{"id":81,"date":"2009-12-31T11:21:15","date_gmt":"2009-12-31T19:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisabravermoss.wordpress.com\/?p=81"},"modified":"2022-06-10T17:01:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T17:01:10","slug":"but-sometimes-i-am-91-and-still-practicing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/but-sometimes-i-am-91-and-still-practicing\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninety-One and Still Practicing"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 29th<\/sup>\u2014<\/p>\n

Today is the 91st<\/sup> birthday of a dear friend of mine, Bereni Karasik, with whom I studied piano as a teenager, and who knew my parents before I was born.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always felt a strong connection to this magnificent woman, with her keen intelligence and regal old-world bearing.\u00a0 I\u2019ve kept in touch over the years, visiting her at her house in the inner Richmond district of San Francisco long after I gave up taking regular lessons.\u00a0 We\u2019d sit around her cozy book-lined breakfast nook, talking about music, literature, family, and her life and mine, while she took thoughtful, delicate puffs from long cigarettes.<\/p>\n

I would study her gestures and face, fascinated.\u00a0 With her high forehead, swept-back hair and striking features, she looked like Carolyn Jones as Morticia on The Addams Family<\/em>\u2014but to me, more stunning.\u00a0 There was a depth and resonance to everything she said, making me feel there was nowhere else in the world to be at that moment, nothing as important as taking in her extraordinary presence.<\/p>\n

We would return to the piano every now and then.\u00a0 As recently as four or five years ago, when I needed to brush up on a few Bach preludes so that I could play at an upcoming dinner party, I went over for help.\u00a0 Bereni fed me soup, commiserated with me about the fix I was in (pressure to perform because I didn\u2019t want to disappoint the host), and walked me through the pieces with the same incisive coaching as always, demonstrating as needed with confident, elegant fingers.<\/p>\n

This morning, I was eager to wish Bereni a happy birthday, and phoned her at the elder care facility to which she moved about a year ago, grand piano in tow.<\/p>\n

Most people sound older over time, but when Bereni answered, it was the same youthful voice as always.\u00a0 I\u2019d caught her in the middle of her practicing. \u201cShall I call you back in a little while?\u201d I offered, perhaps not loudly enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know, Lis,\u201d she remarked, \u201cI can do something today on the piano that I couldn\u2019t do yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

A technical issue, probably\u2014a glitch in a scale, perhaps, or trouble with a trill.\u00a0 I\u2019d read about the elderly being able to build muscle by lifting weights, but beyond a vague sense that folk dancing is good for older people, I\u2019d never thought about continued ability to improve motor coordination.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this ripe old age of ninety-one,\u201d Bereni went on, \u201cI can still learn.\u00a0 I wish younger people would understand that.\u00a0 They think if they can\u2019t do something, they should give up.\u00a0 But really, the things you think you can\u2019t overcome, you can teach yourself.\u00a0 You can learn something new if you just keep trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut sometimes, people try too hard,\u201d I pointed out, referring to my ongoing struggle with over-thinking and over-doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they do, and at the wrong things,\u201d Bereni said, taking my meaning.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s another problem.\u00a0 That can be learned, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

My son Evan recently told me that watching me change and grow gave him the assurance that he could do the same.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never gotten a higher compliment.\u00a0 I wanted to tell Bereni this, tell her what a privilege it was for me to talk to her today.<\/p>\n

Suddenly there was a lightning-quick major scale over the phone, an octave up and back down with such precision that I barely had time to register what I was hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see?\u201d Bereni said, in uncharacteristic self-congratulation.\u00a0 \u201cNow it just goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Published in the Piedmont Post<\/em>, November 4, 2009<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 29th\u2014 Today is the 91st birthday of a dear friend of mine, Bereni Karasik, with whom I studied piano as a teenager, and who knew my parents before I was born. I\u2019ve always felt a strong connection to this magnificent woman, with her keen intelligence and regal old-world bearing.\u00a0 I\u2019ve kept in touch over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[75,76],"yoast_head":"\nNinety-One and Still Practicing - Lisa Braver Moss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/but-sometimes-i-am-91-and-still-practicing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ninety-One and Still Practicing - Lisa Braver Moss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 29th\u2014 Today is the 91st birthday of a dear friend of mine, Bereni Karasik, with whom I studied piano as a teenager, and who knew my parents before I was born. 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