Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 2:30, as I’m heading down the hall towards JAC 253 and my Popular Music in America class, I almost always hear the sound of someone playing the piano . . . and almost always it will be one of the football players in my class. Often it’s Scott or Brian, who like to sit side by side on the piano bench and try to make their way through chopsticks or some other duet – and who then will request that I play them something like Fur Elise or Pachelbel’s Canon in D. And they always seem genuinely astonished that I can do that. (When Scott, a QB and pitcher is complimenting me, I reply that I wouldn’t mind being able to throw a spiral or a fastball like he can. Heck, I’d gladly settle for throwing a spiral or a fastball as good as my Aunt Bertha can.) And in a strange sort of way, I feel like Scott and Brian actually appreciate my piano ability almost more than the typical music major does. That’s mostly a commentary on human nature and our tendency to take granted that which is always around us.
It’s also been fun to see the emerging interest and enthusiasm of another football player in the class, Cory, who plays fullback on the team. Towards the start of the course, my distinct impression was that Cory had little if any interest in music or the class, although he hard to read because he was so quiet. But he has become an increasingly engaged and enthusiastic member of the class- quick with the answers to questions I pose – and the other day he admitted something to me that really blew the socks right off of my feet. He mentioned that he used to play clarinet through of junior high before certain choices had to be made – and I still have trouble picturing this imposing physical specimen with a clarinet in his hands. But there you go- and Cory is yet another example of a young man who isn’t so caught up in his own world of sports that he can’t reach out for something else as well. So many days I will come into the classroom to find Cory at the piano, messing around with one song or another. Today he was trying to remember “Eleanor Rigby” – or at least the simple e minor chords played in the right hand. And when I accede to his request and play a little of Eleanor Rigby with both hands, he looks at me as though I’ve just thrown five touchdown passes in the same game. He just can’t get over the fact that while I’m playing one thing with my right hand, I can be playing something quite different with my left hand- AND I can make them actually line up in proper sync. Unbelievable ! And what a kick to be around someone who sees that for what it really is – a tremendously important gift that not too many people have and which should not be taken for granted. (Even I take it for granted.)
So thanks, Cory, and Scott and Brian for helping me appreciate my ability to play Eleanor Rigby with two hands.
pictured above: Cory, a fullback on Carthage’s football team- and quite a nice young man as well – on the piano bench.