MY FIRST OFFICIAL PIANO LESSON (not with my mother)

  Since I never studied the piano with anyone except my mother, whose knowledge of music and piano playing were meager at best, it was past time for me to study with a real musician.     Mother inquired around Spokane, and found that Dr.  Moldenhauer was well-known, and ran the Spokane Conservatory, as I mentioned in a previous blog.   So she called and made an appointment for me to meet and audition for him.    I was quite excited at this turn of events, and decided to play Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata.    I was 11 years old at the time.   When he asked me what I would be playing, I answered him.   He became somewhat annoyed at this and said: "No 11-year old girl can possibly play the Waldstein Sonata."   My mother answered in a very frosty tone,  "my daughter can play this piece, and from memory ." And with that, she directed me to start playing it..  which I did.    At the end of the sonata (some 25 minutes later!), Dr. Moldenhauer just stared at me, and said that for the first time in his life, he was speechless!   This was quite true - he told the story many times to various people about that first meeting.    (I often have wished that there had been a tape made of that performance, as I have no idea how it really sounded.)   This sonata is quite a mature work, and requires an abundance of technique and facility, plus very good fingers - all of which I had, without realizing exactly what I did have, or what I was doing.    I was innately very musical, and just played very naturally.   Because I had such a huge musical gift, no teacher ever thought they needed to really teach me HOW to play the piano -HOW to use my fingers, which includes complete finger independence, HOW to make various sounds on the piano, or sophisticated phrasing.   (Most didn't have that knowledge, to be sure.)   I only acquired these skills later when I studied with Sari Biro, the legendary Hungarian pianist, who opened my eyes to the further possibilities of sound from the instrument.    I became a completely different pianist under her tutelage, and worked incessantly to perfect my technique, sound, control,  knowledge of phrasing and musical thought, plus I learned an immense amount of repertoire as well.   (For example, all the Beethoven Sonatas, all the Mozart Sonatas, all the Chopin Etudes, and etc.)
     Before I met her at Indiana University, (where I was studying for my master's degree) I listened to recordings of Vladimir Horowitz, Arturo Beneditto Michelangeli, Dinu Lipatti - entranced by the kinds of beautiful sounds these great pianists could make.    And I didn't hear that in myself.    But I carried around in my head this singing, ringing, gorgeous tone, and was looking desperately to find it.    And I did - in the person of that fabulous artist, Mme. Biro.   When I met her, and she played for me, I broke into tears, because she had THAT SINGING SOUND.   She was a magical being to me; I truly adored her - she was the kindest, most generous person I had ever met in my life.  I moved to San Francisco (her home) in order to study with her further.    I had several lessons per week, and I always practiced as much as possible.   During that time, I worked for an insurance company, (Equitable Life) as a secretary/agent-liason to support myself.  During my lunch hour, I practiced in a nearby music store, where I had rented a piano   I would take my sandwich, munching on it during my practice session!    Then Equitable Life discovered that I was extremely good in math,  and was able to make excellent insurance proposals for the field agents.   Soon I was in charge of the entire fleet of West Coast field agents, and was offered a position as an officer (with a secretary of my own!) in that company.     The salary was very tempting, but I was on a different path, one which they knew nothing about.   I played a big concert in San Francisco, which my Equitable Life colleagues (all men) attended.    Their reaction to my performance and the fact that this young woman in their office was actually an accomplished musician and pianist, was one of amazement.   I will never forget the expressions on their faces afterward.   But that concert made it very easy to explain to everyone why I could not take the position they had offered me.