Remember when that song, “Handful of Keys” came out? You probably don’t. I don’t. We’re talking about the music of Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller from the 1930’s. I love tickling the ivories on this piece. It’s fun. It’s bright. It’s a tune that you can appreciate at a moderately fast or fast tempo. One of my past adult students loved this piece. She requested that I play it for her. This was way before the Pandemic times. And, I recall that she always came to her studio in-person lessons with a cup of coffee in hand. “Coffee Makes Me Smile”, she said. She loved ordering her latte and bringing it to class. She loved coffee culture so much that she gifted me some coffee for Christmas that year.
So, wherever you might find yourself practicing piano this year I recommend having some coffee and tea in hand. Of course I know that you will be careful not to spill it all over the keys. My students are coffee and tea drinkers. My younger aged students are mostly water drinkers. When I sit back and think about it they all bring seem to bring something to their lessons to enjoy or keep hydrated. Even with remote lessons online my students and myself have something nearby to drink and sip during class.
I realize that coffee culture is so much a part of our everyday lives now. When I was growing up, we didn’t experience a barista on every block in our town. We didn’t “carry the merry” everywhere we went. But, now it’s more common place to do so. Here’s to coffee culture. Here’s to music making. And, here’s to keeping your hands full of keys and tunes that you enjoy playing. I’ll see you on the next blog. Take care and thank you for supporting CMajor’s Classroom.
If you’d like to become a supporter of CMajor’s Classroom, just click the support button on my web profile on Anchor or over at Anchor.fm. Have fun! I recommend singing Happy Birthday twice, the same as when you’re washing your hands nowadays to help keep Covid-free. Thank you for your generous support! Thanks so much for supporting this blog and podcast. https://anchor.fm/carol-porter
Have a wonderful day!
Peace, Love & Latte –
-C.
CMajor's Classroom 