Play, Magic Fingers!

When I work out on the elliptical machine each morning, it's become a habit of mine to watch a show I've recorded on the DVR that I'm sure nobody else in my family wants to see.  Most of the time it's an episode of Troy Dunn's The Locator or Antiques Roadshow, but occasionally I'll have a full length movie that I break up over the course of a few days.  This week I've been watching Immortal Beloved, starring the ever-versatile Gary Oldman.  It's about Ludwig Von Beethoven and the search to find the mystery woman he willed all his possessions to after his death, referred to only in writing as Immortal Beloved.  I'm just over halfway into the movie and it's goooooood.  So good that I'm tempted to watch the rest of it during the day, but I can't because my little one's here and it's rated R.  So I get to wait until my next workout session, which is probably good incentive to exercise anyway.

Over the past two years or so, I've taught beginning piano lessons to several kids in town.  In my home I have a two foot high stack of music books, several hymnals and chorus books, and a portfolio full of loose sheet music for piano.  Despite all this, it's been years since piano practice has been part of my routine.  I'll sit down every now and then and play for ten or fifteen minutes, but it's never a regular thing and besides, there always seems to be five million things to do and five million kids running around making noise, asking me why someone else is making noise or complaining about noise in general.  With three very active kids, it's very easy to let piano practice fall by the wayside as I have done.  It's a lame excuse, but it's still an excuse.

So, spurred on by the life of Ludwig Von Beethoven and the haunting beauty of Moonlight Sonata, I'm going to make an effort to practice on a regular basis.  Right now my goal is three times a week, even if it's just ten minutes each time.  I've dusted off my copy of Fur Elise and after twenty minutes of play, my creaky fingers are slowly warming up to the tune I could play with my eyes closed in high school.  Cross your fingers I can keep it up!