OP-ED: MOTHER PLAYED A BABY GRAND
James 1: 17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
By Van Yandell
Why do singers get the attention, while composers and musicians are the real talent behind the voices? Many can sing but few have the ability to strike the ivories with precision to extract a musical tone.
As far back as memory allows, my mother sat at her old Wellington piano and played. Not to brag but she was very good. My musical talents certainly didn’t take after hers, with my ability to play a radio being a major challenge.
Wellington pianos were made by the Cable Piano Company in New York City. Their manufacture dated from 1885 until 1953.
Possibly mother obtained the piano from her mother and it became a part of the family in the early 1900’s
The piano was unbelievably heavy and would have been a load for the Egyptian pyramid builders. I kept it several years after she died but finally gave it to a church in Hopkins County, Kentucky.
The swivel stool, however, we kept. A few years ago I sanded it and painted it a light ivory color. It is now in our shower bath and used as a vanity stool.
I’m told the stool is a collector’s item. It has glass balls on the bear claw feet and the legs and spindles are lathe turned. It’s actually quite a conversation piece with memories attached.
Her favorite songs to play were “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” (Elisha Hoffman) and “Boogie-Woogie” (Clarence “Pinetop” Smith). I often told her if she ever needed a job she could get a job in a honky-tonk or on a cruise boat.
I well remember her playing and stomping the petals. She fit the stool perfectly, squirming around on it, giving an illusion of a sitting dance. I don’t recall seeing her any happier than when she was playing her piano.
We lived in Marathon, Texas in the years before I started first grade in Kentucky. She played in the Marathon Baptist Church there. Often she mentioned the “baby grand” she played in that church.
I thought for years she had given the piano the name “baby grand.” About 1978, we went to West Texas and one of our stops was Marathon. When I walked through the door of that little white church about three blocks north of Highway 90, I realized why she called it a baby grand.
There sat a miniature grand piano. Immediately I knew the one that had played that piano in the early 1950’s was my sweet mother. If I had only thought and recorded some of her songs they would be an earthly treasure.
God gives us skills and abilities we can use to glorify Him. They may be building, organizational or skills dealing with church finances.
He also gives us spiritual gifts such as evangelism, preaching/teaching or workers of Jesus’ mandate to be His witnesses.
Proverbs 16: 3 “Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy plans shall be established.” In mother’s generation, the significance of the Great Commission (Acts 1: 8) did not seem to be of particular urgency. As a child however, I saw her actions as a way of daily life.
Mom’s age group however, had their missions group. They met each month. A mission’s magazine was summarized so they would remain knowledgeable about Christian outreach around the world.
There were special weeks each year for focus on local, state and international missions. They sometimes referred to the Acts 1: 8 scripture which included the many locations around the world where missionaries were active.
I can only imagine how devastated my mother and father would be to see the world in the condition it is in now. Wars on numerous fronts, hatred greater than Americans have seen since the Civil War and the Ten Commandments are literally ignored by society. If Christian missions have ever been needed it is now.
Leviticus 18: 22, Proverbs 22: 6, Genesis 1: 27 and Matthew 16: 18 have been perverted to the point my parent’s generation would shudder at the thought.
Racial tensions exist where we should be working together to unify mankind rather than constantly looking for reasons to divide us. Acts 10: 35 “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.”
Mother used to say “There’s only one race and that’s the human race.” She considered every person as someone that Jesus died for.
It certainly appears in retrospect, her piano was her way of conveying her feelings. At times, it became a method of relieving frustration but those times were few. The intensity of her fingers on the keys were an indication of her attitude at the time.
We often wish we could go back in time and ask our parents questions or simply sit and listen to their experiences in life. My memories are many of mother’s words but if life was to live over, without a doubt, recordings of her piano would be a part of my most precious possessions.
Of all her teachings, to believe in a crucified Savior was at the top of the list. She believed with all her heart, soul and mind that Christ Jesus died for her sins and the sins of the world.
My memories of her are precious. For any mother that may read this, consider the memories you are leaving your children; they last a lifetime.
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary. His email is vmy3451@gmail.com