Jun. 1: Katie’s 2009 piano recital

What I remember most about my piano recitals of yore is this:

• I was scared to death
• I got a new dress
• I was scared to death

I never understood why my teacher made me memorize the pieces I had to perform. I know this is pretty standard practice with recitals, but why? It was nerve-wracking enough to play in front of people, and even worse when I was sure I’d forget how. And I still wonder, what does that kind of panic teach children? I never felt pride afterward, just extreme humiliation if I messed up and absolute relief that I wouldn’t have to do it again for another year. I swear, my excessive anxiety as an adult can be directly traced back to those piano recital moments.

In fact, I’m quite sure the similarity in spellings of R-E-C-I-T-A-L and R-E-C-T-A-L is no coincidence.

Katie’s piano teacher encourages her students to memorize their songs, but lets them have their sheet music if they want it. I love her for that. And it makes Katie’s attitude toward recitals much better than mine ever was. She gets so excited over her new dress that the whole performing-in-front-of-people doesn’t bother her. Not like it did me, anyway.

This year Katie picked out a girly, summery dress to wear for the recital. We had trouble finding the perfect shoes to go with it but finally ended up with some cute, fancy dark pink flip-flops that were just right. Saturday afternoon I took her in for a mani/pedi, where we chose a polish color that matched the shoes and dress exactly. She was very pleased, especially when the manicurist offered to paint little flowers on her nails.

Katie assured me the centers of the flowers were not actual diamonds. Whew. That woulda been spendy.

The final result on Sunday afternoon:

 

Katie performed very well. She played two songs and didn’t really seem nervous at all. Having her classmate and friend Bethany—also a student of Mrs. Jordan’s—to sit with helped, I think. They whispered and giggled the whole time.

After the recital Darlene and Wellington took us all out for lunch, capping off a very special day of accomplishments (surviving her second-ever piano recital—and lipstick!) for my big girl. Were we proud? Yes. Very proud.