On the Spot!

i love music! The only thing I love more than music is listening to Curtis play the piano or sing, or play the piano while he sings. He is taking piano and voice lessons.

If any of you know Kelly DeHaan, you know I am talking brilliance. He is the choir teacher at West Jordan High. He came to our home on Monday to listen to Curtis and give him his first lesson. Kelly said, "You play don't you Shar? Why don't you play for him." I didn't want to for a number of reasons but there was no getting out of it. After the song, Kelly went to the piano and played a bunch of drills, you know, lesson kind of things. He then told Curt, "The next thing I want you to do is perform in church." Funny thing, Ron and Curtis already have a date set. So he called Ron in to go over the song with both of them. Kelly stayed at the piano. At one point he said, "This is too high. Let's lower it a third." Ok, let's do...in time. But NO! Kelly accompanied down a third on the spot! i said in amazement, "How the heck do you do that so automatically?" "Oh, it's nothing. I went to college. When you know how chords work it's easy." K...I went to college for a year and I only took music classes. I know how to read chords and I know how they work. BUT I can't transpose while accompanying on the spot! Trying to feel not completely defeated, I piped up and said out of nowhere, "I studied with a woman who concertized all over the world and graduated from Julliard!" He responded with a, wow, and kept transposing down a third. Maybe i should have told him I need another cornea transplant so I don't see very good. He probably would have said, wow, and still kept playing. Then I would have thrown the winning punch! "Did you know I could play Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor when I was in 6th grade?" I bet he would have been impressed. NOT! He can transpose on the spot!

I have been practicing a lot lately. I've almost got the song transposed!...on the spot!