A few weeks ago I was able to go as a chaperone on my daughter's 4th grade field trip to the capitol, Olympia.
I never had an opportunity to tour the state capitols of any of the states I lived in as a child. It was a neat trip and our state capitol is beautiful! The tour guide was fabulous and my daughter and all her classmates were so entranced with the beauty and all the history and all the politics. I'm so glad I got to go!
I loved all the marble everywhere. My daughter took at least a hundred pictures of all the many fineries--drapery, chandeliers, carvings, bronzework, etc.
They gathered the entire 4th grade and their teachers and chaperones in the ballroom and showed us some neat pieces of history in there: the first Washington state flag, a 42-star American flag, chandeliers made by world-famous, Louis Comfort Tiffany, himself, and, my favorite, a 119 year-old grand piano.
Our class's tour guide asked the crowd who took piano lessons and several hands went up. She asked a child how long they'd been playing. After he answered her she asked, "Would you like to play something for us?"
She asked a few more students the same things. And none of the students wanted to. She then said, "Does anyone want to play?"
I waited a few seconds and all hands shot down faster than they'd gone up. So, I put mine up! Play a 119 year-old grand piano in pristine condition in a room with marble walls and perfect reverberation? YES, pick me! Oh--pick me!!
And she did!
I never had an opportunity to tour the state capitols of any of the states I lived in as a child. It was a neat trip and our state capitol is beautiful! The tour guide was fabulous and my daughter and all her classmates were so entranced with the beauty and all the history and all the politics. I'm so glad I got to go!
They gathered the entire 4th grade and their teachers and chaperones in the ballroom and showed us some neat pieces of history in there: the first Washington state flag, a 42-star American flag, chandeliers made by world-famous, Louis Comfort Tiffany, himself, and, my favorite, a 119 year-old grand piano.
Our class's tour guide asked the crowd who took piano lessons and several hands went up. She asked a child how long they'd been playing. After he answered her she asked, "Would you like to play something for us?"
She asked a few more students the same things. And none of the students wanted to. She then said, "Does anyone want to play?"
I waited a few seconds and all hands shot down faster than they'd gone up. So, I put mine up! Play a 119 year-old grand piano in pristine condition in a room with marble walls and perfect reverberation? YES, pick me! Oh--pick me!!
And she did!
I haven't memorized a song in years, but I managed the first 12 measures or so of the last song I ever memorized. I played a few measures of a couple of other songs. But, really--I haven't memorized a song in years (though I play the piano just about every day) so I grinned at the audience and finished with a loud, 8 finger chorded, "Shave and a Haircut."
So, from now on, I'm either gonna carry around sheet music in my bag or commit some more songs to memory--because you never know when the opportunity to play piano, for others, will arise!!!
4 comments:
Great experience! Thank you for sharing. Asha is all jealous about the piano.
cool! i played on that same piano during an 8th grade leadership field trip. a LOOOOONG time ago :)
Wow - so cool! I probably would have played "Chopsticks" because that's about all I know how to play on piano!
Love this story! What a neat experience!
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