Vitalina's mother dreamed of learning to play the piano since childhood. However, when she was a child herself, her family struggled financially: the money her father and mother earned barely covered life's necessities, so her parents couldn't afford such an unthinkable expense—buying their daughter a piano, which was extremely expensive.
So as a child, Vitalina's future mother solemnly promised herself that when she grew up, she would definitely buy herself a piano and learn to play it.
And finally, that long-awaited moment arrived: in the apartment where she lived with her husband and daughter, an electric piano arrived in special cardboard packaging from the "Music" store.
Vitalina's father unpacked the box, carefully took out the small, elegant musical instrument, and placed it on the coffee table. The piano gleamed and sparkled, attracting and delighting everyone's eyes. Vitalina couldn't resist: she ran to the coffee table and just tried to touch the piano keys with her little fingers when her mother suddenly shouted:
Don't you dare! You can't!
And they stood near the wonderful musical instrument for a long time, silently admiring it. Finally, Vitalina's father said:
Well, that's enough. We've looked at it enough.
He then took the piano in his hands and put it back in the box, and carried the box with the piano inside to the wardrobe. He closed the wardrobe door with a key and gave the key to his wife, Vitalina's mother.
Days passed. Vitalina's mother practiced playing the piano for an hour every day. She learned simple piano pieces from sheet music that her close friend, a music teacher and pianist who lived in another city, sent her by email.
Several months ago, when Vitalina's mother shared her cherished plans to buy an electric piano soon and try to learn to play it herself, and perhaps later teach her daughter, who had just turned three, her pianist friend, along with promising to help send her sheet music, said:
I strongly advise you, dear friend, not to let your daughter near the musical instrument, not even allow her to touch it until she is at least five years old. You and your husband want to see your daughter talented, don't you?!
Vitalina's mother didn't understand the meaning of this strange recommendation, but didn't ask questions to clarify what her friend meant. She warmly said goodbye to her friend and hung up the phone. But afterwards, she constantly thought about her friend's words, trying to unravel their hidden meaning.
Vitalina, every time she was present at her mother's music lessons, listened with pleasure to the beautiful melodies of songs and dances that her mother performed with her skillful fingers.
Vitalina herself didn't dare even approach the wonderful musical instrument: her mother strictly forbade her to do so. Her mother explained to her daughter:
Vitalina, you're still very small, you don't yet have the necessary skills and ability to press the piano keys correctly and properly. If you suddenly start randomly banging your fingers on the piano keys, it might get offended and even "get sick" for a long time. Then my lessons on it will stop, and music will stop sounding in this room. You don't want that, do you?!
And Vitalina was forced to reluctantly agree with her mother. She continued to be her mother's only and most devoted listener. And this greatly inspired her mother, and she tried to perform piano pieces as well as possible and without mistakes, so that her performance would cause her daughter genuine admiration and delight each time.
As for Vitalina's father, he viewed his wife's new hobby skeptically and coolly. He considered it her ordinary whim, a feminine caprice, and treated her piano "exercises" with patient indulgence. Besides, he spent most of his daytime at work.
In the evening he would return home tired. Vitalina, who always waited impatiently for his arrival, would rush to him with joy and delight, but her father, picking her up in his arms and gently kissing his daughter, would immediately put her down and go to his room to rest.
During her music lessons, her mother still found time to talk with Vitalina about how to train and develop her fingers so that when pressing the piano keys, the sounds would be beautiful and full. She would say:
You need to teach your fingers to touch the keys lightly and crisply with their pads, as if they're running, playing, dancing. All ten fingers—five on the right hand and five on the left—should be equally skillful, obedient, and strong, so that a pianist can manage them skillfully and be proud of them.
Yes, Mama, you're right not to let me near the piano. It's very difficult—managing all ten fingers that must press the keys in sequence and in different orders. I'll never learn this! Vitalina said bitterly.
Oh, don't despair! You'll grow up, and you'll manage it. For example, centipedes, which look like caterpillars, don't actually have forty legs but many more, and they manage all their legs easily. You're smarter and more capable than these centipedes, aren't you?!
After listening to her mother's words, Vitalina walked away thoughtfully from the piano, approached her little chair standing by the wall, and sat on it.
