Mrs Love's Little Piano Studio by Ken Smith

Not long ago, Joel Bailey posted this picture on his website “Rockingham Memories”, and oh the memories I had upon seeing it, and some of you shared your remembrances of it with Joel, too. This little building was the studio from which Ms. Lydia Love taught piano lessons. It was located behind the pole on the circle at Rockingham High School. I’m older than those of you who responded, but I do share some of the same fond memories and would like to share a few with you.

I can still vividly see in my mind’s eye this little wood sided framed house which served as our piano classroom. It remains today in its same location as it did in days of my youth. I have no idea as to the identity of the young lady pictured above, but she is the only thing that has changed in my mind’s eye. The foliage hasn’t changed enough for me to recall the differences. I’m also relatively sure that many more coats of white paint have been applied since my last lesson there, and the parking lot at the RHS was dirt and had no pavement. Other than these changes, this little building still remains absolutely the same in every other respect.

When I was six years old I actually began piano lessons with a then newly hired and very young music and piano teacher at L. J. Bell Elementary. I took briefly from a newly hired music teacher by the name of Genevra Beaver Kelly. While at this location I also took lessons for a short while from Mrs. Nell Jones at this same location.

From this location I would graduate up to the “Little Studio” pictured above. From here my piano lessons would continue for many years to come. My teacher was Ms. Lydia Love. Many fond memories of Ms. Love and my piano lessons would emit from this locale. Following are just a few that I would like to share with you.

One of my favorite recollections is of arriving here on bitter cold winter mornings. Just trying to keep warm enough to finish my piano lesson would prove to be a real chore. It was almost an impossibility due to the total lack of any insulation; however, due to our superior improvisation and ingenuity, we students would prevail.

When we arrived for our lesson, we would go to the front and only door of this little house located right behind the tree pictured above. It just wasn’t quite that tall then. If there was a pupil already taking a lesson, we would rush to the other side of the building, frantically taking our position in front of the little “Warm Morning” gas heater. Backed up to this appliance, we would then do our dead leveled best to stay as warm as possible (our little heater looked just like the one pictured below).

The process of “Getting & Remaining Warm” now became the infamous “Seven Step Warming Process”. It went something like this:

#1 ~ Leave all of your outer clothing on (sweaters, coats, gloves or mittens, and cap)

#2 ~ Back up to this little heater so close as to almost touch the glass in front of the fire brick (this was necessary to even feel the heat)

#3 ~ On really cold mornings it was necessary to leave your gloves or mittens on all the time. You held them behind you right over your butt and this would initially warm your hands a little.

#4 ~ Next, you would slide your mittens up to the middle of your back (thus keeping them fairly toasty as you began the initial warming of your butt, legs and back). Now keep in mind that all of these parts needed to get as hot as possible.

#5 ~ Next, with glove or mittens still on, you would move your hands back down over your butt but being very careful as to not allowing the material on your clothes touch your skin. If you made this fatal mistake you were immediately attached to a scorched butt and legs.

#6 ~ Now for the final toasting, you would again quickly warm your hands to as hot a temperature as you could stand.

#7 ~Now, for the GRAND FINALE, with one move, you would literally pounce from the heater area to the couch located on your left, all the time trying to land gracefully.

Ms. Love had decorated her little piano studio adequately and with much charm. It was furnished with a piano, piano bench, a table top piano lamp, a pedestal base lamp, chair, couch, teacher’s stool, a side table beside the couch and a rug on the floor. Even though she had gone to this trouble, it was still absolutely so cold in the winter months that you could not sit for very long on either the little couch or chair. You would freeze to death (in retrospect, I think this may have been part of our training). At any rate, our beloved teacher would allow us to continue the above warming routine on several other occasions during our lesson.

Although charmingly decorated, the little couch did not possess very good springs and the density of the foam in the cushions was completely broken down; however, after your initial touchdown, this lack of tension in the springs and foam density would allow you to sink down in it. Thanks to these imperfections of former wear and tear, this piece of furniture and the fabric of your clothing would now allow you to stay much warmer for considerably longer. It might be a little too hot on your butt and legs at first, but you would quickly discover that this was a very small price to pay for the warmth that you were able to acquire. We, as older students not being stingy or selfish, would do our best to pass this abundance of knowledge down to the new students as they came in.

Ms. Love had decorated her little piano studio adequately with a chair, couch, teacher’s stool, lamp, side table and a rug on the floor. Even though she had gone to this trouble, it was still absolutely too cold in the winter months to sit for very long on either the little couch or chair. Thus our beloved teacher would allow us to continue the above routine described above on several other occasions during our lesson.

You did have to concentrate on keeping your hands and fingers the warmest, and just for your information, it was absolutely impossible to maintain the proper hand and finger posture required to play the notes on the ole ivories if your hands and fingers are freezing. It was also mandatory and wise to have your hands and fingers to be the warmest, especially when playing your toughest piano pieces that Ms. Love had assigned you for that day. If not warmed properly, the hands and fingers would have never be able to tolerate Ms. Love’s dreaded “Genghis Kahn” move. This was a move which would occur at a moment’s notice and without warning. However, it always happened on your toughest selections of music and when your hands were so cold that your fingers were fixin’ to fall off. This punishment that she deemed to be necessary for making a tempo mistake, improper phrasing or playing the wrong note was swift. She would unleash it by taking her red pencil and cracking you across the knuckles. When performed in the winter months, your fingers simply fell off on the floor. Dang that hurt!!! I can still feel that to this day; however, I’m eternally grateful that I did not have arthritis in my hand as I do now.

