the teachers you never forget

there was mr williams who ran track w/us & looked a bit like groucho marx; mr jackson (r.i.p.) the handsome nam vet & amazing musician who loved us kids so much; mr stidham the kindly & encouraging flat-topped high school art teacher... mom rescued me from the piano teacher who hit my hands w/a ruler. then for many childhood yrs i studied w/a lovely, soft-spoken, kind, beautiful woman from wales. she had me do a lot of chopin & some debussy (those are the composers i best recall), some gershwin from his multi-taloned manuscripts, but best of all, boogie-woogie, lots of it, which she pronounced "BOO-ghee WHOO-ghee."
"you really have a feel for it, jenny," she'd gently say.
i loved my teacher, tho i was a lazy child who wanted to use her ear, not take the time to learn to play properly.
when i staggered my way into college, my teacher was an instructor there. in a feeble stab at trying to be good, i took piano from her. i wasn't a music student & was lucky she took me. i rewarded her by going to lessons reeking of sauce, high as the ceiling. i remember the worried look in her eyes, my guilt, coming home from a wild wkend at the coast to a recital that i bombed. my hands wouldn't stop shaking at the keyboard; i flat couldn't play. yecch. what memories.
many yrs later, i got hitched. i didn't invite her. i didn't think people'd want to come to my wedding. many felt left out; i had, as usual, been wrong. this was just one more example of my being a perpetual heel, i think.
she came to my folks' house w/crystal goblets as gifts. i visited w/her a bit, so happy to see her, knowing in my heart i was a turd for not remembering her. she was a person of love & music, she loved me, i should've invited her. all this stirred in my head; for all appearances, our visit was lovely & i tho i knew i was a turd, i was still so grateful to have seen her.
right now mama's trying to help assemble a reunion of her bc choir, the 1st american choir to ever win the eisteddfod international choir competition. today mama lamented, "oh, i wish i knew whatever happened to yvonne," who'd been in a later madrigal incarnation.
i got online & w/in 10 mins found my teacher, now the music director for a beautiful episcopal church... in the same beautiful nw town where my long-lost uncle has long lived. i immediately called the # & heard my teacher's lilting voice, left her a msg about my now lovely life, & thanked her for always sharing w/me music.
i am so happy to know she is living in a beautiful & musical place. my mother will be so happy, too. heavens bless the internet. :)

blooody fingers!!!!!! "you got to go to de-well to get to de-water"

i'm practicing wine spo-dee-o-dee, the JLL version, & ripping my fingernails off on the glissandos, so i went to the mountain & emailed gene taylor just now for pianny advise... i'd email carl sonny leyland, too, cept he already gave me his suggestions ("everyone's fingers are different"), so i'd be embarrassed to ask for more specific help than he already offered... the time has come for me to put in serious hours PRACTICING, not just playing for fun, like learning to hammer on & watch that right hand, as carl said to do. the buck owens songs we're doing, otherwise, have lotsa nice singing but little drive. i know i can be better than i've been, & w/o brian paxton's wall of shredding rockabilly guitar, i'm left naked to actually have to play!
i guess it's good i'm having to learn to play better. heck knows i got the exhilarated slouch thing down pretty well. re that, i think i will bill myself for Tammy's Birthday/Wake at Narducci's as "jenny angel & her four appendages"... she requested "funnel of love" & "mean mean man," so yessir, i've gottem down -- bloodshot bill emailed encouragement & said "ain't nothin' punker than a piano-pumping chick stompin' her foot!"
i am blessed to be in such company, even cyberly. :) and i really like my new job!! :) even the stinkers - they just need some kind attention & firm direction, i think. i really like middle-schoolers, too. :) maybe i'm crazy... but actually, i think it's just the fool bone-deep teacher talking. it's in my blood, like love & music & words. :) the lovely lunch lady is dutch, reminding me of my old friend femke from putten, & she's reviewing with me many dutch phrases in her cute accent, so i say to all, "goedenacht," and may you have all the green m&m's.