• Home
  • About Melissa
  • Novels
  • Short Stories
  • Events/News
  • Contact
  • Blog

Melissa Ostrom Author

Melissa Ostrom is the author of The Beloved Wild and other writing

Joy to the World

December 16, 2021 By Melissa Ostrom

Of all the damage this pandemic has wreaked and the changes it’s wrought, my kids’ giving up the piano shouldn’t rank high on my list of woes, but the piano sitting in my house these last couple of years, increasingly untouched and ignored, has bugged the heck out of me. As pianos go, it’s on the small end—a spinet. Yet even a small piano is a big instrument, and lately, given its silence and untapped potential, it also seems like a big sad symbol.

My kids started playing the piano at a young age. They attended their lessons and practiced faithfully if sometimes grudgingly. They played well. At the onset of the pandemic, however, their wonderful teacher, rather than simply suspending instruction, decided it was a good time to retire. I didn’t search for a different teacher. With the disease circulating, I didn’t want my kids going to piano lessons—or anywhere.

Despite the lack of lessons, the two kept up their practicing for a while. Then less and less: less frequently, less enthusiastically. Then not at all.

I miss their piano playing. They used to do weekly “concerts” for me. I think they liked practicing better when I sat close by and listened to them play. I liked this, too—loved being their audience, as they flew through their memorized songs, then squinted at new sheet music while tentatively feeling for the notes and chords. And I loved attending their yearly recitals, how they’d take their little bows at the end of their performances. And I loved when they made up their own tunes or picked out the notes of favorite songs. I remember how, when I was on a “Downtown” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis kick, my daughter frequently played the song’s funny little opening—just for me.

Actually, a lot of this piano business was probably just for me.

But, oh, in my defense, I wanted it for them, too, for the happiness, satisfaction, and confidence I was sure piano playing would lastingly bring.

A recent incident, however, has made me feel better about the abandoned piano situation.

Last week, for the first time since the pandemic began, our kids’ school held a music concert—cautiously, requiring mask-wearing, of course, but also staggering performance times by grade level, to limit the number of people in the auditorium, and socially distancing the instrumentalists on the stage. My younger child, who’s kept up with his trombone, is the sixth-grade band’s only trombonist, and during every song his group performed, I could hear him belt out his part. He played so confidently and beautifully. I don’t know why this surprised me, but it did. I suppose, in my sadness over the silent piano, I’d forgotten he was still making music—only elsewhere.

Anyway, I was proud of him. And I was heartened. Maybe more important than the way in which art is achieved is the fact that it’s attempted at all, especially during troubled times like these.

Strewn generously around the making of art are the seeds of happiness. “They have a gift,” we say of creatives—the gift of talent, for sure, but through the fruition of their talent, a gift for others, too: the marvelous means of sending joy to the world.

A creative life can be such a good life, a life lived keenly, attentively, empathetically, present and sensitive to others. I want this for my kids and hope they want it for themselves, too, enough to stick with their creative endeavors—trombone playing or drawing or singing or writing. Or whatever. That’s up to them.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Nancy says

    December 17, 2021 at 6:00 pm

    I love this, Melissa. Thank you for sharing. My daughter ended her piano lessons with the pandemic as well, and I sometimes feel a little guilty about her not continuing. She has a natural talent and I loved listening to her play. She did not enjoy it much though, hardly practiced, and was probably happy to be done with lessons. We only have an electric keyboard on a stand and when nobody was playing it, I moved it from our living room up to our extra bedroom where it collected dust and was quickly buried under stacks of clothes that needed to be given away. A couple of weeks ago, out of the blue, my daughter asked if I could bring the keyboard back downstairs. OF COURSE, I can! She played it for a few days and so did my son. It made me so happy. She, too, is now learning to play an instrument (the flute) at school and her music knowledge from piano has been helpful. I may not make her practice as much as she should but she IS learning an art and I think that as she gets older, she will appreciate it even more than she does today. 🙂

    • Melissa Ostrom says

      December 18, 2021 at 3:40 am

      Oh, Nancy, I really appreciate this response. Thank you! It makes me feel better, knowing I’m not alone! And it also makes me hopeful that maybe someday I’ll hear the piano being played again out of the blue. I’m very glad your daughter has taken up the flute, and I know what you mean about the former piano-playing helping her with that. My younger kid’s band teacher was thrilled he knew how to read music. It’s a special skill!

  2. Ellie Langford says

    December 17, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    Loved your blog, Joy to the World. Melissa and Nancy, you both sound like a great mom, tuned in to your kids.

    • Melissa Ostrom says

      December 18, 2021 at 3:34 am

      Ellie, thank you for reading my post! And thanks for the kind words, too!

  3. Mom says

    December 28, 2021 at 3:48 pm

    Absolutely, and we’ll said!

    • Melissa Ostrom says

      January 19, 2022 at 4:18 am

      Thanks, Mom! xoxo

  4. Lynn says

    January 22, 2022 at 11:56 am

    “A creative life can be such a good life…” That (and the rest of the paragraph) made me cry. Happy, hopeful tears. This pandemic has taken so much from so many people, I’m so glad the creative community (in the world and in our homes) still thrives. Thank you for this beautiful reminder.

    • Melissa Ostrom says

      January 23, 2022 at 7:01 am

      Lynn! I’m so glad this post touched you. Thank you for letting me know! Happy creating! 🙂

Recent Posts

  • Dead Flowers
  • The Secret Story
  • Love Your Darlings
  • Song dogs
  • A Sense of Snug

Recent Comments

  • Melissa Ostrom on Dead Flowers
  • John Franklin Browning on Dead Flowers
  • Melissa Ostrom on The Secret Story
  • Caterina Alvarez on The Secret Story
  • Melissa Ostrom on The Secret Story

Archives

  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017