Music lessons aren’t coming naturally

Friends know I am often short of breath, my legs feel like lead and my old body has the appearance of a gal who is definitely over the hill.

More than one essential organ is failing but my heart remains strong, and for that I am grateful. I am also thankful for the fact I have rarely, if ever, suffered a headache.

Recently I bought a grand piano and signed on at the Kelowna Community Music School for a year of weekly lessons. Now I know how a headache feels.

I went into the lessons with my usual sense of enthusiasm thinking because I had learned the basics of sight reading as a kid, I could quickly learn to sit down and play like a gifted genius.

Not so. My poor old brain is overwhelmed with how much I have to learn.

All these years, I have enjoyed playing Christmas carols and pounding out the melodies with my signature off-balance rhythm.

I never progressed to the point where I could play with a smooth, flowing quality. I would pick up a sheet of music and play until I ran into something difficult, which was always almost immediately.

Now I am learning about legato and it is giving me a headache. I have to concentrate for one thing, and I have to sit properly and place my gnarled old fingers just so on the keyboard.

Now I warm up with exercises from Hanon and pause to place my third finger on the note with the tiny 3 indication.

As for touch, I naturally produce rotary motion, non legato and staccato. It is legato that presents the problem, as I never knew about smooth and flowing sounds, until now.

Unlearning all my years of bad habits is giving me an ache in my forehead.

Tempo is another new consideration. Not all notes are the same. Not all notes are quarter notes. As for dynamics, sounds can be defined as very soft to very loud, crescendo to diminuendo.

Practice directions are not easy to put into practice, literally. Honestly, I am finding this new commitment a challenge.

The day after my lesson, I can hardly make out my teacher’s notes and I am already forgetting what she taught me only yesterday. Has learning something new always been this difficult?

I recall the first stage of learning always involves a certain confusion, but learning a musical instrument is not coming easily to me.

Add the senior advisers urging us to get out of our comfort zones and try something new only makes me wonder why I don’t just spend the holidays drinking eggnog and watching old classic movies on the TV.

Those same 12-year-old senior advisers urge us to find passion in our dotage and fulfil our youthful dreams of travel, accomplishment and recognition.

My longtime dream of gathering my family and friends around the piano to sing out O Holy Night is a long way from coming true.

Friends were here on the weekend and, all good sports, did their best to belt out Rudolph, but they were leading and my melody line was barely following along.

I know this because one friend sent a video she had recorded and it is a laugh at best.

Honestly seniors, the best gift in old age is the ability to laugh at ourselves. And ours is an age of fearlessness. Write that novel, paint that picture, learn to foxtrot. If not now, when?

It is clear I need another year to prepare. Here is the best part: I have signed on for a little student concert later this month.

I am down for Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and Winter Wonderland. Wish me luck. Years from now you can say you knew me before I went viral.

The notes from my last lesson read like this: Hanon #1 — legato – finger exercise. Have Yourself — Same Tempo. A Holly Jolly Christmas — rhythm. We Three Kings — more legato – dance -foot on pedal. Christmas Tree — hold d. – 123.

Can you make any sense of this? I thought the pedal was a foot rest. Now I am told to put it down after I play a note. Who knew? I will give my teacher credit for pointing out the positive: my large hands are an advantage.

There is nowhere but up from here. Despite all the headaches, I am amusing myself with the sound of this beautiful instrument in our home.

Offbeat, dissonant flats and sharps, these are my trademarks.

My pitiful attempts at Christmas carols is bringing me much delight. Somehow, I rejoice in recognizing a canto, a clef and a major scale.

My maestro is a perfect fit. She is upbeat and confident. She inspires me by pointing out my strengths like expression of feeling and encourages me by commenting “thank you” every time I play something right.

I listen to music differently now. I hear not just the melody line, but the rhythm and inflections, too.

Move over, Little Drummer Boy. Mary will smile at me, me and my piano. Home for the holidays was the best decision I have made in years. No driving in fearful winter conditions, no lineups to mail gifts.

Barbara and Barry cooked the turkey and all I had to do was my famous yam trifle for dessert.

My SLR Geography class came to sing carols and my North Vancouver granddaughter and her boyfriend were here to snowboard at Big White and sing carols around the piano.

I played The Most Wonderful Time of the Year and it sounded so good I almost cried.

The New Year finds the house filled with the sound of music and the laughter of beloved family and friends.

I can only dream of a command performance next year.

A blessed 2018 to all from my house to yours.

Jeanette Dunagan has lived in Kelowna for more than 40 years. Email her at jd2399@telus.net.