… and The Boy Can Play Music!

About the same time last year, I shared with you the story of my son’s beginnings as a music learner. Yes, just a little over a year ago, he started taking piano lessons after asking us a few times if he can learn to play an instrument.

Back then, my husband and I didn’t know how he’d take to the whole idea of doing piano lessons and practices. But, we figured that since he was showing some interest, we might as well encourage him to try.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing all the way due to a variety of reasons. But, in spite the fact that he had to change schools, and later, change piano teachers… The Boy continued to show his interest in playing the piano.

Fast forward to one year later. A few weeks ago, we were told by his current piano teacher that The Boy was invited to take part in the school’s piano concert. My son was really excited about it. In fact, he even took pleasure in doing “pretend concerts” at home.

On the day of the actual concert, The Boy told us that he was nervous about performing. So, we talked about stage fright and learning how to overcome nerves.

At 5 years old (well, 5 3/4), he was the youngest performer at the piano recitals. That didn’t seem to bother him.

And, being the silly parents that we were, we realised that we forgot to bring his piano book on the day of his performance. We were worried that he wasn’t going to be pleased about that situation, even though we knew that he can play his pieces from memory. With this in mind, I had to ask, “Do you think you can still play at the concert without your piano book?” He looked at me like I was out of my mind for even asking, and then he replied, “Of course I can!”

So, he played two of his favourite pieces – “When The Saints Go Marching In” and “Ode to Joy”. Choosing his pieces before the concert was even an interesting exercise. Especially the part on playing “Ode to Joy” as he had managed to teach himself a few different arrangements for the song. The one he finally chose for his recital was the version he felt was ‘easiest’ for him to do, although he was aware that it wasn’t necessarily the fanciest. It was all good.

In the end, he said he was quite happy with his performance, even though he felt that he didn’t play his pieces perfectly. Of course, we assured him that he played just wonderfully.

Anyway, since I’ve been meaning to share a video with you for our 52WoC #46 Task, I thought I’ll do so by sharing this moment with you —

Please excuse me as I continue to beam with motherly pride.

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Tagged as: boy, family, family life, kids, music, Personal Stories