Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a 75-year-old retiree who lives on a horse ranch in Fayetteville, Arkansas. My father gave me my first horse when I was 17, and I have never lived without horses since then. For 42 years, I was a reference librarian at the University of Arkansas. There I met Bob Schwarz, Steve’s spouse, who became my dearest friend and the godfather of my children. I am married to Graham Hawks, a land conservationist.
Tell us about your musical experience.
I took private lessons on the piano from the age of 7 for about ten years. After I retired from the University of Arkansas in 2016, with my children gone and my horse numbers reduced, I began to miss the piano. Now again enter Bob Schwarz, who told Steve I used to play, and Steve convinced me we should try lessons.
Tell us about your piano lessons with Steve.
We use FaceTime for our lessons. One technique I like is that Steve records his own playing of my assigned pieces and sends me the files. (In the past I was lucky if a teacher played an assigned piece once in my presence.) With Steve’s method I can replay the music many times and study it in between lessons. Steve’s skill is far beyond that of any of my previous teachers and his own talent as a pianist has been a unique addition to my efforts to learn to play again.
Every six months, I travel to Memphis for Steve’s Master Class, which allows me to enjoy the talents and accomplishments of his other students without the stress of a “recital.” At Master Class, Steve always finds a topic to teach that is useful to all of us.
What is your latest challenge in piano playing?
To my surprise, after a life of active horsemanship and farm work, this year I began to lose use of my left arm. It turns out that I needed total shoulder replacement surgery, which I underwent in April. Since then, Steve has assigned me challenging music for right hand only. My goal now is to return to two-handed playing.
What are some of the benefits of piano study?
Playing again helps me retain brain cells, challenges my aging brain, and most of all gives me the joy of music I can make for myself, in my own music room. I look at the piano as a source of pleasure that also leads to healthy aging. I like the feeling of a note on the page leading straight to my finger on the right key without conscious intervention, letting the neural pathways take over. It is a magical process.