ON MY WAY TO BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL PIANO PLAYER

I have to tell you - I started this post once before and was really pleased with the way it was going.I had written a considerable amount...and then I pushed a wrong button and lost it! So here goes. I'm starting all over.

Miss Loretto Leonard was my wonderfully talented - and beautiful - piano teacher for nine years.
Some time ago, I made note of the "Miss" on her business cards, and all other written materials. She told me that her father had loved the name Loretto, and even after he discovered that the feminine spelling was Loretta, he still insisted on naming his daughter Loretto!

She was an extremely attractive young woman who had had the misfortune of contracting polio ("Infantile Paralysis" back then) as a young child, resulting in a shriveled leg and a limp.

Her piano teacher in Saranac lake had been Mrs. Simpson, who was acknowledged to be Saranac's finest. She had studied in Europe with a renowned concert pianist. This points out a factor that exists in every good teacher/student relationship: emulation. It's probably the most important and vital one.

When Loretto became my teacher, she had only recently graduated (with high honors) from the Eastman School of Music. My Ma and Pa heard about her, and made an appointment for the three of us to go to Loretto's studio (in her house) for an audition that was required for every prospective student. The memory of that occasion is vivid. She gave me all kinds of "musical ear" tests and checked my manual dexterity. At the end, she said: "I believe your son will make his living with music some day." I'll always remember those words!

Loretto was a stern taskmaster. She assigned me scales, arpeggios and pieces. At my lessons, she would have me run through them, and make notations in my assignment book. Next to the pieces in the book which I was to have practiced she would place a gold, silver or colored star sticker...or no sticker at all! When I'd get home, Ma would avidly look at the assignment book to see what I had received in the star department. (I must confess, at this late date...I occasionally did a bit of star re-sticking!) I had definite musical talent, but a kid is a kid and I had to be driven to practicing. Ma and I had many fights about this issue. One week she'd threaten, "That's it! You're through! No more lessons!" I would object to that decision... Next week, I'd scream: "I'm quitting!" She'd answer, "you're not quitting!" Sometimes, she'd lock me in the room with the piano. Fortunately, I usually had a SUPERMAN comic on hand, which I would place on the piano and read while I practiced a one-handed scale! Now, don't get me wrong. This didn't go on all the time!

She was always interested in my musical "discoveries". One time, for example I discovered that I could play the songs ONE DOZEN ROSES and I'VE GOT SPURS THAT JINGLE JANGLE JINGLE, with one song in the R.H. and the other in the L.H. When she heard it she smiled and taught me a new word: "counterpoint." I was playing the songs contrapuntally!

One of my most vivid and still frightening recollection is of the recitals. We had two or three of them a year. The early ones were in Loretto's studio. I still remember the paralyzing fright of having to walk up to the piano and play before those people, who sat there so solemnly. The true and ultimate occasion of terror was the annual spring recital (the "biggie") which was held in the grand ballroom of the palatial Hotel Saranac. I had a long time to wait for the end of the program and my turn, and I would even leave the building and walk around Saranac's streets, trying to assuage my monumental apprehension and fear. Somehow, the situation always turned out fine, and afforded my proud parents plenty of time to sit and beam and enjoy the compliments.

Gradually, as my skills improved, I became one of Loretto's star students. My name was placed closer and closer toward the end of the program. I had a "flair" (her word) for playing some of the old warhorses, such as Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor with much finesse. To be honest, she had better student players than I was, but they did the harder stuff, such as Bach, which I could never handle. Bach is also less "commercial." Also, I should mention that during my lessons Loretto realized that I would learn pieces much faster if she played them for me (the ear factor.) I sometimes sensed that she was reluctant to do this, because I wasn't a very good music reader, and her playing pieces for me was a crutch. As a matter of fact (because of the dominance of my musical ears) to this very day, I am not a good music reader. But we're talking here about sightreading. This was to bedevil me throughout my professional life. I'll talk about this later, and its quite humorous aspects ("humorous, I might add, at my expense!

Loretto died several years ago at age 92. I want to mention one other aspect of her life, for it was to have a profound influence upon her dedication to her piano teaching. I believe that she only had one major love affair. She fell in love and became engaged to a dashingly handsome young music teacher and band director in town. She was radiantly happy and he came once to an annual swimming party that she had for us students. Then, he fell in love with somebody else, and here's the rough part: He not only broke the engagement. He asked for the engagement ring back AND HE GAVE IT TO HIS NEW BRIDE-TO-BE. That's not all. They were married on the very same day he was to have married Loretto! To say that this guy was a total -------! (you fill in) is not an exaggeration. This had a profound effect on my dear teacher, and to my knowledge, she never dated again. From that point on, she re-dedicated her efforts to her students and further studies (At Juilliard, Diller-Quaile and the Cincinnati Conservatory.) She stayed her entire life in the family home, land, and died in the bed in which she was born. Over the years, I saw her many times. I loved her deeply.

For whatever I have managed to achieve in my musical life, I am deeply indebted to Loretto Leonard.