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The Main Line Muse

Welcome to the MLMTA blog! We will be posting monthly, content contributed by our very own members!

My Memorable Piano Teachers

2/22/2019

8 Comments

 
Submitted by Kathy Panek

When I reached the age of eight, mom decided it was time for me to begin piano lessons.  I’m not sure whether I asked to learn or the decision was made for me, but there was a big, old Schultz Upright Grand taking up prime real estate in our small living room and apparently begging to be played.  Mom asked around about possible teachers and finally decided to enlist the help of the elementary school band director.  Mr. Burney was fresh out of college, could play the piano, and he was willing to come to our house to instruct me, a big plus.  I don’t think he had ever taught anyone else to play, which I guess made me his first guinea pig.  My lessons went smoothly for the first year until he introduced “stride” piano—an accompaniment style that incorporates alternating bass octaves and chords.  It was a challenging skill for a young student to learn, but I suspect mom had put a bug in Mr. Burney’s ear about the possibility of me learning a couple of her favorites—The Missouri Waltz and the Tennessee Waltz.  Soon, his hand written, mimeographed copies appeared on the piano along with chord charts and other music theory materials.  I think it was at about this time that I began to balk about practicing.  I enjoyed playing the piano but I was not allowed to go outside to play with my friends after school until I had finished 30 minutes of practicing.  How could I concentrate while a gang of kids played games and rode their bikes up and down the road in front of our house?  It was absolute torture.  I pleaded with mom to understand but she stood her ground while I cried and kicked the old Schultz.

Mr. Burney left our school a couple of years later making it necessary for mom to find me a new teacher.  There were two piano teachers in town and I don’t remember why she settled on Madame Renee Lidge.  Hungarian by birth, and educated at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest, she had studied with composer/pianist Bela Bartok.  During the day she taught students at the Chicago Conservatory College, then caught the commuter train to Libertyville and spent evenings and Saturdays teaching half the students in our town.  At the age of ten I became one of those students.  When I appeared for my first lesson, knees knocking, I noticed that Madame Lidge’s home was decorated in a very different style than that of most people I knew.  The upholstery was done in red velvet and every last chair leg and arm rest had been covered in gilt paint—even her grand piano!  (Years later on our first trip to Europe, Larry and I toured the royal palace in Vienna and found every room decorated with velvet and gilt.  It was then that I realized Mme. Lidge had tried to create a bit of imperial splendor for herself on this side of the Atlantic.)  Apparently, she had no time for filing cabinets because the closed lid of her grand piano was piled high with stacks of sheet music and lesson books.  When the kitchen door swung open, we caught a glimpse of a wild color scheme that convinced us Mme. must have been color blind—blue walls, purple ceiling, and red woodwork!

Both my sister Becky and I studied with Mme. Lidge for several years.  It didn’t take us long to discover that this woman, like her décor, was like no one else we knew.  Her broken English was challenging to understand and her handwriting in our assignment books was difficult to decipher.  When she received cash or checks they were immediately stuffed into the bodice of her dress.  Her mantra was “count out loud” and she frequently reminded us that we were fortunate to be studying with her instead of the other teacher in town who didn’t make her students count.  We were also informed that our pedagogical genealogy included some very famous teachers and that we were great, great grandstudents of Franz Liszt!  We had him to thank for the finger exercises we despised.

She insisted on being addressed as Madame Lidge, but for some reason we could not fathom she called me Marguerite for the first two years I was with her.  Mom labeled my piano assignment book “Kathleen” and put the monthly tuition check in an envelope labeled, “For Kathleen,” but I continued to be “Marguerite” in Mme.’s studio.  Exasperated, mom finally confronted her and after that I became “Katty.”

Because her schedule was so full, Mme. Lidge rarely sat down for a meal.  Instead, she would disappear from a lesson for a few minutes and then reappear, still chewing a mouthful of something or nibbling on a chicken drumstick.  During one of Mme.’s absences, Becky was warming up with scales when she noticed one of the piano keys sticking.  She peered into the piano and was surprised to see an old chicken bone that must have succumbed to the vibrations of the piano and fallen inside!  Mom could only shake her head and roll her eyes when we described these occurrences.

