April Showers Bring May...

I woke up this morning with a vague nervousness, anxiety niggling at the back of thoughts. I tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. May is a crazy busy month for me, so maybe that's it. My oldest daughter has a piano recital, all three girls have dance recitals, my middle daughter has a birthday, as do both my parents, there's Mother's Day, and I am the caterer for a big senior high banquet at the Presbyterian Church (serving about 200). Throw in my 10-day trip to California, and you've got a real circus. So WHAT was I worried about? Oh, yeah. All that stuff I gotta' do.

Greta, my oldest daughter, plays the piano very well. There is a lot of raw talent there, of course, but she also is able to spend about an hour a day practicing, which means she tears right through her lesson books. She is getting ready for her first intermediate performance piece, Handel's Menuet in G Major. She works diligently on her technique, but it's her sensitivity that is wonderful to see develop. She is an imaginative child anyway, so it's not too surpising that what inspires her most about music is the feeling it evokes. She is always making up a little story to go with each piece, trying to get inside the reason behind the dynamics. "It's softer here because they are catching their breath. It's louder here, because they are running up the stairs." Etc... I am very proud of her. She has only been taking private lessons for a year now, but her composure and elegance at the piano just makes me misty-eyed. She's only eight, after all.