HOME | DD

Description
The next day, I had my first piano lesson. I sat in front of the piano with Patrice sitting right next to me. Patrice picked up my tiny fingers and moved them around the keyboard, showing me which notes to press. Gradually, I learned the first part of a song. It had a very pretty melody, the kind of song a mother might sing to her small child, after the poor toddler wakes up screaming from a nightmare. I practiced for a long time even after Patrice left. But it irritated me that I could only play the first couple lines; I itched to hear the rest of the song, to play the rest of the song.
My next lesson was the following week. After playing the few phrases I had already learned, Patrice proceeded to take my hand once more, to move my fingers to each key. But I interrupted, “Can you play the whole song?”
After she finished, I imitated her. I made a few errors, but I succeeded in playing the song from start to finish. Patrice said nothing for a few moments. And then she asked me, “Annabelle, do you think you can play anything you hear?”
I thought briefly, before answering, “I’m not sure, but I think if I practice a little, I could.”
“Have you ever played with your left hand too?”
I shook my head, no.
“Try playing this.”
Patrice played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
I heard more than one note at a time, more than two notes at a time. There were two or three low notes played at once, and the high notes were the melody, the part with the words. But the low notes were less frequent Lower notes were on the left. The left hand was probably playing more than one note at once. The right hand was probably for the melody.
Two hands were definitely harder than one. I had to think about two hands at once, and I attempted to play two, three notes at a time with my unpracticed, left hand. I challenged myself to it a few times, before asking, “Could you play just the left hand, please?”
It was still difficult, even after hearing the left hand by itself. These notes in the left hand were called “chords,” Patrice told me. She played one chord at a time. I found and played each.
“Those are the only chords in the song. Now they just repeat.” Patrice played through the left hand once more, and now I could imitate her. The right hand alone was simple. I then, very slowly, played the song, both hands together.
“Great job. Excellent, Annabelle. Most people your age can’t do what you just did. I’m going to play one more song with both hands. Try to figure out as much as you can of it before our next lesson.”

I was able to play it through, hands together, from beginning to end, in four days. The day of the lesson, I played the song with no mistakes.
That day, after Patrice listened to me play, she gave me a book written in Braille. Mommy was starting to teach me how to read, but it was really difficult. But when I opened this book, and started sliding my index finger along the tiny bumps, I didn’t recognize a single symbol.
“This is a book of sheet music. There’s symbols on the paper that indicate, or tell you, what key to press, how loud to press it, how long to hold it for, how fast to play, and so on. There are letter names for all the keys, too.”
So, I learned the names for all the notes, from A to G. After that, Patrice taught me, it was an octave, and so it repeated. I worked out that “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” begins with C-C-G-G-A-A-G. I also began to learn how to read Braille music.
Learning how to play a song using sheet music was challenging. I had to read the music, recall what each symbol notated, and then find the key. It was all very frustrating.
After I played through a song, by reading the Braille music, Patrice said, “We’ve gone through a few different methods to learn how to play songs on the piano. I moved your fingers to play the keys; you imitated a melody after listening to it; you learned how to read music. Which was the easiest, Anna?”
“Hmm,” I pondered over the question. “Playing after I heard something was the easiest. But it got harder when I had to use the other hand. I think reading music might be the easiest for hard songs.”
“Okay. Good insight, Anna. So here’s a book of sheet music, and it comes with a CD of the songs that are in the book. Listen to the CD, and when you have trouble, read the music.”
I continued to use this method - listening to songs, reading sheet music, playing the piano – for years.

Description
The next day, I had my first piano lesson. I sat in front of the piano with Patrice sitting right next to me. Patrice picked up my tiny fingers and moved them around the keyboard, showing me which notes to press. Gradually, I learned the first part of a song. It had a very pretty melody, the kind of song a mother might sing to her small child, after the poor toddler wakes up screaming from a nightmare. I practiced for a long time even after Patrice left. But it irritated me that I could only play the first couple lines; I itched to hear the rest of the song, to play the rest of the song.
My next lesson was the following week. After playing the few phrases I had already learned, Patrice proceeded to take my hand once more, to move my fingers to each key. But I interrupted, “Can you play the whole song?”
After she finished, I imitated her. I made a few errors, but I succeeded in playing the song from start to finish. Patrice said nothing for a few moments. And then she asked me, “Annabelle, do you think you can play anything you hear?”
I thought briefly, before answering, “I’m not sure, but I think if I practice a little, I could.”
“Have you ever played with your left hand too?”
I shook my head, no.
“Try playing this.”
Patrice played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
I heard more than one note at a time, more than two notes at a time. There were two or three low notes played at once, and the high notes were the melody, the part with the words. But the low notes were less frequent Lower notes were on the left. The left hand was probably playing more than one note at once. The right hand was probably for the melody.
Two hands were definitely harder than one. I had to think about two hands at once, and I attempted to play two, three notes at a time with my unpracticed, left hand. I challenged myself to it a few times, before asking, “Could you play just the left hand, please?”
It was still difficult, even after hearing the left hand by itself. These notes in the left hand were called “chords,” Patrice told me. She played one chord at a time. I found and played each.
“Those are the only chords in the song. Now they just repeat.” Patrice played through the left hand once more, and now I could imitate her. The right hand alone was simple. I then, very slowly, played the song, both hands together.
“Great job. Excellent, Annabelle. Most people your age can’t do what you just did. I’m going to play one more song with both hands. Try to figure out as much as you can of it before our next lesson.”

I was able to play it through, hands together, from beginning to end, in four days. The day of the lesson, I played the song with no mistakes.
That day, after Patrice listened to me play, she gave me a book written in Braille. Mommy was starting to teach me how to read, but it was really difficult. But when I opened this book, and started sliding my index finger along the tiny bumps, I didn’t recognize a single symbol.
“This is a book of sheet music. There’s symbols on the paper that indicate, or tell you, what key to press, how loud to press it, how long to hold it for, how fast to play, and so on. There are letter names for all the keys, too.”
So, I learned the names for all the notes, from A to G. After that, Patrice taught me, it was an octave, and so it repeated. I worked out that “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” begins with C-C-G-G-A-A-G. I also began to learn how to read Braille music.
Learning how to play a song using sheet music was challenging. I had to read the music, recall what each symbol notated, and then find the key. It was all very frustrating.
After I played through a song, by reading the Braille music, Patrice said, “We’ve gone through a few different methods to learn how to play songs on the piano. I moved your fingers to play the keys; you imitated a melody after listening to it; you learned how to read music. Which was the easiest, Anna?”
“Hmm,” I pondered over the question. “Playing after I heard something was the easiest. But it got harder when I had to use the other hand. I think reading music might be the easiest for hard songs.”
“Okay. Good insight, Anna. So here’s a book of sheet music, and it comes with a CD of the songs that are in the book. Listen to the CD, and when you have trouble, read the music.”
I continued to use this method - listening to songs, reading sheet music, playing the piano – for years.