How a Piano Teacher Helped a Girl Find Her True Voice
Her hands twisted back and forth on the piano at angles that startled me, and the expression on her face was hard to read. Is it pride, or indifference, or impatience? I am not sure.
The sound of the piano stopped abruptly in the air, and I asked curiously, “Do you like this song?” The girl was a little surprised when she heard this, she shook her head firmly at first, then turned around in a panic, to make sure that her mother was not nearby to eavesdrop on our conversation.
Every time I come to teach the piano, the girl’s mother often walks around us like a ghost, and I always feel the burning sensation of being stared at my back. She talked too much, as if my time was worthless, and dragged me after class to listen to her gossip, and I was too young to have a soft and firm cheek. The girl has learned the piano for three years in the music classroom. Her mother thought it was time to “advanced” and find a piano teacher to teach at home, so she published the information on the tutoring website, and the price was quite low.
The volunteers took the bait. I was the fish in the third year of college who had too small pockets and had to run around to take cheap tutoring jobs. After a few years, I was surprised to find that the most favorite bargainers for discounts were almost all rich people.
In the past, girls took affordable group classes. The students sat in front of the keyboard and followed the teacher’s instructions on the podium. The teacher had no time to adjust the body posture and finger movements one by one, let alone the subtle timbre. Half of my students have similar musical initiations, and somewhat develop similar problems to teenage girls. But for parents, children learn more and more new songs, so how can they think that there are devils hiding in the details.
The degree to which the center of gravity of the girl’s body is skewed is the most serious among my students. In the past, she played the electronic piano in the music classroom, and there was a sound when she pressed it lightly. Now, in order to play the big and small sounds on the piano, she instinctively shrugged her shoulders, tensed her arms, and hunched her back muscles. If you can’t exert your strength, it may lead to sports injuries over time. I have never seen the distorted hand shape of the girl before. In the big class where the far water cannot save the near fire, she developed a set of unique and strange fingering. Different ways of playing.
I thought, maybe finding a piece of music that she is interested in can induce her to relax her muscles and play the correct fingering.
I asked her, “Do you have a favorite piece of music?” Her eyes lit up and she nodded quickly, “”Goog Deer Playing Busy”! Grandma sang it to me before. This song is so fun!” In non-standard Taiwanese, another girl, eleven-year-old Chen Fenfen, sang “The Wish of an Orphan Girl” in 1959.
“But actually I don’t want to play the piano. Singing is much more fun.” She said softly.
I said softly, “So, is playing the piano happy for you?” The girl bit her lip with an aggrieved expression on her face. “I hate the piano, but my mother said that she never had a chance to learn the piano before, so I can’t complain.” I nodded and made a decision in my mind.
After class, before the girl’s mother started chatting all over the place, I took a deep breath and expressed my intention seriously. She was stunned, but when I turned around, I saw the girl’s happy face. I explained to the girl’s mother that maybe in the future the girl will have a love for the piano, but before that, the dream of playing the piano belongs to the mother, and I should give it back to the mother first. As a teacher, I should not and I don’t want to join hands with the parents to kill the girl Interest and appetite for music.
Saying goodbye to this mansion in the suburbs of the northern city and the rich girl inside, she looks happy, unlike the girl in “Orphan Girl’s Wish” who is alone, but looking at it from another angle, she is not as good as the people in the song who have the opportunity to exercise their will and breed The desire to control her destiny and her lack of firm self-confidence may make her unconsciously attracted by the tough style in the song; it is hard to say who is richer. I hummed a song to take the bus, my purse was empty, but my chest felt extremely comfortable:
Even if you have less money, you have to endure three winters and five winters
Willing to suffer for the future and happiness
One day I will always feel relaxed
