Quitting Piano

Weeks ago, I blogged about how proud I was when my kids rocked their first piano recital. Seems like those days may be done for my son, Joey.

The boy is always reluctant to leave the house, whether it's for school, soccer, or t-ball, but especially piano. Usually once he arrives at the destination, he seems to settle in, and enjoy himself. But not this time.

I dropped my kids off at the piano teacher's house and drove off, like usual, but then I received a text from my daughter, Lainey.

"I can't get him to go in. No matter what I try."

Bless her heart for trying to persuade the boy, something she usually does with astounding expertise.

I drove back to the piano teacher's house and found Joey hiding behind the bushes. When he saw my car he walked over and sat in the backseat.

"What's going on, Joe?"

"I don't want to do piano anymore."

I sighed. I could tell in the tone of his voice that he was serious. He wasn't sad or crying, he was just plain done.

I went through a few rounds of, Are You Sure, and, What Would Make You Change Your Mind. No success. I sighed again.

"Well then," I said, "You'll have to tell the teacher yourself."

"Fine." Joey said. He grabbed his piano books and walked into the house. He came out a minute later and sat in the car.

"That's it?" I asked, "You told her? What'd you say?"

"I said I quit," Joey shrugged, "Can we go home now?"

I tried to get more details, but he wouldn't say much. We waited for Lainey's lesson to end, and soon she and the teacher emerged from the house.

Let me say, that this piano teacher is a saint. She's the friendliest, most experienced, and competent piano teacher you could ask for. She looked at me, said some nice words and I just shrugged.

"Maybe he's just overwhelmed," she said, "First grade is tough."

Then she leaned in through the car window and told Joey he'd be welcome to come back and play for her anytime.

We drove home. Later that night, I heard the details from Lainey.

"He just walked in and said hi. And then [Mrs W] was like, 'Hi, Joey! How are you? Good to see you!' Then Joey dropped his books, said, 'I quit!' and walked out."

I tried not to laugh, but we did anyway. I'm sad to see the boy quit, but there is something admirable and comical about his resolve. Hopefully he'll give it another try someday, we'll see.