Friday Feature: music to my ears

I've played the piano pretty much forever. Literally, as long as I can remember, there has been piano music in my life. Keys under my fingers, piano in my house, music in the air. My mom is a piano teacher, so not only did I get the benefit of starting piano lessons at the age of 3, her students filled the air with music (and at times, that's a generous description of what they filled the air with) from 3:30 until sometimes as late as 9:30 at night.

When I moved away to college, of course, a piano was much harder to come by, not to mention the time with which to practice. There was the rare occasion when I would find time to play one of the pianos hidden away in a small room in the West Point library, and there was the best-cocktail-party-story-ever moment when I got to play Heart & Soul with Billy Joel at Eisenhower Hall, but from my college years through my early adulthood, there was a significant hiatus from playing the piano, broken up only when I went home to visit.

I always figured my kids would play the piano, just like me, so when Caroline turned five, my dad bought us a really nice keyboard. Much bigger than a kids' keyboard - perfectly suited to teach little hands the basics. We are so fortunate that with today's technology, my kids get to take piano lessons from my mom, even though we live 500+ miles away. This summer, every Wednesday evening has been piano lesson night, and it's been great. I've seen them both progress, and they don't even complain about practicing.

So when my dad called me a few weeks ago to tell me that he wanted to buy us a digital piano - a full sized, true piano touch, pedals and everything - I was stunned. I'm usually terrible at accepting gifts like this - it's always a bit of an awkward feeling, being a grownup, but having Daddy still buy me things. You know what, though? I think it makes him happy, especially something like this that's for his grandkids and his daughter.

So for once in my life, I didn't protest. I just say, "Thank you, Dad. That would be awesome." And here we are, about four weeks later, and the piano has arrived. It will take some getting used to, especially how much more finger strength it will take to press the keys, but the excitement is the key.

So this Friday, the feature doesn't have anything to do with journaling, artwork, spelling, or math. It has everything to do with music, creativity, and love. Here are a few clips of Caroline, John, and even Mama playing our new amazing piano.

(If you can't see the videos, please click the title in your email and it will take you to the blog page!)