Our Merrill Family Piano story began approximately 52 years ago. My parents purchased a piano in hopes that their five children would learn to play the piano. Each of their children took lessons.
As grandchildren were born and approached the age that they could start taking piano lessons, the piano was handed down to my parent’s oldest son, and several of his children took piano lessons and practiced on the Merrill Family Piano. Next, the piano was handed down to my parent’s second oldest son, and his children took piano lessons and practiced on the Merrill Family Piano.
Then, it was handed down to me, where it has remained. My mother promised me that I could inherit the piano because I was the child that continued taking piano lessons for a lengthy amount of time. She actually bribed me to keep taking piano lessons by taking me to get an alligator jaw after each piano lesson. An alligator jaw is a type of pastry that has a triangle-shaped donut on top and on bottom with whipped cream in the middle. I loved those alligator jaws, and I continued taking piano lessons and could play pretty well. So with the piano, my wife taught my three children to play the piano. My children are grown now and each has had the opportunity to play for church. One of my sons arranged his very first musical number, a hymn medley, just this past year and played it in church. My wife is a piano teacher and she currently teaches 30 students in her piano studio using this very same piano.
This piano will continue to be used to teach children in the community how to play the piano through my wife’s efforts as a piano teacher. We will also be using this piano to teach our grandchildren the skill of playing the piano. My grown children will still come home and sit at the piano and play for fun or use the piano to practice in order to accompany the church congregation or a special choir.
My parents bought the piano more than 50 years ago. All my siblings and I took piano lessons and practiced on this piano. Several of my parent’s grandchildren practiced on this piano and learned to play. I now have the piano in my home where my children have learned to play the piano. My wife currently teaches 30 students how to play the piano using this piano in her piano studio.
