I was eight years old when I got my first taste of piano music.
After years of watching my mom and brothers play our family piano at home and my grandmother play the organ at church on Sundays, my mom finally signed me up for piano lessons.
I proudly attended lessons every Thursday at 4 p.m. after stopping at Dairy Queen with my mom and brothers to get a vanilla cream Dr Pepper during happy hour. After making our drink stop, my mom would drop me off at my piano teacher’s home, where I would sit in her living room and play the pieces I had been practicing all week.
If I successfully performed a piece, I received a sticker. For completing an entire lesson book, I was allowed to choose a bust from a cabinet at the back of her house. The busts were miniature statues of famous composers and I was determined to collect them all.
Each time a new one came into my possession, I proudly positioned it on top of our family piano at home as a symbol of my accomplishment. In retrospect, I’m sure it clashed a great deal with my mom’s living room decorations, but I’m thankful to have had parents who believed in me enough to let about 20 horrendous plastic statues adorn our home.
I stopped taking piano lessons after about three years, and though I didn’t collect all of the busts, I’m sure I collected most of them.
Piano didn’t exit my life at that point, though.
In junior high school, I developed an interest in music composition and began writing piano music.
Though I’m sure they weren’t the greatest pieces in history, I believe I owe a great deal to the experience.
Research shows that playing piano affects the entire brain. I think that exploring the inner workings of music composition and creating those pathways in my brain at such a crucial age probably helped me tremendously as I progressed through my education. I’m thankful for the experience and for those who helped me to shape that interest.
Once I got to high school, playing piano slowly faded out of my life as other extracurricular activities began to take over. Though I wasn’t playing much anymore, I developed an appreciation for listening to piano music.
It was during this time that I came across The Piano Guys, a group of men who compose original pieces, as well as play instrumental covers of contemporary songs. In fact, their cover of the Christmas song, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, is one of my top five favorite songs of all time. It’s beautifully arranged and really targets the spirit of Christmas.
I encourage others to look them up on YouTube. Their music arrangements are inspiring, and their music videos are artistically done.
I understand that classical music is starting to take a back seat in modern-day electronic and digital music, but I believe that pianists are some of the most talented musicians in the world. It’s not just a skill but an art, and I applaud those who share their talents through their performances and teaching others.
Until next time…
Shelby Rasco is a staff writer for the Snyder Daily News. Comments about her column can be emailed to shelby@snyderdailynews.com.