Rosalind's Piano Debut

Bianca has been preparing a song on the piano, Rhapsody in Blue, for a couple of months now.  Getting the rhythms just right, memorizing all the accidentals and difficult chords.  She's gone over and over it each morning as she dutifully practices her piano.  She loves the song, loves its jazzy rhythm and cool meandering gait.  She auditioned several weeks ago and made it into Herriman's talent show line-up.

Last week, as Bianca's piano teacher was preparing her mentally for her performance, they did a character sketch on a sheet of lined paper.  The character's name was Rosalind Nimico. She has red curly hair and a doesn't-care attitude.  She's brazen and brave.  It's a mechanism for letting Bianca believe she's not Bianca, but Rosalind.  Someone else completely is on the line, no consequences for Bianca if she messes up.

At the dress rehearsal last Friday night, Bianca got up to the stage and in the middle of the song, she froze. She lost her place in the song and her fingers wouldn't do that work they'd labored so hard to do.  She stumbled along until she finally found a path and then finished the song. Over the next 24 hours, I was in fix-it mode.  I was thinking total Tiger-Mom and decided she'd play the song 10-15 times the next day until it was right there in her mind, easy to catch and hold on.

On Saturday night, Bianca went up on the stage--brazen and brave--and she performed.  And wow did she perform, her body swaying and her head and hands feeling the piece like it was second nature.

After the performance,  I asked her about her movements while she played. She looked at me and said, "I don't know, mom.  That was Rosalind.  She gets really into her music."