This is a post about our piano teacher and friend, Lori Trauntvein. Sage says that she is the nicest person on earth, next to Jesus, to which Gabe responds that Jesus isn't really on the earth, so Lori wins it hands down. This usually leads to a theological debate about where Jesus is exactly, which really is not anything I want to go into here because this post is about Lori...and piano lessons. Lori has been teaching Sage piano for the past two years and she has been teaching Gabe for the past few months.
One of the great things about piano lessons with Lori is that she accepts her students for where they are musically and doesn't make them feel bad about any mistakes or annoying habits they take on as they pound the same songs out over and over and over. Believe me, there are few things as unpleasant sounding as the practicing of a novice musician. It is slow, it is loud, there are tons of mistakes and it is repetitive. While all of these things threaten to put Benji and me over the edge, none of these things seem to aggravate Lori. She is full of praise and empathetic comments. This has really enabled my kids to progress quickly--they don't dread the piano or the piano teacher because she is so accepting and patient. (The prize bag doesn't hurt either)!
Anyway, when we were in Idaho for spring break, Sage learned that charming little ditty entitled 'Heart and Soul.' If you are not familiar with the tune, it is the song Tom Hanks played on the piano in the big toy store in the film Big. Kind of catchy, but after you've heard it a little over ten times a day it begins to grate on you like fingernails on a chalkboard. It is pure torture because when she is not playing it, (which she almost always is), the tune gets stuck in my head and I am walking around humming it under my breath like an idiot.
I think that every piano lesson for the last two months began and ended with Lori playing the Heart and Soul duet with Sage. As you can see from the video, Sage loves it! And it is for reasons such as this that we love Lori. She is a true friend. 
2 comments:
I agree Lori is Awesome. Hyrum also plays H&S and it drives me crazy. He actually played in his school program last year (interesting choice, but I wanted him to feel good about doing something in the program) Sage is becoming a good little piano player.
Seriously, the pleasure was all mine. I looked forward to seeing you guys each and every week, and I miss you all so much! Sage and Gabe keep practicing, and Maggie, keep dancing!
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