Piano Lessons

Erica, my talented third grade student, has very clear opinions about performance.

"I'd rather play at the mall than at a competition."

I hadn't thought about taking my students to the mall to perform; to me there is something slighty tacky about that whole idea. Especially since there is a constant  stream of people walking around the piano stage, and the noise level is marginally below a roar.

But that could be why Erica prefers the option.

I'd be sad to have her playing ignored though. She has a lovely sensitive way of playing,  though she is still a beginner.

It occured to me that trying to pray in church before a Mass, trying to recollect as the missal says we should do, is like playing the piano at the mall.  People come in and take their seats all around you, some chatting, some rustling, some laughing. A few drop to their knees and pray silently. But the idea that someone, anyone, is trying to pray does not automatically suggest keeping quiet in their presence.  We, the people who are praying are a part of the landscape, part of the ambience you might say, the way music in the mall is a part of the holiday atmosphere.

Given the choice, I too prefer  mall- playing to a competition, but I'd so much rather have people stop and listen. And I would be greatly obliged if silence could be kept in church when I'm trying to pray. Better, I would love to know that everyone else was praying too, silently listening to the music drifting down from heaven, the songs of the angels into which our own heartfelt cries of thanksgiving are drawn and lifted back to the throne of grace.

I can see Erica's point. Playing at the mall, even to a few die- hard audience members is better than playing at a competition. And praying in church before Mass surrounded by only a few others at prayer is better than not being there at all. In fact I'd rather be there than anywhere else on Sunday.  After all the angels and the saints are there praying with me.

Deo, dicamus gratias.