Do you think the people that organize the piano recitals care that we keep our piano in the three season room, Skyler? No!

And don’t you ask me again if we can move the piano into the living room! I’ve said it once and I say it still: the piano can be in the living room when you start using the piano to earn a living. Until then, it stays in the three-seasons room because I don’t need any of my friends coming over, seeing it, and saying, “Play us a tune, Skyler,” when you’re still just an amateur clunking out “Heart and Soul” without any heart or any soul, you understand?

Oh, I know it’s different at your friends’ houses. I know music lessons and recitals are just for “fun and enrichment.” I know that none of their parents’ expect them to be concert pianists at the age of 10. You know what else I know about your friends? NONE OF THEM WILL AMOUNT TO ANYTHING! The closest they’ll come to the stage of a concert hall is a third or fourth row seat. And when they look in the program, whose name will be there? Yours, Skyler! YOURS!

So, you better get your warm, super-soft Snuggie and those no-skid Slipper Socks on. Because according to your piano teacher, there’s another recital coming up next Friday, and I don’t care if it’s twenty-three degrees in the piano room: you will have learned Bartók’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” by then. Have I made myself clear? Good.

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