Tuesday Photo Challenge – Music

Thank you Frank for a subject close to my heart for this week’s challenge.
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/43011194/posts/1501003626

For those of you relatively new to my blog, you may not be aware of how important my music has been to me throughout my life.
As a child, I was a thumper of the old ivories, bashing away, the left hand always racing the right, but I could play a lot of the major songs from the classic musicals after hearing them just once or twice. The tadpoles on telegraph wires weren’t exactly strangers, but it was easier for me to listen rather than read.

My father arranged for me to have private lessons through a friend every Saturday morning, but after two years, my tutor took Dad to one side and said he couldn’t teach me.
‘It’s not that she doesn’t want to learn,’ he said, ‘just that I’ve finally cottoned on as to why she insisted I play her new piece before we began. She has a natural gift, but if we force it, she may never play at all.’
He did teach me about timing though, and I was finally able to get my left hand under control (well, almost).

Over the years, I’ve played pub pianos, club pianos, restaurant pianos, even a church organ (the vicar wasn’t impressed actually) sometimes to the amazement of my colleagues who had no idea I could play at all.
In the mid ’80s before I met Hubby, things came to a head in the relationship I was in, and in short I went to pieces. It was a frightening time for me, but my music saw me through it.
My doctor had told me to find something about myself I liked and to build on that.
I had a Yamaha Clavinova 7 electronic keyboard at the time with the blessing of headphones. At 4am one morning I found myself playing my favourite hymns and felt ‘something’ around me. It was a turning point for me, and I began to get better, feel better within and about myself.

Hubby loves to hear me play, though it took many years for me to feel confident to let him listen. Since selling my piano in 2013, I’ve played twice, once for my Mum and more recently when I was soul-searching regarding Maggie.
It has and always will be my safety valve.

About pensitivity101

I am a retired number cruncher with a vivid imagination and wacky sense of humour which extends to short stories and poetry. I love to cook and am a bit of a dog whisperer as I get on better with them than people sometimes! In November 2020, we lost our beloved Maggie who adopted us as a 7 week old pup in March 2005. We decided to have a photo put on canvas as we had for her predecessor Barney. We now have three pictures of our fur babies on the wall as we found a snapshot of Kizzy, my GSD when Hubby and I first met so had hers done too. On February 24th 2022 we were blessed to find Maya, a 13 week old GSD pup who has made her own place in our hearts. You can follow our training methods, photos and her growth in my blog posts. From 2014 to 2017 'Home' was a 41 foot narrow boat where we made strong friendships both on and off the water. We were close to nature enjoying swan and duck families for neighbours, and it was a fascinating chapter in our lives. We now reside in a small bungalow on the Lincolnshire coast where we have forged new friendships and interests.

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