Reverie

Hubby runs in this Chase Manhattan race in San Francisco annually, and every year he tells me about it well in advance of the day, and every year, I 'forget' about it until the night before. My side of the conversation goes like this, "What? You won't be home for dinner tomorrow night? Why?" "You never told me!" "Right..."

I make the command decision that if Hubby won't be home for dinner anyway, I will not be making dinner. Instead, we will get food delivered, which is actually a bit of a challenge here in the 'burb, but still less of a challenge them getting the kids in the car and fetching the food myself.

I pick up Aidan and Zoe from their schools and make it home by 5:03. The kids run inside and immediately start a game of "I am a dog and please walk me" with each other. I order our food and decide to take this chance to sit down and play some piano.

I find a very, very, tattered copy of Schubert's piano works. My mother had played from this book in the 70's. There are still markings in it from her teacher. It is truly an antique- kinda miraculous that it still has all its pages. (When I was a kid, if I got REALLY frustrated with a piece, I picked up the pages in my hands and wrinkled the sheets, while the pages are still attached to the book. Yes, there are books with really gnarly looking pages, and yes, I probably had an anger problem.)

I decide to play Impromptus: Op. 90. There are 4 pieces in this set and I learned number 4 when I was 13. I learned No. 2 and 3 a few months ago. I shall rephrase, I didn't learn the pieces, I mainly sight read them and decided to play them on tempo. It is absolutely certain that I am playing some incorrect notes. These Schubertean pieces are very repetitive, which is a suitable character for me. I like pieces that are in ABA formation. You learn A, and you have nearly the entire piece mastered. (Never mind that the B section is usually much more tricky than the A section.)

So I play, as I play, I am wondering if it is a good thing that I am able to play what I played when I was 13. Or is it just sad that I am still playing the same stuff over two decades later. Aidan and Zoe decide to change their game to "Pick up the sword and shield and whack each other silly." They are getting louder, and louder. I wonder, when my mother played the same music in the 70's, did my brother and I act like circus animals too?

As the notes flowed, or staggered and tripped on themselves, I am thinking about Clara Schumann, the wife of Robert Schumann. No wonder her concert pianist career ended when she married Robert and had EIGHT kids. With all that running around, screaming, dirty diapers (no disposables back then!) how did she ever get any practice done? Never mind that her husband also told her that the noise from her practicing was wrecking havoc on his composing. Nice. Clara actually transformed piano performances- prior to her revolutionary act of playing from memory, pianists/harpsichordists used to play with music in front of them. Thanks a lot, Clara, for making it so much harder for piano students everywhere. Then I am convinced that she must have memorized her music before mommy brain set in.

Aidan decides that he needs to do his Kumon, so he grabs his worksheets and settles by me on the floor. I am now playing No. 2 of the set, "Mommy, what's 14 minus 8?" As I play the arpeggiated 16th notes, I yell out, "What is 8 plus 6?" This is making it really hard to concentrate, I think to myself. Then I notice that Zoe is looking bored, I better intervene. "Zoe, go get a book and read next to me," while my fingers stay busy.

I decide, after playing through No. 4, 2, and 3, that I really, really, need to learn No. 1. Looks easy enough, the right hand plays by itself for a while. Aidan finishes his work sheets, they go back to the game of "Let me whack you silly." I am sight reading this baby, and I hear, "BAM!" I nearly jump off the bench! But there is no one crying. Zoe has expertly deflected a life threatening whack using her shield. I go back to sight reading, and they go back to hitting and smacking.

The bell rings, the lady is here with Thai food. Good bye, Schubert, I haven't found out how you end this piece, but I will be back. See you in a few weeks.