So last week at the holiday bbq, our bishop asked me if I played. I replied as I usually do when asked that question: "No.... I wish I did... My mom said I'd regret it and I do..." I took a few years of piano with my siblings, like from 4th to 6th grade, but then we all quit when my dad lost his job and my parents had to trim the budget. I was more than happy to be done with it. I was a soccer kid and did not like piano. Might be because I told myself that everyone else was already playing "Für Elise" and I was just starting, so it was just kinda embarrassing and pathetic to my little elementary school ego. I was too far behind, they were all too good, I'd rather have something else be my thing. So soccer was my thing, and now that I'm a mom, soccer is still fun and I enjoy breaking out my sweet skills to show up the boys now and then, but I'm not a die hard. But I do often regret not being able to play the piano.
So here in our ward, there is no one to play the piano in Relief Society. The bishop was asking me if I could do it for that... "I thought for sure you would know how to play..." I told him that I could probably do one hand, or maybe if I had a month and knew the hymns they were planning on doing, then maybe I could try and practice and be ready? "Okay! Let's go talk to the Relief Society Pres..." We went over and they talked some Portuguese, I was loud with music and I wasn't trying to hear what they said, I knew what they were basically talking about. Then he said "You tell them what hymns you know and they will sing those ones." Ok... Well, I don't know any as of right now... but I can try... Do they want me ready for this Sunday? Well, I knew they didn't have anyone at the moment, so my little something would be better than nothing, so I just decided to try and take on this new task and see what I could come up with. My homework was due on Sunday morning at 9:00.
Last Thursday I skyped the sister who plays the piano during sacrament meeting. I figured she might have a piano at home and I could practice at her place. Plus she lives pretty close by. She did have a piano, so I found the simplified hymns online and had that file downloaded and ready to view on my tablet, and went over to see what I could pluck out (we don't have a printer here at home).
It was a good one hour practice. I did start to choke/panic a little as I played with her watching over my shoulder for a little bit and offering tips (in Portuguese, which just caused a mental traffic jam...) My brain was already on full trying to do the music, I couldn't process much more. But she just helped for a minute and then left to do some indexing, and I was able to fumble through my piece in peace. I was able to do one hand after an hour, and did okay at attempting the second hand. One thing that didn't help was that some of her keys were bad - like I'd push them and they wouldn't play unless I hit them harder. I'm not good at this as it is - if I DO get a note right, I need it to be acknowledged by the piano. So it was good, but I needed a better piano to practice on.
Sunday morning I woke up and went to church early. It starts at 9 and we left at 7:30 so I could practice before my big debut. I took Hyrum, Wes, and Natalie, cause I either had to take them or come back home for them. And I didn't want to come back home (it's a major pain cause on Sunday's they close one of the roads and it takes about 30 minutes to drive the 3 miles home). We have two cars for our family, but can each only fit 4 kids in. Anyway, I woke up Wes and Hyrum and asked them to come early with me and they sweetly obliged. Corey had printed up a few of the hymns for me at his office, and I practiced before church. By the time Relief Society class started (they start with that class first at 9) I had hymns #3 and #13 down well enough that I was going to attempt them, and I was gonna try it with both hands, oh yeah. I was very pleased with myself. Then lady who was giving the lesson made a request of a song for me to do during part of her lesson, something "spiritual". Ummm, I only know these two. But I know this other song... and I played the one Enya song that I know (learned it at Snow college, cause I loved it) and I played that to see if she approved and she said that was good.
So, I thought I told them the hymns I knew, but must not have communicated it well enough, cause they announced two different hymns than the ones I told them I could play. So instead I just conducted the music. And I did play my Enya song during her lesson (messed it up) but overall, I think it was pretty good, and I gave them a list of a few more hymns that I could do next week (hope that got communicated correctly) and figured yay, now I have a week to try and learn them (and I felt I could since I got #3 and #13 down with only 2.5 hours of practice).
Corey told me there was a guy who worked at the church from 8 to 6 everyday. I went by at 11 today but the gate was locked. I saw a car in the lot, sat there for a minute, honked once, and then went back home. I went back at 3:00 and there were people outside the doors that I was able to signal too. They found the guy with the key to the gate and I got in, yay! It would have been ideal to do it without Natalie, but I'll take what I can get.
