It's About Time

by Justin Nielsen

When I was about twelve years old we went to visit my grandmother for a week where we stayed in her basement apartment. Up until that time I had thought of my grandmother Louise mainly as a great cook and a beautiful woman.

Late one evening when grandma thought we were all asleep, she sat down at the piano and began to play. I remember hearing the sound of the music drifting down the stairs and being drawn to it. I slowly opened the basement door and scrunched down on the bottom step of the stairs. She was playing Fantasy Impromptu and every note was pure electricity to me. This was one of my first aesthetic musical experiences, and to this day, I can scarcely think about my grandmother without thinking of that wonderful night.

That experience taught me that music can be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding activities in which we can participate. Most of us have had the experience of listening to a really great musician and wishing, deep down, that we could do that too. Unfortunately, most of us also harbor memories, mostly negative, of music lessons that were difficult to endure.

This is one of the reasons we have started the Rivendell music Academy. We feel it is about time that we all started enjoying music. It's time to start seeing music for what it is: a beautiful way to heal ourselves, grow personally, and connect with others.