A Beautiful Sound

When I bought an old early 1900's piano for our living room (as a decoration) years ago, we had lots of fun playing around on it but Jonah, my now ten-year-old loved it most of all.  An early talent could be seen in him and we found some piano lessons of the traditional kind for him.  After a few weeks Jonah decided that he no longer liked playing the piano and lessons were ended.

Sadly, Jonah didn't go near the piano for about six months.  I didn't say anything and then he finally began playing it again, to my relief.  He then began to write his own songs and he said that he wanted to learn chords.  I found an instructor who would be willing to teach him similar to the Suzuki Method, which I highly recommend.  Jonah learned some chords and he was able to compose more songs.

At his piano recital, I noticed some differences between Jonah and the other piano students who were taught with the more traditional way of playing while learning to read music.  There was a strange tension that could be felt throughout the room when other students played.  We all held our breath in hopes that there would not be a mistake.  If a mistake was made, the student became frustrated and would sometimes even start the song over.

Jonah was also a little nervous to play in front of an audience but once he hit that first key, everyone could tell that he was actually enjoying himself.  Other kids and parents told us after the recital that they really liked Jonah's song and they couldn't believe that he wrote it himself.  One boy told me that he wished he could play the piano as well as Jonah.  This broke my heart because I could see this boy's love for the piano slowly drowning in a puddle of discouragement.  I told him not to give up.

I sometimes wonder how much we hinder kids' learning by turning it into all work and no play, or by controlling their learning instead of simply channeling it in the right direction, or just supporting it.  All kids love to naturally learn.

Here's Jonah:

As helpful as it was to have an understanding instructor, Jonah discontinued his weekly piano lessons after the recital so that we could save some money.  Jonah is still seen at the piano often, however, and still writing his own songs.  I never have to make him practice or tell him to play his scales.  Sometimes I need to ask him to stop playing so we can watch a show on TV that is in the same room as the piano.  He loves to listen to different genres of music and sometimes he checks out books from the library about music.  He does not yet know how to read music, but there is no doubt in my mind that he could teach himself very quickly when he feels the need or the desire.

Three out of four of my kids love to play the piano and all I had to do was provide the instrument and stay out of the way.  I wish that all kids had access to musical instruments so that they could play with them like toys, with no pressure of learning anything.  Nothing else compares to witnessing the excitement and joy on a child's face as they press or strum something and figure out that it makes a beautiful sound.