UNDERSCHEDULED

Today's kids often get over scheduled with soccer, T-ball, piano lessons, or dance lessons.  Back in my olden days, I had to beg my mother to take any kind of lessons other than piano.

One year, I was successful in getting her to sign me up for tap lessons being offered after school. I loved it.  But one session was all I got. I can still remember the basic steps and the tune to the song for our little recital.  A mother in our neighborhood gave hula lessons.  I took hula lessons on a pretty regular basis.  Do any of you want to see me perform to "I'm going to a hukilau?"

I started piano lessons in the third grade.  My teacher was an older girl in our ward named Birdie Gene.  Her method of teaching was to have the student memorize the treble clef and the bass clef separately, note by note.  Then put the two clefs together.  I didn't learn to read music.  I just knew if the note went up the scale or down the scale.  I took from Birdie Gene for a couple of years.

My reprieve from piano lessons didn't last long. In the sixth grade, I began taking lessons from a woman in our ward, Bernice Manwaring.   I had my lesson before school which meant that my Mother had to take me.  Sister Manwaring didn't live very far away, so I think that Mother would drive me there, drop me off and then come back to get me.  It was on my piano lessons days that I got a ride to school.  From Sister Manwaring, I finally learned to read music.  I took lessons from her for at least a school year, maybe longer.  I'm glad I learned to read music...another skill that has made a big difference in my life.

A few dances lessons and piano lessons were the extent of my afternoon schedule.  That left plenty of time to be a kid.  Thank goodness.