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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Music (03/08/07)
For an hour piano solos, duets and even six-hand pieces dance across the old ivory keys of a piano that has long since seen its better days. The musicians adorn colors of read and green. Several students have Santa hats or reindeer antlers a top their heads. The students range from lower elementary through college. Last year even two middle aged adults participated.

The audience is the residents of a local nursing home. One resident claps and calls out whenever she recognizes a tune. Her enthusiasm confuses some of the younger artists, but everyone smiles and the concert goes on.

When I say the piano is old, I mean OLD. Most pianos in its condition have been long discarded. Some times the sustaining pedal holds. Other times it doesn’t. The piano is on wheels and has the tendency to start rolling away during more energetic numbers.

My daughter’s piano teacher organizes this concert every December. The nursing home she has adopted is in a poorer area of town that gets overlooked by most.

Through the year this accomplished piano teacher prepares her students for competitions where skill and dedication play major roles. She has students each year who earn scholarships and awards for their abilities to play classical piano scores. But, one Saturday each December she encourages them to use their talents in another way.

She asks as many students who can to take time to share the gifts and talents God has given them with individuals that don’t care as much about skill as they care about being remembered.

The most important concerts don’t always take place in grand concert halls. Sometimes they are performed at a run down piano in front of an audience that just wants to know someone cares.
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This article has been read 822 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
julie wood
03/16/07
I enjoyed reading this! Great message. I can relate to it as a nursing home volunteer whose musically talented daughters have visited the same homes I do with groups from church or school that perform concerts for the residents.

I could just see and hear that one enthusiastic resident listener! I'd like to see more individual characters described in the audience, perhaps with contrasting behaviors or personalities--also some dialogue thrown in and the use of personal names.

I liked the title--anything with the words "special" or "different" sparks my curiosity!

Jacquelyn Horne
03/17/07
Heartwarming. What a joy to know that people like this piano teacher still exist. I especially liked the last sentence.
Phyllis Inniss 
03/17/07
The last paragraph just sums up the whole experience for me. What a lovely article that reminds us of how we can bring pleasure to those who are generally forgotten. I like too the little humour of the piano rolling away by the playing of a more energetic piece. Well done.
Jen Davis
03/18/07
I enjoyed this sweet story and thought you concluded the piece with a good message. The following sentence was cute: “When I say the piano is old, I mean OLD.” So was the tendency of the piano to roll away. One possible suggestion for the intro would be to begin with: “Solos, duet, and even…”
Jeanette Oestermyer
03/19/07
Lovely article about doing something appreciated, but without prizes. I enjoyed reading your succinct well-written piece.
Myrna Noyes
03/22/07
Your last three lines are so wonderful and so true! Thank you for sharing this thoughtful piece with us! :)