88 Keys to Success

Xanthe was practically having seizures, she was so excited for her first piano lesson. I have to admit, I was pretty excited, too. Xanthe has sort of started violin lessons a bunch of times, but I simply could not get up the energy to follow through. I knew too much about where I was going with it. The Twinkles! Aaaaaaaaaaaarg!

I have always really hated the piano for many reasons. My parents heard somewhere that kids should do piano before they do another instrument. Parents out there, that is crazy. I had to struggle through two years of trying to get my hands to do two different things at once before Santa Claus FINALLY took pity on me and gave me a violin when I was seven.

When I went to college, I had to pass a piano proficiency test for my music major. I failed it the first time. One day, I got a call from a friend who tipped me off to the fact that the grad student giving the proficiency exam that day was easy, and to hurry over to the music school and pass the test. I hurried, but when I got there, the easy grader was gone and the Dean of Piano had stepped in to take his place. After hearing my feeble attempt, he just pointed at the door. The very last day before I graduated, I went in for the third time, played the required piece at about one quarter note per 60 seconds, and passed. The piano is not my friend.

But my dad convinced me that Xanthe is a musical prodigy who must learn the piano immediately, before she's too old. The more I thought about it, the more excited I got. It was my chance to put aside my phobia and leap into something new. Spending a year on the Twinkle Variations, yes, but with a keyboard. The change could be just what I need to keep me motivated. Xanthe, on the other hand, needs no motivation. When it was finally time for the lesson, she ran to the teacher's front door by herself, leaving me in the dust. The teacher opened her door to find a lone, diminutive Chinese girl in pigtails who shoved her way past the teacher and climbed up on the piano bench. She wowed her new teacher with her willingness and her extensive knowledge of the Twinkle rhythms. (That's from spending hundreds of hours in the car with the CD's. It sank in!)

On the way home, I said, "Let's go practice!" Xanthe said, "OK, but where's my vio-yin?" Oh dear. Is it too soon to start lessons when the kid isn't even clear on what instrument she's supposed to be practicing? We got that all settled by going and practicing on Coco's big, nice piano. Even though Xanthe is the fifth child, I felt like a new mom embarking on a journey I have never taken before. Piano lessons! I think this is right. Xanthe agrees.