Guest Story by Mrs. Katie Hunt
It was 1935. Mama, papa and six of us kids moved to Lafayette, LA. Papa had gone to college there nearby, majoring in voice in 1910. My older sister was studying there as well. It was a long time ago, but I remember it well.
On summer evenings, mama, papa, and us younger kids would walk to the ice cream parlor. On the way, there was a beautiful brick home that we would pass by. If the door was open, I would hear melodious sounds of a string quartet drifting out of the house. Of course, at the time, I was too young to know what a string quarter was, but the music inspired me. Even at eight years old, I felt the music touch my heart, carrying emotions and joy on every note, and I wanted a life like that. Who would have guessed that simple notes like that would strike such a chord in me.
Fast forward a few years, when I was ten years old, I started to take piano lessons. It was a short trial for playing piano, only about five months, as it was 1941 and the war had started. My piano teacher at the time joined the Women’s Army Corps, but before she left, she brought a box of piano music to our house, leaving it and a prophecy with my mama, “One day, Katie will play the piano.” That was the last of the piano lessons or music in general until 1951.
In 1948, I went to college at the Southwestern Louisiana Institute and majored in Home Economics, with a minor in science. Back in the day, it was lucky for a girl to attend college. I remember packing a suitcase, leaving my mama’s house to take the bus to college. Letters and postcards were sent occasionally as our only source of communication. It would be months before I returned home for the holidays. During college, young men would court the girls from my classes. Myself included! The handsome beaus back in the day… nevertheless, one especially caught my eye. I worked at the Five and 10 Cent Store part-time, and this young man would come in to buy something from me, but then return the next day for a refund. I later realized he didn’t have any money and did this just to see me at the store. He courted me on Sundays and we went to church together. As it turns out, he was a musician in a backup band for Frank Sinatra and other famous entertainers at the time, touring to play in Las Vegas.
After six months, we got married, finished our college degrees to graduate, and then moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. My husband was the saxophone lead in a dance band and played on the weekends. Oklahoma was a dry state at the time, so there were no night clubs. The band played at the country club or at school proms. Piano players were very scarce and independent, and the piano player for the band wanted double cut pay, which, in those days, meant they were paid $11 for a 3-hour job while the leader’s pay was $22. It was quite the job.
Well, my husband decided that I should be the piano player for their band. I was already a mother then, so there was much objection on my part. Imagine juggling babies, housework, piano practice, and band gigs at the same time. As it goes, I lost that argument and started to take lessons with a Jazz pianist called Marvin Whisman. He taught me the scales and chords of all the major and minor keys while I learned how to provide the rhythmic beat of the band.
The first electric keyboard came out in 1954. A year later, my husband bought one for me to practice on. Every night, I would put my two children to sleep, darling baby Audry and her older brother Charlie, and then practice on the electric keyboard for five hours. I would connect the ear phones in and immerse myself in the music, practicing diligently. It was a good thing the electric keyboard was invented because most venues we played at had old, out of tune pianos.
After nine months of intense lessons and practice, I was ready to play in the band. I started playing first with another band in Bartlesville that was “high society” music, in other words, music for swing dancing! It was good experience performing with the High Society band, and I played with them for a year before performing as the pianist for my husband’s jazz band. The jazz music required a little more spontaneity and creative license and also had complicated arrangements. My husband’s jazz band also traveled for gigs, so for two years, I balanced touring as their pianist and the responsibilities of motherhood, as my third child, Steve, was born.
Aside from the occasional band gigs, I also started taking classic piano lessons. By 1964, women started to work, and I became an assistant dietician at the Brazosport Hospital. It was a brief stint for I was used to being a stay-at-home mom and with my fourth child, Jim, by then, I was missing all of them too much during the day to continue working, so I went back to being a homemaker. On one visit back to Bartlesville, my previous piano teacher told me bluntly, “Honey, get out of that kitchen and start teaching piano.” Never had I been so grateful to take someone’s advice.
I started teaching private piano lessons in 1965. The best teachers are also students of their field. I was fortunate to have taken lessons from two renowned international concert pianists from the University of Houston over many decades: Albert Hirsh and Timothy Hester. What an honor and experience to have had them as teachers.
Fifty-five years later, I am still teaching and it is one of the greatest joys in my life. Of course, much has changed over the years as I adapted to the societal changes and trends of both music and my students. Ever since I started my Hunt’s Piano Studio, I’ve stayed in small town Lake Jackson, Texas. I don’t have to step too far outside my music studio to experience what the world has to offer, as I’ve had hundreds of students cross my doorway, from over 25 countries. Their families and cultures are shared through the language of music that I’ve brought together through the piano. I am so blessed and proud of each of my students whether they go on to become concert pianists or play pop song covers for fun.
Now in 2020, and I am navigating COVID-19 like any other profession, hosting my lessons over Face Time, Zoom, or Messenger. Thanks to technology, I can still listen to my students practice over video and sound quality is surprisingly acceptable, even for the home recitals! However, nothing can compare with the emotions and joy of hearing the ringing tones of piano keys, and I am so lucky to have music and dedicated students in my life.
