My mom could play the piano before she could read. She grew up in Milford Utah where her mother was a teacher and her father worked on the railroad. She spent her childhood practicing on this piano everyday for two hours before school each day. By the time she was 12 she was competing in piano competitions. Now 83 years old, music has defined her life almost exclusively. Mom has a learning disability so everything has always been so much harder for her but she is the most tenacious person I know. When my siblings and I were small, mom began teaching private piano lessons. She grew her studio to serve not only neighborhood children, but adults as well. She offered free lessons for adults who would be willing to then play the piano in church. She constantly worked at improving her knowledge, skill and pedagogy, going back to college to work on a music degree. As a teenager, I watched her give the give of music to individuals who were told they could never play the piano - children with down's syndrome and students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I think she felt extra compassion for these students because of her own disabilities. Mom spent her life using music as a way to serve and bring joy to others. Sadly, I never learned to play beyond a few lessons and I deeply regret that. I chose to be a singer instead and enjoyed having a built-in accompanist at home. Mom didn't care what instrument you played, she was always your biggest fan when it came to music. My own daughter, now 24 and about to be married, has the same passion for the piano. She has studied under a concert pianist and also uses her talents to serve those around her. She, like grandma, teaches children how to play. This was made possible because my mother purchased a piano for her when it was clear she needed something beyond an electronic keyboard to fulfill her own passion. Mom is now in a memory care center. My father passed away last year and she just never recovered from this loss. It has been so difficult to watch her decline, every visit losing a little bit more of the mother we knew. Just a week ago, my siblings and I returned to our childhood home in Indiana to retrieve family keepsakes to put in her memory care studio apartment. We will be selling the house soon to help pay for her care. One thing we promised mom that we would bring to Utah was her piano. When we returned from our trip, we told mom that we got the piano and it is on its way here. For a few moments, she became very lucid and expressed with great emotion how happy she was to think of being reunited with her family heirloom piano. She cried tears of gratitude and joy at the news. We are hoping to restore the piano so that when mom passes, it can be passed on for another generation in my daughter and her new family. I can think of nothing more meaningful than for this vision to come true.
The piano was my mother's grandfather's piano. Purchased new I think in 1912. It is a Clarendon upright. Over the years it has seen a tremendous amount of use as well as trauma. My mother learned to play on this piano and when she started a family, it was passed on to her. We enjoyed listening to mom play and developed a love for classical music as well as church music and holiday tunes. She used this piano to help support a growing family as a stay at home mother providing piano lessons to children and adults. The keys are made of real ivory and they are all intact. Mom always commented on the sound of this piano being richer and better than almost any other piano she had played - which was a lot! In the 1990's, my parents experienced a flood in their home and water damaged the top of the piano. The veneer has come off in places and is loose in others. The keyboard cover has loose knobs and the rich mahogany finish has faded much over the years. But shockingly, when we moved the piano last week from her home in Indiana, it was quite in tune! (Mom always said I have perfect pitch.) The piano has sat silent for several years now. Mom can't play anymore due to arthritis and her dementia, but having this piano come full circle, to return back home to Utah would mean the world to all of us. We are happy to submit more photos and video of it being played when it arrives in a week!
