$1.899

Today, I finally used Beck’s most heartfelt and meaningful Christmas present — my gift certificate for piano lessons at Mozingo’s Music.

Darla gave me a gift certificate for a month’s worth of lessons, and I finally got up the gumption to report for duty with my instructor, Kevin Hill. Kevin was nice and friendly, and nothing like what I was expecting. Dunno why I was expecting some cross between a ruler-wielding nun and one of my basic training drill instructors — guess I was wrong! So the half-hour flew by, and I have some things to work on. My timing is horrible, but my fingering is the worst. I float all over the keys, and don’t seem to have a home.

Now, I fully expected those two areas to be my nemesis. After all, I had six weeks of a continuing-ed piano class almost two years ago, and everything I’ve done since has been self-taught off that somewhat lackluster beginning. I didn’t realize just how bad, though, my fingering is — it’s atrocious — and I can certainly see the benefits of hitting the right note with the right finger. Two years of doing it wrong, I’m discovering, is difficult to overcome, and I’ll have to put particular emphasis on that part over the next many weeks.

All in all, a good start, and now I’m over the initial anxiety, more or less.