This post is a few weeks late, but January 22, 2008 marks the sixth year after my mom passed. I really wished she could have gotten to know all of my friends, and that they could have gotten to know her. We were truly the best of friends. But to keep her memory alive and to give you a glimpse of what type of person she was, I’ll try to share related stories that I think explain some of my personality traits as well.
During the second piece at the symphony with Greg, I suddenly started giggling during Mr. Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s piano solo. I had to tell Greg later that at that moment, I had suddenly remembered as a young child just starting piano lessons, I once asked my mom what the second and third pedal do. On our upright, the second pedal had a locking mechanism, and it muffled the notes slightly. Her response was, “That softens the noise so that you can still practice the piano in case Mommy wants to take a nap.â€Â
I realized I never thought on this again until the night at the symphony, when my initial reaction as Mr. Thibaudet switched from pedal to pedal was, “is he trying to make sure he’s not waking anyone up?†followed by, “You know, I should really find out what the second and third pedal do.”
That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing with us, Selena… that is too funny about the piano pedals too
I think it’s a really nice idea to share some of your stories, especially regarding how they relate to the Selena we all know and love today. It’s important for all of us to know and remember where we come from.
Selena, I like your mom’s sense of humor.
As a child, my piano lessons didn’t last long enough to learn how to use the pedals, but I wish you had known Grandmom Danaher. She was the church organist and knew all about pedals. To watch her work what looked liked hundreds of them, while hitting stops and playing chords all at the same time on some grand hymn was pretty amazing…and loud.