I’ve been a professional piano player my whole life. I started professionally as a church pianist when I was nine years old. I guess it is my niche. I’ve never known anything different. I’ve always played.

Well, I started wondering when it was that I got involved in this “line of work”.

My mother tells the following…

I was three years old when I saw someone play a piano for the first time. I don’t remember it, and I don’t know who or where it was. When they were finished playing, I crawled up on the bench and started hitting the keys the way they did. I did not, however, make wonderful music (surprise). I could not figure out why they hit the keys and music played – I hit the keys and made nothing but noise.

My mother said I bugged her about it for two whole years before she finally signed me up for piano lessons. I took lessons from age 5 to about 8 ½.

Today…I teach.

I don’t have any students who hunger for it the way I did.