Piano Recital

It is AMAZING the things that I do with the HB that were no where near my radar screen as a kid. Private school was one thing and last week's piano recital was another. I played bass guitar as a kid (kept beer and coke in my fridge through college), but not the kind of stuff that made for recitals (mostly blues and punk rock). We started him on lessons in September, but only after he started messing a bit with the piano (it is an upright that my wife learned on). My feeling is that I wanted him to learn an instrument because he'd enjoy it and I will NOT pester him to practice. I don't want him to be one of those kids who plays well but gives it up as soon as he leaves the house because his parents make playing such a miserable experience. Plus, it gives him a non-electronic diversion.

So, his teacher decides to put on this recital for all (read 39!) of her students. Being as this was my first I didn't have a comparison point. My wife, who did tons of these as a kid (and didn't want anyone to come and here her play, but wanted to do the recital) assured me that this was unusual. We intentionally didn't invite a bunch of people because a) it's really not a big deal, b) he's only been playing for a few months, and c) we didn't want him to feel extra pressure. But, knowing how they would sulk if they didn't come, we asked my parents to attend (which they did). The HB was #9. He walked straight up to the baby-grand, put up his music (Etude in Imitation by Kohler and The Hiccup Song), looked straight at it and played. He handled his nerves very well and enjoyed himself. As such, my wife, the HB and I viewed it as a success.

Of course, there were 30 other kids to go and the HB had a sleepover/birthday party to go to, so he was a little squirmy for the next 105 minutes or so. But, he lived (as did my father, barely). I was impressed with the lack of pushy parents and how well behaved the families were. Most people gutted out the entire thing which was also nice.

We dropped off my folks at our house to get their car, took the HB to his friend's house then went and say Blades of Glory. We barely made it in time, so we got shitty seats (front row). The movie wasn't that great, but had some good belly-laughs. Sleeping in and going to brunch the next morning was a pleasure.