The Piano

     All five of the Davis kids play the piano.  It is a very loud and grand instrument that I personally love to play.  When I play, I feel so proud that I am able to play songs that were written by musical geniuses such as Bach and Beethoven.  The piano helps the children in my family to bond.  We all play duets and listen to each other improve each day.  We all started in either first or second grade.  Katie started in second, I started in first, Nick started in second, Natalie started in first, and Brigitte started in second.  Although Nick and Brigitte have yet to find a lot of passion for the piano, Natalie, Katie, and I have found a passion for the instrument.  It's sound is so lovely, and you can make it do pretty much anything.  From pianissimo to fortissimo, from playing andante to allegro, it is beautiful.  My piano is a grand piano crafted by Schimmel.  It is black and shiny.  When I walk into the room that it's in, I can't help but stare at the majestic piano.  The only time I don't want to look at it is when I know that I have to dust it that day.  Since it's so big, and I like it to be nice and shiny, I take about thirty-five minutes to clean my piano.

Part of a keyboard of a Schimmel piano

     I try to practice every day so that I will improve.  I like to practice for around forty-five minutes to an hour, but depending on my schedule, it is either a lot less or a lot more.  Generally on the weekends, it is more because I don't have to deal with school and tests and homework.  On the weekdays, though, I usually get around twenty to thirty minutes of practicing in before I have to do my homework and study.  The teachers that my family has had are also what helps us to stay on track.
     The teacher we all started with is Elaine Archer.  She is amazing.  Not only did she get our technique to be practically flawless, but she challenged us to memorize countless pieces for recitals, festivals, and competitions.  We did a program called Guild, which is where we memorize seven to ten pieces to perform in front of a judge.  If you get C's, it's good.  A's are not a good thing to get in piano.  We also did a program called Certificate of Merit (CM).  It was a theory test, technique test, three piece performance, and sight-reading program.  CM was my favorite program because I love to do theory and sight-reading.  Unfortunately, when we moved from California to Utah, we had to switch teachers.  It's not so bad though.  Now we are taught by Sally Sanders.  She is also a great teacher.  Since we have all been taught the technique from Elaine Archer, Sally Sanders is now just expanding our repertoire and our musicality.  Here, we do a program called AIM which is kind of like a combination of CM and Guild, but you also have to do a presentation on a composer from one of the four periods.  The four periods are Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary.  I did my report on Johannes Sebastian Bach, who is a Baroque composer.  He is one of my favorite composers of all time.  I also enjoy the music of Chopin and Burgmüller.  They are fantastic composers as well from the Romantic period.
     All in all, my family is very musical, and we love listening and playing a bunch of instruments.  I hope that our whole family continues, and we can play with each other as we progress with our lives.  Music is one of the things that binds my family together.  It is something we all love.  It is part of lives, and it will be forever.