Pray for Ukraine

I wanted to say something hopeful in this Thanksgiving Season and I found it.

I played guitar when I was a kid and fell away from it after a year of lessons. Many years later, a piano store down the street from my office announced noon time lessons and I signed up. We rented a piano for several months until I decided I would stick with it. And eventually we purchased a beautiful black lacquer 52” upright piano. Our kids learned to play on the same instrument.

A baby grand piano arrived a few years later. It was cool to have two pianos in the front room, even if the baby grand wasn’t played very often. We found somebody who wanted it, but only if they paid the moving costs. There is a world of orphan pianos, like foster children, that move homes from time to time.

What I did not anticipate when I signed up for lessons was the annual recital. I had been a trial lawyer for 20+ years by then and was at ease with an audience, so I didn’t expect there would be any issue playing in the recital. The piece I prepared to play was The Ukrainian Bell Carol.

It’s a beautiful Christmas Carol composed by a Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1916. The lyrics are a traditional Ukrainian New Year’s song about a swallow flying into a household and foretelling a prosperous new year. The hook is a four-note ostinato imitation of a bell.

One of the reasons I liked the song is it takes two hands. The left hand plays a repeating bass line while the right hand plays the melody. Playing the piano with two hands is some trick, trust me.

The recital was on a Saturday morning, and we showed up with a large group of children and their parents. I was one of only two or three adults in this class. My spot in the program was about two thirds through.

I took my seat at the piano and began to play the Ukraine Bell Carol. Then I noticed my hands were shaking as if I had come down suddenly with a bad case of Parkinson’s or MS. I had no inkling this was about to happen. Of course, distracted by what these things at the end of my arms were doing, I managed to miss a few notes. It did not get better as I approached the end of the song and I decided to act as if nothing was unusual and I was supposed to play the song through twice. I missed fewer notes the second time through the piece. But try as I might I was unable to gain full control of the shaking hands. When I stood to take a bow, the audience was polite with applause.

For many reasons, this song is lodged in my brain. I was so happy to come across it earlier today.

All of us, everywhere, hope the war in Ukraine will come to its end by year end. And to wish it along, please enjoy this performance, which does not miss a single note, I am sure. Vocalist Anna Reker, Conductor André Rieu and His Johann Strauss Orchestra live in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

May a swallow fly into your household and foretell a prosperous new year.