There are a few people who know that I used to teach piano lessons; I worked in a music school before I met my wife (and I proposed to her at the year-end recital), then did private lessons in my own home studio for two years after that. Since then, though, the only teaching I've done has been sporadic with my own sons, and my own playing has fallen by the wayside as life has gotten in the way of playing and practicing.
However, with my mother visiting us for a couple of weeks to escape the boredom of quarantining alone, things have changed. My middle son was practicing, and my mother mused on how she wished she could have learned the piano when she was younger. Unfortunately, her own mother (my grandmother) didn't like pianos, and got rid of them when my grandfather would bring them in to refinish. My own father didn't want a piano either; we ended up with an organ when I was twelve, which is what I got my start on. So, my mother's love of piano settled into appreciating what I, and later my oldest son, would learn and play.
However, since she's here, and we just went through all of our stuff in the basement post-flood, I decided to pull out a couple of books that survived and give it a whirl with her. I'm not a big fan of modern piano method systems, because they are mostly geared to kids, or are too simple for adult beginners who don't want (or don't have the time) to spend years learning to play a simple sonatina or waltz.
Being a fan of older things (I've mentioned that before once or twice), I have a copy of Carl Czerny's Opus 500, the Complete Pianoforte School. Czerny was a student of Beethoven, and was one of Franz Liszt's teachers, so he knew a thing or two about how to tickle the ivories. Yes, that's a really old expression. I like old things, remember?
Anyway, I pulled out the Czerny book and got right to it with my 77-year-old mother. She had a little bit of music training back in the day, so she wasn't coming at it completely cold, but I know her well enough to make sure she gets a chance to stretch her mind and do some problem-solving. So, I just went over a couple of basic fingering exercises, and demonstrated the first exercise piece in the book. It's a simple piece, although if it was in a Conservatory book it would definitely not be a beginner's piece. Maybe a Grade 1 Etude. Anyway, she liked the sound of it, so we started working on it. She's excited about it, and did some diligent work before going to bed. She's even reading the Czerny book, which very few people today do. A lot of piano students today don't even know who Czerny is, which is a shame; the man is a titan in the history of piano pedagogy.
When she goes home, she is considering getting a piano herself. She was worried about finding a teacher who would use the same method (understandable, since no one in North America has likely ever used it anyway, and no one in Europe's used it in nearly 170 years). Fortunately, we live in the Digital Age, and the internet is just a click away, so I'll be able to continue teaching her online, if that's what she wants.
I like the idea of it, because it will encourage me to get back to playing again, something I've struggled with over the past few years because of school and work commitments. Now, I can get back into the habit and work on the pieces I've wanted to do for years. I'll also be working on the Czerny book, of course, to make sure I can teach it to her. My son might use the same method as well, which will be interesting. I'm teaching him the finer art of liking old things, one old thing at a time. Hey, gotta keep the memories alive, right?
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