When her mother went to the store for shopping and left Vitalina alone at home for a while, with the musical instrument locked in the wardrobe, she would approach the wardrobe and talk to the piano through the door:
Dear wonderful piano, thank you for the beautiful music you give us. I love you very, very much and will always love you.
Several months passed. Recently, Vitalina's mother no longer hid the electric piano in the wardrobe, and it remained lying turned off on the coffee table.
One day, when her mother wasn't home, Vitalina couldn't resist the temptation: she approached the musical instrument to at least touch it with her hand and gently stroke it. She moved her mother's chair, which was too high for her to climb onto and sit on, and stood before the piano, looking at it with admiration and love.
The piano unexpectedly turned on by itself. Suddenly a key lit up, and the number "1" shone brightly on it. Vitalina, without hesitation, immediately pressed this key with her large first thumb of her right hand; the key sang a pleasant sound, and its light went out.
Then the neighbouring key to the right of the first one, marked with the number "2," lit up, which Vitalina immediately pressed with the index second finger of her right hand; the key sang this time a slightly more tender sound than the first key. A moment later the light went out in this key too.
Keys marked "3," "4," "5" successively lit up, sang, and went dark. Vitalina pressed them with the corresponding fingers of her right hand. Vitalina did this exercise for the five fingers of her right hand with the "magic" piano four more times, after which it turned off by itself. Vitalina said with passionate feeling:
Thank you, Magic Piano, for the music lesson you gave me! I will be your most diligent student. You won't be disappointed in me!
And after these words she ran to her room, sat on her little chair standing by a low writing desk, placed her right hand on the desk, and began tapping out her musical "homework" with her fingers, which she had received from her Teacher—the Magic Piano.
Two weeks later, under the guidance and with the help of the Magic Piano and thanks to her flawlessly completed "homework," Vitalina had already learned to beautifully perform about a dozen simple pieces on the musical instrument: little songs, dances, and short studies.
One day, when Vitalina's mother went to the store for shopping, and Vitalina herself, taking advantage of her absence, was learning new pieces on the piano assigned to her by her Teacher—the Magic Piano, her father unexpectedly came home. He heard beautiful music coming from the next room, went in, and was stunned with amazement: his little daughter was skillfully playing surprisingly pleasant musical pieces on the piano with her small child fingers.
With tears in his eyes, he rushed to his daughter, picked her up in his arms, hugged her, gently kissed her, and said in an emotional voice:
Daughter, how talented you are! How did you manage to master the art of playing such a complex musical instrument as the piano on your own?! How proud and amazed I am of you! I'm sorry I paid you so little attention. From now on I'll treat you differently, I promise!
Vitalina quickly and fearfully blurted out:
Dear Daddy, just don't tell Mama that I played the piano without her permission—she'll scold me severely for it and be very upset with my wrongdoing.
Alright, I won't tell on you. But here's what I propose: soon is your mother's and your beloved grandmother's holiday—International Women's Day on March 8th; let's arrange a concert for them on that holiday—it will be an unexpected precious gift, a real surprise for them! Do you agree?
Yes, Vitalina answered enthusiastically.
March 8th arrived. From early morning, Vitalina asked her mother to dress her as beautifully as possible, like a princess.
After all, it's my holiday too, Vitalina explained and added, and I'll congratulate you and Grandmother in the evening when all the guests gather at our festive table.
In the evening, when all the invited guests had arrived, her mother was still busy in the kitchen, preparing festive treats for the guests.
The guests were bored, and Vitalina's father announced:
Dear friends, in honour of today's holiday, my daughter has prepared a small festive concert for all of us, which she will now perform for us.
He approached the electric piano, turned it on, moved a low stool up to the piano, called Vitalina over, and seated her on it.
Vitalina began to play. She performed with both hands together, like a real professional pianist, one piece after another, and then all the remaining ten to twelve musical pieces. Loud applause, ovations, cries of "bravo" and "encore" sounded after each beautifully played piece. Standing in the kitchen doorway, Vitalina's mother watched the unthinkable miracle unfold before her eyes in a state of near shock.
She realized that, of course, Vitalina had broken her rule not to touch the piano, but at this moment she was overjoyed by it. Now she understood the meaning of her pianist friend's words, who had asked her not to rush into teaching their daughter to play the piano, because everything forbidden, which constantly arouses a child's growing interest, gradually becomes more and more desirable for them.
This is how true great talent awakens in a child.