Our ward has always had a few people that could play the piano, but as far as I could tell, there wasn't much of a system about who would play when. It was sort of whoever was there when it was time for church to start. So when we showed up to church one Sunday not long after moving to India and we started singing acapella, Brandon leaned over and said, "You could play this." I didn't really know if I could or not, but I figured it would be better than singing without music at all, so I walked up to the piano and played the rest of the hymn as best as I could. I don't remember what the song was--or the other two songs I played at church that day--but I know it wasn't great. But it didn't matter: I had unintentionally put myself in the piano rotation.
Until Covid hit and we stopped meeting in person, I was playing the piano in sacrament meeting at least twice a month, or more if the other person didn't show up. But by the time we started to meet again post-Covid, the other people that used to trade off with me had all moved away. So that left me. I became the default pianist in primary, as well, so I was playing a lot of piano.
One Sunday in July, a sister told me after church how she would love for her and her son to learn to play. I didn't think much of it, but a senior sister overheard and it sparked an idea. The Church has informal conducting and keyboard classes, including manuals and all the materials needed to learn. Would I be willing to teach whoever was interested?
So it was decided: I would teach a music conducting class first, because it also went over the basics of notes, rhythm, time signatures, etc. and then after that class was over, I would start the keyboard class to whoever had completed the first class. I told the bishopric our plan and they promptly assigned a brother in the ward to help organize people. The materials arrived quickly, I was handed the manual minutes before the first class started, and away we went!
Our first class easily had thirty people--although I had the impression that someone may have just closed the door and wouldn't let anyone leave--but I think mostly everyone wanted to be there. E helped tremendously during the first class by sitting on the front row and answering questions when no one else would. (E came to every class, H went to most, and B came occasionally when he didn't have to keep tabs on CJ.) Of course not everyone attended the full six-weeks it took to finish the course, but many of the did. I love to teach, so I tried to make it fun and entertaining and not just a chore to get through in order to take keyboarding. And teaching music for an hour after church quickly became the best part of my Sunday.
It only took a few weeks before other wards were hearing about our music classes and interest began to build. When could I start teaching in their ward? Luckily, another family moved into our ward that had someone who majored in music(!) and I volun-told her to take over the class in my ward so I could start teaching in a neighboring ward a half hour away. It was sad to leave my first class behind, but exciting to start again with people I didn't know.
Teaching this new ward has had its challenges--I have no control over what happens in the ward or whether students get the opportunity to practice what they're learning during church serves or whether people will wait around for the hour it takes for me to get there--but the students, especially the youth, are so eager to learn! There is a deaf family that comes; I'm not sure how their hearing impairment affects their ability to learn music, but they have a sister in the ward who translates, and they are otherwise active participants. I have learned that ASL and ISL are quite different, and have tried to learn a few words, but--perhaps understandably--there isn't much in terms of music vocabulary.
