Accordian Lessons And Vacuum Cleaner

My musical journey began many years ago. My dad paid a whopping one dollar for these half hour lessons.   It should be noted that one dollar was a significant amount of money in those days. At least that's what I've been told.

I started on Accordion (Italian typewriter) an instrument that was thrust on me. My parents were of European background and they felt this was the instrument of choice. It was their choice and not my choice and I hated the instrument and these lessons.

My dad would drop me off every Saturday afternoon at a studio on Dundas Street (London east) and go to the local watering hole across the street and not have to listen to the cacophony of sound emitted by this musical "squeeze box."   Little did he know that my teacher couldn't stand my playing either. 

The moment I started into the lesson the "teacher" would turn on the vacuum cleaner and start cleaning his carpet.   Either he was a compulsive cleaner or he couldn't stand the accordion sound or my playing.  Saturday apparently was his clean-the-carpet-day. 

I remember that this whirling noise of the vacuum cleaner drowned out my playing. This was a good thing as I rarely had the lesson prepared and was glad for the respite.

Recently I met a local musician that is a very talented harpist.  I had written an anecdote about the harp (No. 3) and wanted to share with her what little I knew about her instrument. 

I 've always been fascinated by the harp.  From what I hear it is a challenging creature to learn with it's foot pedals that I thought were akin to an accelerator, clutch and brake pedal.  I learned later on that keeping a harp in tune is the task that is the most daunting, that is next to schlepping it to every job.

However, we got to talking and I mentioned a famous harp teacher in Toronto who charged 150.00 dollars per hour.   It turns out that she knew this renowned teacher and studied with her.   I  thought when I first heard this rather steep fee (for an hour lesson) there wouldn't be many people that could afford these sessions.

Well, I was wrong. Apparently the teacher is one of the best in the world as a performer and is an outstanding instructor.   Maybe the 150.00 dollars is a creditable fee considering what one would learn from this talented artist.   When I compared my one dollar per half hour fee and this 150.00 dollar per hour fee maybe the harp students were getting their money's worth.

As to the weekly vacuum cleaner scenario, my father was being taken to the cleaners in more ways than one. (Now that I think of it, maybe he wasn't.)

As to the noise level, I finally got even with my parents and everyone and took up the "trumpet."

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