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| Amanda on the left with the group Humoresque |
One of the
more famous Bodie stories took place she was four years old. Sarah had turned
six. Goobs was making up songs on the Fisher-Price piano, and her little sister
was left handed. Those were the reasons we decided to spring for a real piano
at that time!
We went to
Cooper Music at the Gwinnett Place Mall – this was late 1991. There might have
been other places we looked, but this is where we ended up. Part of the package
of buying a piano from Cooper Music was the inclusion of free lessons for everyone in
the family – group lessons – for as long as we wanted.
Soon we had an
upright piano in our rented house on Realm Lane, and all four of us were
looking forward to our first group lesson.
The lessons
were in the back of the store at the mall one night a week. There were a few
others besides us in the group, but we were all starting at the very beginning.
Middle C.
We got our
first song – When the Saints Go Marching
In – with big notes on the scale that had the letters written in so we
could know what to play. The instructors, Gary and Dorothy, two awesome
pianists, went over the notes with us and showed us middle C and played the
song.
When we got up
to leave, we told Gary and Dorothy how excited we all were. They looked at
Amanda and said she was not old enough to be taking piano lessons.
She was too
young to be able to concentrate on the lesson or the practice.
She was too
short for the piano bench and the stretch to the keyboard. Her hands were too
small to reach across an octave.
Four-year olds
are just not ready for piano lessons – the effort would just be taking
up time for teachers and student alike.
I looked at
Amanda when these statements were being said, and they were said kindly and
matter-of-factly, but there was steam coming out of Bodie's ears, I could tell.
One thing I
learned early about my kids, they could certainly prove themselves without any
intervention on my part. In this instance, I kept quiet.
All four of us
practiced When the Saints Go Marching In
on our at-home piano the whole week.
At the next lesson,
Gary and Dorothy called each of us in turn to come to the piano and play the
song. Everyone, that is, except Amanda.
When everyone
else had played, and it became obvious that the instructors were about to move
on to the new song for the next week, Amanda got a very serious look on her
face.
She moved her
short self to the edge of the folding chair she was sitting on. And then she
got off the chair and stood up.
Gary and
Dorothy and everyone else in the room watched.
Amanda took her
copy of the song and walked to the piano. After moving the bench close enough
so she could reach the keys, Amanda took her turn playing When the Saints Go Marching In.
When she was
done, Bodie took her music and returned to her chair.
No one has
ever again questioned whether or not Amanda was serious about playing piano!
334 20151130 When The Saints Go Marching In
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