mom didn’t give up and she wouldn’t let me give up.
I became the proud owner of John Schaum piano book number one, followed by number 2, then number 3 and so on. I can’t remember just how far I got. I had lots of different teachers. Mom would arrange with anyone she thought could teach me and I would continue to progress, no matter how slowly. Some of the teachers were motivating and some were not. It didn’t matter. I got to practice almost every day on the piano.
When I was almost 12 years old, Mom decided that Aunt Vera would be my piano teacher. That was a serious problem for me because Aunt Vera was one of Mom’s best friends and I knew that if I didn’t progress as expected, Mom would hear about it. Dutifully I marched across the street for my piano lesson.
Aunt Vera took a different approach. She asked me if I would play the piano for Priesthood Meeting when I turned 12 and received the priesthood. At that time she was the ward organist. I told her I didn’t know how to play the hymns and she said we could remedy that situation. Instead of opening the John Schaum book, she opened the hymn book. She knew all the hymns and she selected one for me to practice. It was “God Speed the Right”. I could play most of it with one finger on each hand that played similar notes an octive apart. I could play half of the song within a day or two. It took a little longer to learn the second half because it too playing chords with both hands but I finally got it right. I got to where I could almost play it in my sleep. Once I had it down pretty well, she picked another hymn. I think it was “Do What is Right”. It took a while to learn that one but I finally learned it too. The Priesthood was glad because they were getting tired of singing “God Speed the Right” every Sunday morning. With two songs we could alternate.
After that I kind of took off. I eventually learned a lot of the hymns and branched out into some more popular songs as well. I began to enjoy playing the piano because it was songs I could “sing-a-long” with and I liked to do that.
Mom used to say that all she wanted to do was to “get me over the hump where I enjoyed playing” and I guess she finally accomplished that. To keep me interested, Aunt Vera also gave me a few basic organ lessons on the church organ. I never thought it would happen but today I am the “prelude organist” for the Plainview Branch. I guess I am the only one who knows anything about how to play an organ so I got the job. I’m glad Mom persevered and I’m glad I finally “ got over the hump”.