Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks

Every Thanksgiving, we all strive to be mindful and appreciate our family, friends, and circumstances, and to be grateful for the good in our lives.

Every CSM parent sacrifices their time, money, and energy towards giving their child an opportunity to fall in love with music and to be able to communicate through music for self-expression, confidence, or cognitive and emotional development, among other reasons.

These sacrifices seem easily forgotten when there has been a subpar week of practice or engagement. No matter what it feels like now, it is an investment in their future, and they will remember how it helped them in some way.

I have done the same.

This year, I want to give thanks to my own mother, Yun. Unfortunately, she passed away in September at the age of 86.

She recognized an affinity to music early with me, and sought formal training before I turned 4. Right away, I found myself having an extended lesson every day of the week.

By the time I was 6, she somehow convinced a prominent piano teacher in Los Angeles, Carl Mathes, to accept me into his studio. She then convinced my elementary school that I needed Thursdays off for piano studies, and every Thursday she would wake me up at 5am, stuff me in the car and make the 2.5 hour trek over the mountains from Bakersfield to Pasadena, CA for an 8am-10am lesson. She then attended to her business and errands in Los Angeles and we would get back home after dark. And then it would be right to school and lessons with my local teacher who still taught me the other days of the week reinforcing the lesson plan from Thursdays.

There were times I whined. There was a time I quit. There was a time the teacher expelled me due to not practicing enough. Through it all, my mom never gave up on giving me the opportunity to keep learning.

That intensity is a bit much at that age, but she had a vision and believed that was the only way to give me the best chance at success.

One story she told me about when she was a school-aged girl in Korea was that she had to walk in the mountain snow to get to her school early enough to practice on the clunky piano in the frigid cold, dark music room.

Barefoot, uphill both ways, I’m sure.

She is someone who survived crossing the DMZ into South Korea as a young girl, and her relentless effort was something I noticed when she was driving me everywhere and something I think about still today.

Her vision was for me to be a famous concert pianist. While things didn’t work out quite the way she envisioned, she was proud, and I am thankful that she made that effort early.

The thing that I am thankful for is not that I became a proficient musician, or that I had the opportunity to play with orchestras, or even how CSM is part of that arc.

I am thankful for the relentless pursuit of goals and dreams that rubbed off on me, which has allowed me to use that skillset in many other areas besides music.

I didn’t thank her enough then. I had the typical struggles with it. But the life skills I learned helped me get through grad school, helped me build a business, helped me get a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

And I owe a great deal to my mom for doing the things I hated and never thanked her for at the time.

We never know how the investments that we make in our children will pan out. Most likely they will be in surprising or subtle ways.

But they will remember at some point and be grateful you invested in them and made them do the hard thing, be that music or something else.

So this Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for my mom, for everything she sacrificed for me, and especially for some of the things she made me do that I absolutely hated at the time, because that’s where so much of the growth happened.

Happy Thanksgiving to all CSM parents and students, and Happy Thanksgiving to my mom.

Joe

🎃 And the Winner Is…

Halloween Week was one of our favorite weeks of the year at CSM. Thank you to everyone who came to lessons in costume and sent us photos.

🥫 Help Us Give Back

Our annual CSM Food Drive is underway through November 24.

Students, families, teachers, and staff are invited to bring unopened, non-perishable, unexpired food items to CSM and place them in the collection box at your location.

It’s a simple way for all of us to give a little back this Thanksgiving season.

🎶 Winter Recital Sign-Ups Are Open

Our next CSM recital is coming up Sunday, December 6.

Students who would like to perform should register by Sunday, November 29.

Recitals are a chance to take something students have been working on privately and finally share it. They aren’t a test of whether someone is a “good musician.” For many students, simply getting up and performing is the accomplishment.

A Thanksgiving Practice Permission Slip

Thanksgiving week does not need to look like a normal practice week.

If your family is traveling, hosting relatives, or generally living in controlled chaos, pick one small thing to keep warm.

It all matters!

A short, positive interaction with the instrument is usually much more valuable than turning practice into one more holiday obligation everyone resents.

Welcome to CSM

Please give a warm welcome to the new students who joined us in October! We’re very happy to have you with us!

Welcome to Cincinnati School of Music. We’re glad you’re here.