Earliest piano memory

[porcupine]

I'm interested to hear what your earliest memory of the piano is. (I mean a "live" piano, not a recorded one). And did this memory inspire you to learn the piano?

Here's mine, to start us off:

When I was 4 years old I used to be taken each Saturday afternoon to my sister's ballet class which was held in a church hall (she was 5 years older than me). I had to sit with my mother and wait whilst the lesson was in progress. One day, we arrived early and my mother disappeared into the side room with my sister to help her get changed for the class. I was told to wait on my own in the hall (I guess that would never happen these days because of child protection rules, but this was the early 1960s!) I remember gazing upon the large brown wooden construction in the corner of the hall. I knew from previous classes that it was some kind of "music machine", and I walked over to it. I lifted the lid (which was nearly too heavy for me) to reveal the mysterious black and white "teeth" (as I thought they were). I had seen the pianist in the past appear to control the music by making her fingers dance over the "teeth", and I tentatively pushed one of the keys down. I wasn't too shocked at the sound, but I could tell it wasn't exactly "music". Just as I was about to try another note, two doors opened on opposite sides of the hall simultaneously. Out of one came my mother (looking rather cross I think, although it might have been embarrassment), and out of the other came the lady who played the piano, together with the dancing teacher. Neither the teacher nor the pianist really showed any interest in me, but I do remember the pianist giving me a sort of "kindly aunt" look, and letting me watch her play, which I found far more fascinating than watching the girls doing their ballet. I was impressed that the pianist could conjure up all sorts of moods and atmospheres with seemingly no effort, and from that week onward I always sat near the piano to watch...and listen. It was to be several years before I began to learn the piano, but that early exposure to the sight and sound of someone playing the instrument right in front of me at close quarters remains one of my earliest and most vivid memories.

Now it's your turn...

[m1469]

My earliest piano memory (and I think my earliest memory of any sort) was not of somebody else but of me, sitting in my garage, trying to play Mary Had a Little Lamb.  I was somewhere in my 2's.  I distinctly remember the sound/feeling of the note(s) I was playing not matching the pitches of the song that I could hear in my head, and getting down from the bench in curiosity and with the desire to match pitches on the piano with sounds in my head.  Apparently my mom did sit down with me sometimes at the very beginning, to teach me some little things, but I don't remember that.  I just remember always being there by myself, and then that throughout my growing up, and then my Mom would also sit down and play by ear and improvise (I remember that).  I would then learn her improvisations and compositions, and I would make up my own.  

I have almost no memory of seeing any other pianists in my life other than the teacher that I had when I was 12-14 (we once saw/heard her playing in a restaurant) and one of the other students in her studio that I played a duet with and who also composed.  My family also did not have Classical music in the house, nor piano music of any sort (John Denver was there though).  There were other pianists in a few of the student recitals that I did during that time, but I don't remember them.  The first time I saw a Classical solo piano concert was when I entered University to study music, and I saw my soon to be teacher play his interview recital.

[iansinclair]

My earliest memories -- and I couldn't possibly assign a date to them! -- are of my mother or my grandmother playing.  They both played superbly well, and loved to do it.  All sorts of music -- popular songs, classical of all flavours, college songs -- you name it.

And for that matter, of my mother and father, and her brother and sister, singing quartets, mostly college songs, at almost any time -- at least when my dad and my uncle were home from the war.  We always had music in the house...

[ted]

From around eighteen months I was aware of my father playing hundreds of tunes at the many parties in our house, and throughout my childhood I often went to sleep listening to piano music. It led to my insisting he teach me to read and write music long before I went to school and I used to write out many little compositions. Funny really, as I don't bother with notation much at all now. From him, at least in part, I inherited a lasting love of rhythm, particularly ragtime, which is still with me long after enthusiasm for  many other genres has waned.

[outin]

I have very few childhood memories (I am very good at forgetting about the past). My earliest vague piano memories are from uncomfortable lessons and one unpleasant recital. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. Besides that there's only a few things from my teens when I was no more taking lessons.

Although I have almost no memories about me playing the piano, I sometimes suddenly recognize a piece I must have played as a child.

[indianajo]

About age 4, Mother put me in the seat on the front of the bicycle, and we rode down Highway 3 to the elementary school.  She played the piano for the students, and she sang a song that went: "Early in the morning, down at the station, all the little puffing billies all in a row."  Mother had a piano at home she had bought with her savings from her stock room job in WWII. She must have practiced while I was taking my nap; I hadn't noticed the piano before that at all.  

[kevin69]

i remember my sister playing 'clare de lune' at home when i was 11 or 12.

i started playing piano when i was 43, so i can't say that it particularly inspired me.

[lostinidlewonder]

We always had a piano at home since I was born. My father use to sit me on his lap as a baby and play the piano. I remember learning my first piece "Chopsticks" when i was 3, first just the RH and soon after learning the LH. I can still remember what it felt like learning the coordination and how dad helped me control my hands. My parents recorded one of my early moments with the piano on a tape cassette, I would have been 4 years old. I would demand dad play certain pieces I loved, like James Bond!!!!! and I would play along with him as he played my requests (even if it didn't sound right). If he played pieces I didn't like I was whining for him to change piece lol.

[porcupine]

Fascinating memories! Keep 'em coming.
 

[hfmadopter]

I'm guessing that I was maybe 6 and had seen a piano played here or there and thought that was interesting. However, most Sundays we went to my grandmothers house, she liked family around on Sundays, as not long before then my Grandfather had passed away. Next door lived her sister and one particular Sunday we wandered over to her house and there it was, an upright piano sitting against a side wall in the living room. I was allowed to sit at the piano and touch the keys and this sound came out . I tried to play songs but didn't know how. So then on Sundays I would try to meander over there and take another shot at playing the piano, to no avail. Not long after this it was determined that I would take music lessons, however I ended up with an accordion. In my 20's I took piano lessons on my own and ultimately ended up buying the grand piano I still own now at age 63.

It wasn't until adulthood that I heard real professional classical music played live on a piano though. The first world class person I took in live was Earl Wild, who happened to come here back in the late 1970's.

My Grandson is six now. I said when he turned six I would begin to teach him how to play the piano because he is enamored with the piano. I started him on the Little Hands Book but we have stopped at the moment so he can learn Jolly Old St Nicholas to play on Christmas Eve here at our house. His sister will play as well, she is 13 and also do a duet with me for our guests. But this is all going to be the highlight of my Christmas this year for sure !