My first encounter with music

Memories Of My Childhood.

I remember being four years old, standing at my grandmother’s knees. She was sitting in a chair at the table with a bowl of candy and I desperately wanted a piece. She smiled a warm loving smile and held it out in front of me. I reached up for it and she pulled it back.

“I’ll let you have this piece of candy if you can sit at the piano, for five minutes learning the keys to a song, we sing, in church.” She told me.

I was always so active and just wanted to go outside and play with the many cats, she kept around the farm, but that candy was calling to me and I couldn’t resist. We didn’t normally get candy, you see. It was a treat when grandma gave us a piece. I thought hard for a moment, my face scrunched up and my tongue resting on the corner of my mouth. She messed up my curly brown hair and lifted my chin up with her finger, so I was looking into her face.

“Do we have a deal?” She asked me. After a long torturous three seconds, I eagerly nodded my head. I remember thinking to myself, I can do this, my older sister can do so I can too. Of course, I didn’t take into consideration that my older sister was four years older than me, and she wasn’t as active.

With a nod my grandmother stood up and took my little hand in hers to lead me toward her old piano in the other half of the house, still holding that yummy piece of chocolate candy I so desperately wanted. My eyes never strayed from that festive wrapper, not even when she lifted me up onto the bench and slid in next to me. I licked my lips thinking about how delicious that milk chocolate would taste. She set it on top of the piano and positioned my hands on those smooth white and black keys. Then she positioned her own hands too.

“Okay listen, my darling, I want you to do exactly what I do.” She started to explain. I looked and her and nodded.

At least my darling wasn’t as weird of a nickname as ‘my Jesus Child’ or something like that. That was what my mother always called me when she was around. Of course, I rarely saw her, and my upbringing was mainly affected by my grandmother and my father. While she was off chasing horses and dreams, my father was home taking care of my four siblings and me. My Grandmother played the mother role for me most of the time. While thinking about my mother being gone again, I had forgotten about the candy.

“Sometimes, learning how to play a musical instrument can help us with our sadness.” My grandmother softly told me, kissing my forehead. She had apparently noticed the change in the way I was sitting. “Now listen carefully and watch my fingers.” She added drawing my attention back to what I was doing and that candy I wanted so badly. Forgetting all about my mother and her being gone all the time, I focused on her fingers and tried to mimic her. Being four years old, I made her gentle tune sound like a herd of musical elephants, pounding away at the keys. I realize now that it helped relieve the anger, I didn’t know I was feeling.

My grandmother was patient with me, and she gently corrected my actions, telling me “You have to push on them softly.”

Four five minutes, I practiced that one combination of two notes, Once I got those two notes right, my grandmother patted my head and helped me off the bench, before setting me on the floor and sending me outside to play with the cats. It’s a strong memory for me because it was a major turning point in my very young life. I was taught that I can use music to express my feelings in a beautiful heartfelt way and that I didn’t need to act out or be mean to others because of what I was feeling inside. It was a powerful lesson that my wonderful grandmother had lovingly bestowed upon me without my knowing it.