When a Grand asks to play our pump organ, I say, “Yes.” And I often say that my grandfather and his two sisters bought the organ about 1915 when they were young adults.
“Did one pump and one play?” eight-year-old Micah asked. I shook my head. Micah had played our piano and organ since he was a toddler – old enough to reach the keys. Creating his own melodies, his little hands have run up and down the keyboards, and he learned to play with fingers, not fists.
He pumped the organ pedals and played, and like every other time, my Grand declared that you needed strong legs to pump. When it was my turn, I played ‘Jesus Loves Me’ while Micah sat quietly studying my fingers and the hymnal propped open on the organ. After I played the last note, he asked, “Gran, how do you know what key to play by looking at that book?”
I quickly found Lesson Book – Level 1A that Micah’s big brother and sister had used. Knowing Samuel and Annabel used the same book made this young Grand throw out his chest. He asked to play the piano so he wouldn’t have to pump.
Micah is methodical – before he rides his bike, he puts on his helmet, arm and knee pads, and riding gloves – so when I flipped a few pages to one that showed black notes and finger numbers for ‘Merrily We Roll Along,’ he stopped me. “Gran, what if I miss something important in the front?”
He practiced sitting tall and curving his fingers like a cat’s paw. We both numbered and wiggled our thumbs and fingers. “Are thumbs always number 1, even in a different book?” Micah bent his thumbs. What a relief that music books uses the same numbered fingers.
We counted quarter, half, and whole notes in a measure. Micah played all the black keys in groups of two; then those in groups of three. Forty-five minutes after opening the Lesson Book, we turned to ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ and we sang the numbers over the notes: 2343 222 333 222. (Keys are named as letters in later lessons.)
Micah put three left-hand fingers on the three black keys below middle C, and I put my index finger over the first note in the lesson book. “No, Gran. I think I’ve got this,” he said. And he did. Maybe because Micah is left-handed, playing with his right hand was more difficult, but he tried over and over to master ‘O’er the Deep Blue Sea.’
Micah took home copies of two pages from the lesson book. “I’ll play on our piano. Everyone will be so surprised! It’s kinda’ like reading. When can I play the next page?” Micah will learn the names of keys and he’ll understand that notes for ‘Jesus Loves Me’ are written on five straight black lines. My Grand’s curiosity led to learning and his determination to success. And I got to watch.
Filed under: Grandchildren, Music | Tagged: piano, pump organ |
Susan Writes 
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