Instrument of Torture

This is Paul practicing piano.


To him, the piano is a necessary evil. It's a means to an end--the end being that he is allowed to move on to the bagpipe cantor and then eventually to actual bagpipes. Both his piano teacher and his parents believe that playing the piano for a couple of years is the first step in this process. It's a process that requires perseverance, not something that comes naturally to most adults, let alone nine year old boys. Paul is perfectly capable of playing the piano and his theory work comes very easily to him, he just doesn't like it. I've talked to Paul about how "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Heb. 12:11 ) Just what he wanted to hear, I'm sure.

Sometimes I sit alongside Paul on the piano bench and help him practice (like when his fingers haven't touched the keys all week and his lesson is in two days). Oh the torture! Mommy helping you with the correct fingering and making sure you give each note it's proper timing!

It was during one of these recent Mommy/son piano torture sessions that I couldn't help but reflect on the history of our particular piano. I inherited the piano from my grandmother, who had a natural talent for the piano (she played by ear) and had a lifelong love of anything pertaining to music. Eighty five years ago, Grandma went with her parents to buy the piano my children now play. My great grandmother liked the piano with the lighter colored wood, but my grandmother, at six years of age, liked the tone of the piano that is now in our family's possession.

My Grandma's four children (my mother and uncles) each practiced on the same piano. I've heard stories of Grandma sitting alongside her children on the piano bench as they were made to practice. And all this came back to me so poignantly the other day as I sat alongside Paul. Yes, the old piano continues to fulfill it's legacy as an instrument of torture as it now moves into its third generation of inflicting misery on innocent children.