Last night was piano recital night and son played well. It is so jarring to see this bundle of total basketball, football, horse loving BOY sit at the piano and play with wonderful musicality. This is the year that he went from banging the piano, to playing music. He loved the change.

I make my children take piano, and Miss Teen also takes voice. She has had 9 years of lessons and Son is in his third year. (He would take voice too, but the vocal cord nodules can't handle it.) They whine, complain, argue and generally detest lessons and most practice. They do however like being "able" to play. I believe that everyone should be taught to read music and that piano is just as important as math. Sometimes the kids ask me how long they have to take lessons and I respond, "Until you are paying rent." Who knows how this insistence of mine will turn out. I figure there are two possibilities: 1. They will enjoy playing when they are grown and will thank me for pushing them to learn or 2. They will never touch a piano again when they are grown, but will appreciate the work that goes into the playing of others. After asking many, many adults I can't find a predictor of which way it will turn out, so I insist that they learn. (Miss Teen did ask me one day how much I would charge her for rent.)

This week Miss Teen has been especially contrary. I thought it was exams, I thought it was her being "put out" about having to perform at a recital this week. It was exams, but it was also nerves.


Miss Teen was a featured vocalist in the vocal recital tonight. Another high schooler, Miss Teen and the teacher sang a program of about 20 pieces of varying genres. There were show tunes, arias, pieces in Italian and Russian, and Art Songs. Those three were phenomenal!!! And Miss Teen, well she made me cry. When she started with Shenandoah I teared up. When she sang "On My Own" from Les Mis, I cried and worried that she had used herself up already and it was only her second piece. All of her creative soul showed itself tonight and it was a fine treat. It is a rare thing to see my teen willing to put herself so totally into a public musical creative effort.

Tonight made all those music battles worthwhile.