Daily Prompt: Music

“When we rejoice in beautiful scenery, great art, and great music,
it is but the flexing of instincts acquired in another place and another time.”
— Elder Neal A. Maxwell

I have always loved music. Music has a way of lifting you up if you’re feeling down. There are songs that will trigger memories that I thought were lost forever. This Daily Prompt brought up a memory of when I was a child and we lived at the Marsh Hotel.  When you passed through the lobby of the Hotel there was a dining room in the back. Yes, it was operating back then.  There was an old piano in that dining room.  I don’t remember if anyone ever played it (besides me, that is).  Whenever the dining room was closed, I would spend hours banging away on that old piano.  I picked out the usual Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  I used to pretend I was a great piano player and spend hours making up “songs” to bang out on that old piano.  If memory serves (which it doesn’t always do) that old thing was pink.  Yes, I did say pink. Granted, it was a very pale pink.

I guess my Mom took pity on me because she started me in piano lessons. They were down the street from the Hotel in a back room of a book store. I can’t remember the name of the book store or the name of the piano teacher.  I do remember she was very nice.  I absolutely loved learning the piano.  But all good things must come to an end. I was only able to take lessons for about three months.  That’s about the time my father became quite ill and nearly died. He lost the Hotel and we had to move. I can remember my teacher telling my mother to make sure she got me back into piano lessons no matter where we went. I guess she thought I had a knack for it. She said I had covered two years of material in three months. Sadly, I never had a piano again.

Well, over 50 years later, I can’t say that anymore. Last year I found the perfect piano on Craigslist. It’s beautiful, it’s like new, and they were selling it at an unbelievable price (e.g. cheap!).  I thought there had to be something terribly wrong with it so I hired a piano tuner to inspect it for me prior to purchase.  After he had examined and tested it, he told me privately to let him know if I did not buy it because he would. Well, that was enough for me.  It’s mine and it’s everything I ever hoped it would be! Here it is:

It’s mine now! Granted, for now it’s primarily just a beautiful piece of furniture. Shortly after I purchased it, I lost my job, so no piano lessons at the moment. But don’t despair. I haven’t. I have the piano I have dreamed of my whole life. I have the Schaum and Thompson piano books I had when I was 10. So, it’s not a banjo but I’m a pickin’ and a grinnin’!  I have always said if I could have spent as much time at a piano keyboard as I have at a typewriter/computer keyboard, I’d be a concert pianist!  HA!

I do so enjoy music. Lots of different genres. Some time ago, I started adding songs I liked to one of my Pinterest boards (click here). I noticed that so far I’ve been keeping pretty much to the 60’s and 70’s!

Here’s a piano medley of some hymns of Thanksgiving to enjoy (oh, to play like that!):

I listened, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more.

William Wordsworth

For more interpretations of the Daily Prompt click here.