I entered First Grade in the late 1950's in New Orleans.
One day a beautiful lady came into my classroom and asked, "Children, who in here would like to take piano lessons?"
Sid Jr. raised his hand, and that's how it all began.
This beautiful lady's name was Yvonne Handlin.
"Miss" Handlin--as we customarily say in New Orleans--lived in a ramshackle uptown mansion on Marengo Street with two Steinway B's in the drawing room and two Hudson Hornets in the garage.
Yvonne had a daughter named Lily who smoked cigarettes, wore her hair in a French Twist, and was learning her first concerto.
I was immediately smitten, and hoped beyond hope I would someday be as sophisticated as Lily.
Since those long ago days on Marengo Street I have inevitably experienced many trials and tribulations in my relationship with "The Piano."
But nothing can dim my memory of the exquisite Lily, who at sixteen represented the apex of adulthood.
And certainly nothing can dim my memory of the kindness and love bestowed upon me by Mrs. Handlin, my beautiful first piano teacher.
Sid Jr. in First Grade at
Ecole Classique, New Orleans, Louisiana.
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