A Birthday Miracle

I believe in miracles.  Not the lightning striking, world-saving kind.  The everyday kind.  Like waking up and seeing the sun in the sky, hear myself breathing, my heartbeat beating, things that we tend to take for granted.

I received one of the coolest birthday presents ever today when my dyslexic adult student sat down and played Happy Birthday for me.  First, she played it from a downloaded easy version she had found on the Internet.  Then she pulled out a hand-written Happy Birthday melody I had notated for her last December for her own birthday.  I had written a right hand melody and a left hand single letter bass for each measure.  She did not understand what I wanted her to do despite the number of times I explained -and demonstrated - that the letter was the key note she should play with her left hand for each measure.  Well, today she played the right hand melody and played a left hand octave for each of the letter names I had written back in December.  It was wonderful.  Not only did she read a downloaded version, she improvised on the melody I had written out for her.

This probably sounds simplistic, but before you roll your eyes, I want to tell you that this student could not read music when she started with me.  Nada.  Nothing.  Not one note.   After years of piano study with teachers who threw her out of their studio for not making progress.  Good teachers who know how to teach students who have no problems reading.

Those are the easy students.

This student is my miracle.  And let me tell you, she made my birthday one that I will remember with fondness and admiration for her persurverence for a long time to come.  And, no, I'm not looking up any words in the frickin' dictionery.  Not tonight.