The most important and treasured possession Ms. Love had on location, other than the upright piano we played on, was her beloved Seth Thomas Metronome. This tempo time piece was fashioned of solid mahogany. She always kept it polished. Ms. Love even had a polishing cloth with furniture polish on it folded up and either lying on the floor or on top of the piano.

students, but I do know that when she left right after one of my lessons that she would reward me by allowing me to properly rewind her prized Seth Thomas metronome and place the cover on it in the proper latched position. Later in life, it suddenly dawned on me that she probably allowed me to perform this task because she knew that my Mama had a Seth Thomas Metronome sitting on the top of her piano just like hers. At any rate, this reward always made me feel as though I had done a good job with my lesson that day and more importantly that she trusted me to handle it.

Ms. Love always had us preparing for either a recital or for the annual state auditions of our performance and skills. Our recitals were always held at L. J. Bell Elementary, one of the ladies homes that were members of the Music Club or at the “National Piano Playing Auditions” that were held at Flora McDonald College in Red Springs, NC. To this day I still get the jitters thinking about those performances, especially the ones at Red Springs.

I will always remember that when performing at the national auditions in Red Springs, you were graded by judges that were very important, both in the state and nationally, and that they were going to pass on to you a grade of either “Superior”, “Excellent”, or “Good”. Normally, you would think that receiving a grade of “Excellent” on anything would allow you to take pride in your accomplishment and know that you done a really good job; however, not so during these state audition gradings. “Excellent” simply meant that you did “OK”. You could be proud of the “Excellent”, but you knew that the ever present “Superior” would have been much better. In other words, anything less than “Superior” was really unacceptable or at least that is the way we all perceived it.

God forbid you ever get a “Good” rating for that meant anything but “Good”. This rating should have been more properly titled “The Lowest Of The Low & Worstest Of The Worst”. If I had ever been awarded a “Good” grade by the piano judges at Flora McDonald College, I think that I would have never returned home. I would have simply gone West, joined a hippie commune and never attempted anything musical again. I thank my lucky stars that this never happened.

All the practice, worry, and chewing of fingernails for these grades must have been very important to me for I retained all of these certificates and grades through these many years. 1955 became the year that I first became a “National Member Of The Piano Playing Auditions”. I still remember that I had to play 12 pieces before these judges. There titles were, “Sonatina” by Turk; “The Hunt” by Liszt; “Dance Of The Flowers by Krause; “Little Spring Song” by Thompson; “Bagpipes” by Lecouppey; “The Fox Hunt” by Thompson; “The Fox Chase” by Gurlitt; “The Stream Liner” by Thompson; “Copy Cat” by Hobstad; “America” by “Ward”, “Auld Ange Syne” by Kraft; and finally “Piano Sonata No. 18 - The Hunt” by Beethoven. I made
a “Superior” grade and my score was 98.6. Ms. Love and the head judge, Winifred Buck have attested to this at the bottom right hand side of this certificate.

As for the “Good” rating, well this can best be described by sharing the following experience. For as long as I live, I shall never ever forget it once receiving that dreaded grade. Once upon a time, and under the guidance of a band director of yore at Rockingham High, that shall remain anonymous, our beloved Rocket Concert Band competed in the annual “North Carolina State Concert Band Competition” at UNC Greensboro. Our performance was such that we received the infamous “Good” rating. I’m really not sure that our director cared; however, we were all totally embarrassed, humiliated, and ashamed to come home. The Rocket band had never had this happen to them ~ EVER! I shall never forget that upon arriving back home I went straight to my room. To this day I never did tell my Mama what grade we received. Mama was a very proud former director of the Rocket band, and she knew, but she never ever asked me about it. She knew how embarrassed we all were about receiving that grade. What does that tell you about a “Good” rating?

Mrs. Love would always reward us with an Alphabetical Grade and/or Star Shaped Stickers when we performed our assignment to her satisfaction. Nothing was ever less than a “C” with no Stars. That kinda’ will compare for you the meaning of a “Good” rating as described above. Thank goodness I never received this grade or I wouldn’t be writing at this point and time for my musical Mama would have killed me. I do remember that I never received a grade, star, a correction or slap on the knuckles with the red pencil that I didn’t deserve. She dealt this correction to each us and all in a spirit of love. We all knew of, expected and respected her discipline. She indeed instilled that discipline in each and every one of our beings, and it has remained with us for a lifetime. We never feared he admonishments for we knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that all she ever required of us was simply our BEST and that she did not expect, she demanded. Everyone knew beyond a shadow of a doubt when we had not performed to Ms. Love’s satisfaction. She did not have to tell us anything. Just the smile and the pat on the back would do.

I think I shall take to my grave with me a quote that she left with me. When I was having a bad day, she would pat me on my shoulder and say, “Listen, Ken just do your absolute best. That’s all I expect and it is all you should accept. Relax and enjoy your playing. I do not wish that you would be a concert pianist unless that is what you desire to do with your talent. I would be perfectly satisfied in knowing that later on in your life that you would be able and capable of sitting down at a piano and playing well enough for nothing other than your own personal enjoyment”. That, my dear piano teacher, you did instill in my being, and today, every time I sit and just play, I think of you.

I can still play every one of my first recital pieces, that she had me prepare for on the L. J. Bell Auditorium Stage. These little songs with titles like “Spinning Wheel”, “Nothing Could Be Finer Than To Be In Carolina, In The Morning” and “Boogie Woogie Beat (8 To The Bar)” are still in my memory and on the tip of my fingers. Also, having been a minister of music for forty-two years, I will also always be indebted to Ms. Love for teaching me to play my first “two-handed” hymn. It was an arrangement of “How Great Thou Art” that I still play today.

To you Ms. Lydia Love and the “Little Piano Studio On The Circle Behind The Pole” I will forever be indebted. Within these walls you instilled within my being my love of the piano. You and your “Little Piano Studio” definitely played an integral role in fashioning me into the musician that I became.