My Story: "Jump on the Piano"

Throughout my childhood music experiences, there were two messages regularly communicated to me:

   #1. Fix your hand position.

   #2. You are playing too loud.

   My first teacher would bluntly tell me to stop banging on the piano. My second teacher, Mrs. A., had gentler, more creative ways, but she had to use them frequently (e.g. "This is a lullaby," "Think of your wrists as shock absorbers," etc.). And Every. Single. Festival adjudicator I ever had told me to tone it down. 

   I might not have changed my playing style, but I did get the message. 

   Then came my very first lesson with Mr. B. 

   Oh, I was so nervous. And thrilled. See, I wasn't the kind of girl who followed boys' bands or pop stars. My musical heroes were the people in my own church, those I heard play on a regular basis. And Mr. B. was one of them. In my mind, he was the best. 

   Naturally, I wanted to make a good impression on him during our first official lesson. (Mrs. A. had arranged one lessons with him previously, when I was still with her. But still, this was my first lesson as his student. I wanted it to count.) So, while I was playing my work-in-progress for him, I had one thought in mind: 

   Don't bang.

   I played gently. 

   I finished. He complimented my strong points. Then came the shocker.

   His words were, "But you need to make it louder."

   I had, literally, never been told that in my life. 

   A few weeks later, I understood why he had told me that. It wasn't merely that I had really been playing it too quietly, although I probably had, in my eagerness to please, toned it down too much. But there was more than that. 

   He was demonstrating to me how one of my pieces should be played. I was watching closely, drinking it in. But suddenly, I saw him make a fist and swiftly strike the bass note, not with his fingertips, but with his fist. As you can imagine, that note resonated. Boy, did it resonate.

   Later, he horrified my mom. He was trying to teach me the value of using my weight to make forte. But to get his point across, he told me a story of how, when he was a boy, he had an old piano that he would occasionally take running leaps at. With complete figurative intentions (and probably knowing I wasn't the kind of child who would take him literally), he said, "You need to jump on the piano!" 

   Students, do not take him literally. Your parents will not appreciate you taking running leaps at your piano. And do not use your fists to hit those bass notes. There are other ways to make forte.