piano recital. {Reid}

This year was Reid's first year of taking piano lessons. His teacher is the grandmother of one of Reid's really good friends who is in his class at school. She used to teach at OBU and was very highly recommended. I have always wished that I knew how to play, and so I promised myself that I would make my kids take lessons. Piano definitely does not come easy to Reid, unlike swinging a baseball bat or dribbling a basketball, but I know that music develops a part of his brain that nothing else can reach. In all honestly, he's not crazy about piano. Reid and two other boys were the youngest this year in Mrs. Shields piano classes, and Reid was the only one who had not been exposed to any type of music at home. The other boys have older siblings and parents who play, and were much more familiar with music and things related to piano. No one in our family has any musical talent, so I knew that this would be a challenge for Reid. 

We bought a used Kawai studio piano that was in great condition because I knew that LilliAnn would be starting lessons as well. There were weeks when I would have to literally drag Reid up the stairs at my parents' house to practice, but by the end of the school year, he got a lot more confident in his playing, his fingers began to move more smoothly, and he even could read a little bit of music! He even played in his first Piano Guild and scored a superior! It was tough doing his piano homework along with school homework, baseball practice, soccer practice, and basketball practice, but I stood my ground and kept telling Jeb that him learning to play was something that was very important to me. I've never met an adult that said that they wished they didn't know how to play the piano, but I've met plenty of people who wished they did!

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This was taken the day of his piano recital at First Christian Church in Shawnee. He had a baseball tournament that weekend and we had just rushed home from a game in time for him to change clothes and get to the church for the recital. Since it was his first recital, Mrs. Shields sat at the piano and played along with the Kindergarten students. Reid made a few little mistakes on his songs, which I attributed to being nervous and rushing in from baseball and not being able to practice that morning. I blame myself for that! I was a little disappointed because he had played all three of them perfectly when practicing the night before, but I was still super proud of him for getting up there in front of everyone and conquering something that was a challenge for him! 

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The three Kindergarten piano students - Will, Reid, and Brandon

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National Piano Guild Member certificate

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Reid will continue with lessons in the fall, and I'm excited to see the progress that he'll make this year. Hopefully we'll be moved into the new house soon and we won't have to go to my parents' house for him to practice. LilliAnn starts lessons this fall too! She's been asking to learn to play since Reid started. She seems to have more of an interest in music, so I can't wait to hear her play!