August Wilson’s play, The Piano Lesson, expresses the idea that African-Americans must embrace where they've come from before they will truly be able to move forward with their life. In relation to this the piano in the play represents the Charles families years of slavery to the Sutter family, as well as a symbolic representation of the strength and resiliency of the family. Music serves the function of representing the past, present, and the future, through the family piano. The music in “The Piano Lesson” serves as a solution to the characters’ problems and an escape from their hardships. The characters were able to reconcile their pasts through the illustration of music.
At the age of 7, Vehik Golabi was introduced to a passion that would help mold the person she would become. Growing up listening to her older sister play the piano, she was inspired to follow in her footsteps. She started her lessons with Karina Yeproyan as a meek, shy little girl who faked stomach pains in order to not attend lessons. However, now 18 years old, Vehik looks forward to every joyous lesson and opportunity she has to play the piano. Although Vehik has gained the ability to play some of her favorite pieces including Beethoven’s Pathetique and Brahm’s Hungarian Dances, she has gained more than just a repertoire of pieces.
For this interview, I spoke to Vera Holczer, a 40-year-old immigrant from Hungary. For 19 years, Vera lived in Hungary’s capital with her mother. She has always had a passion for classical music especially on the piano. As a classically trained pianist Vera knew her time in Hungary was coming to an end if she wanted to pursue her dream of owning her own music school due to Hungary not having large openings for people perusing a professional level of music. At the age of 19 with “two suitcases and 8 dollars” she went off to live with her dad in Los Angeles, California.
When I was 15 I started going to day treatment. It was in Shiocton and was called Chaps Academy. It was in shiocton and was called Chaps Academy. It was for girls only and there were two groups. The first day I went to see it I saw the trainer lunging the horse.
At first his parents were incredibly supportive of his love for the piano. However, when Peter got older, his parents sent him to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence to become a civil servant. Even though this was a major setback for Peter’s career in music, he never lost his love for playing. Peter continued playing through his schooling. After Peter’s schooling he attended music
Initial rebellion were tantrums; fake tears spilt in hopes of avoiding practice sessions. As time slowly passed, I fell in love with the big, wooden instrument. Daily practices quickly flew by as I buried my daily stress under a large pile of old, wrinkled sheet music. That view quickly changed my freshman year of high school. My good meaning mother,
After thirty-three years of teaching at one school, Mrs. Peddicord retired the same night that I graduated junior high. She left the community, and I have not seen her since. To this day, though, I still draw from her numerous parables, quips, and admonishments to bolster my success. My loves of music and of learning have not been quenched, and they have grown inseparable. Music is a relaxation from coursework, and coursework deepens the beauty of music.
Unfortunately, I was once again painfully reminded of my piano skills. My fingers were to playing the piano as Jeremy Lin was to being a Stanford student—which is to say a whole lot of nope and not-so-much of yes. This time, though, I was not walking away. With the help of my go-to educational source, YouTube,
My body cried like a newborn babe, afraid in an unfamiliar place. Immediately, my fresh eyes were greeted by waves of black hair, friendly smiles, and the Japanese language. I had arrived in Japan. I did not know the language or the customs, but I dove right into the dark pool. I was determined not to let the unknown drown me.
A huge part of my life has been music since a young age considering my mother also played an instrument and was in her own high school’s marching band. As a child, the piano sitting in the dining room of my home always taunted me with the mystery as to why it was there, but I was consistently curious as to what it would sound like to play. After deliberating intensely, I finally decided to teach myself how to play, and playing the piano soon became an important part of my life. As soon as I was allowed in the band, I joined and began to learn how to play the trombone; however, only knowing how to play one instrument within the marching band never managed to sate me. This need later led me to switch to Euphonium in order to perfect my skill
The learning process started with me making a decision of which instruments to play. The decision reflects on pathos because the decision involved me choosing between two instruments that I always wanted to play for their soft melody since I was young. I ended up choosing the piano because I already have one in the apartment. There were two ways to learn the piano; one is by viewing YouTube tutorials and the other is Virtual Piano.
His first real piano lessons were from a neighbor’s daughter who taught him pieces such as “On to Victory” and “The Mountain Belle.” Even as a child, he would compose pieces and ask for his mother’s opinion, which he would continue to do
The first half of this semester was swift and I can’t believe how fast it passed by. College is a whole new world for me that I had never imagined with a lot of new experiences that I hope will shift me into a better and smarter person. There are more things I can do in college that I would have never dared to do in high school and I am happy for these new freedoms. I am able to eat in class, leave class without asking and they don’t care if I pay attention or not. My high school teachers would always tell me to wait for the bell, sometimes would not let me leave and if I did not pay attention they would yell.
Another issue is that abortion is still a topic that the nation is divided on when it comes to policy. Abortion is a widely debated topic and laws vary from state to state. The first week of December, lawmakers in Ohio passed a bill called the “Heartbeat Bill” that essentially bans abortions as soon as a heartbeat is detected, which tends to be around six weeks. This bill has gotten a lot of backlash because most women are unaware of pregnancy until week 8, which means it would be much too late to get a safe abortion for millions of women in their home state (Stanek 2016). The bill is also is unpopular due to the fact that it does not offer any exceptions to victims of incest or rape, which both put a toll on the mother and future child physically
I believe that I have learned many useful lessons this semester. At the start of this semester I honestly did not know how to write a proper essay. There were several big problems with my writing style. My poor grammar and lack-luster writing skills were a real problem. I feel more confident now that I have written some decent papers and come close to completing my first English class.
