Piano Stories!

* True Stories! *
~Last Update: March 05, 2000~

I just had lunch with a few friends and we got on the topic of old piano (lesson/exam/related stuff) horror stories. Between the three of us, we had quite the "repetoire" (heehee) of tales. I'll try to keep the characters anonymous so you won't know which stories are mine!

"My piano teacher made me come in on another day and practice scales for 5 hours straight. She wouldn't be in the room but everytime I stopped she would yell at me from upstairs and say "Why did you stop? Keep playing!" I got tired and tried to play one of my other pieces but she'd yell "Don't play other pieces! Only your scales!" I got so tired that I would say I had to go to the bathroom so she wouldn't yell at me for stopping. I'd just sit around the bathroom, trying to stay there as long as I could. I went to the bathroom 5 times."

"I would never practice piano at home if my parents weren't home to make me. I'd just sit and watch TV or something until I heard the car coming or the door opening. Then I'd race over to the piano and start playing as if I'd been doing so for the last half hour. Once my dad asked if I'd been watching TV. My obvious reply was "Of course not! I've been playing the whole time!" "Then how come I didn't hear the piano when I was just outside and I heard pounding footsteps upstairs when I opened the door?" I stuck with my story: "DAD! I've been playing the WHOLE TIME!" "

"My piano teacher was demonstrating how one of my pieces should be played and she was really getting into it. Her whole body was swaying and her head was nodding and stuff, and then she suddenly bashed her head on the ledge of the piano! I asked her is she was okay and was said she was fine and just kept playing."

"When I first started lessons, at age 5, I didn't understand what my teacher meant by "rounding my hands". (She meant my fingers should be curved and not flat) I tried to curve my palms by making my thumb and pinkie close together (hard to explain) but she STILL got mad at me and I didn't even know what I was doing wrong! I eventually changed teachers and the new one would say to "round your fingers" so I finally understood. I was only FIVE, okay?!?"

My piano teacher was so strict that each and every time that I'd make a mistake on my songs, she would slap the top of the hand that made the mistake. Hard! Therefore, reminding me never to make the mistake again. But it hurt! I kept on thinking to myself, "How am I supposed to play when I'm injured?". =O

"One snowy Kiwanis piano competition, sometime during the winter of 1987 (around there), I was prepared to grace the stage with my whimsical piano talents and nicely primped clean cut suit. However, my dear mother forgot to bring my dress shoes! So there I was, clomping towards the stage wearing my rubber snow boots which went all the way up to my knees! I tried to take my mind off the boots. So I quickly finished the song and got the heck outta there. As luck would have it, I wound up coming in second place." =)

If you have any stories to share, please e-mail them to me
and I will gladly include them. ANY feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!