Quirkiness aside, Madame Lidge was a wonderful teacher.  She helped me establish a practice regimen, taught me not only to play with accuracy, but with expression.  I coveted the composer busts that we earned for demonstrating good practice habits and I soon learned that Mme. Lidge was absolutely right about the counting aloud.  She also broadened my musical horizons by escorting me to a recital by pianist Rosalyn Tureck at the college where she taught, presumably to encourage me to consider the school as my future destination.  The solid musical grounding I received from her helped me find my niche in high school.  As a freshman, I began my training as choral accompanist, a position I retained throughout my high school years, but to Mme. Lidge’s dismay, I was spending more time practicing choral accompaniments than learning the repertoire that was necessary for me to gain admission to a music college.  Believing that the high school music teachers were using me, during my senior year she boldly marched into the school music department and presented her case.  As a result of her advocacy on my behalf, I was given the opportunity to play a solo at one of the concerts and a piano concerto with the band.

My days with Mme. Lidge ended when I left for college in Wisconsin.  She had tried in vain to persuade my parents to send me to the conservatory in Chicago, but mom and dad were adamantly opposed to their 18-year-old daughter commuting to the city every day.  Before we all left for college, Mme. invited her senior students and even our friends from the other teacher to have dinner at her house.  Having no idea what to expect, because cooking was not known to be on her list of accomplishments, we had a hilarious evening and saw a fun-loving side of our teacher that we hadn’t experienced before.  As “insiders” we enjoyed introducing our friends, students of the other teacher, to the eccentricities of our beloved Madame Lidge.

​I’ve had other teachers since Madame Lidge, but she remains for me the most influential and highly regarded.  If even one of my students feels the same about me, I will consider my life’s work worthwhile.




8 Comments
Susan Koenig
2/22/2019 09:21:28 am

Kathy, This beloved story brought tears to my eyes! What a lovely tribute to Madame Lidge, to your mother, and to our profession as private piano teachers!

Reply
Jonathan Daniel Flowers link
2/22/2019 10:31:29 am

What an illuminating story about your two first teachers. Your article is reminding me about how we are indelibly shaped by our mentors. Bravo!

Reply
Deborah Rodgers
2/23/2019 10:22:59 pm

I enjoyed your post, Kathy; so interesting to learn about you earlier piano studies and Madam Lidge.

Reply
Ernest Lidge
12/7/2019 10:08:15 pm


Oh my God, Kathy! This is amazing! You have made my century. I am Madame Lidge’s grandson, Ernest Lidge III. I just saw your blog post and it brought back incredible memories. I remember the piano lessons, the statues (busts), the chicken legs. She was an amazing, loving grandmother to me and to my two brothers. I’m curious, what years did you take lessons from her? My brothers and I would sometimes throw things over the curtains when she was giving lessons :)



Again, thank you so much for your beautifully written remembrance of my grandmother, Madame Lidge.

Ernest Lidge

Reply
Carole Irwin link
1/20/2020 12:25:36 pm

Ernest, I was just feeling a little blue so I looked up my first piano teacher, Madame Renee Lidge and was delighted at the stories of some of her former students. My mother was Marguerite Hawkinson who cleaned as well as chauffeured Mdm. Lidge to appointments or to visit her son, your father in Highland Park. My brother, Bruce Hawkinson learned the most from her but I was the one who went on to get a degree in Music Education and taught piano and voice for nearly 20 years. I have moved from western suburb's of Chicago to a rural farm town in central Ohio. Hoping to teach beginner's in exchange for housekeeping just like my mom did for Mdm
Lidge

Reply
Carole J Irwin link
1/20/2020 12:02:30 pm

Madame Lidge was my teacher and my brother's teacher for years from rudimentary to intermediate for me but more advanced for my brother. My mother's name was Marguerite and she cleaned the Lidge house in exchange for lessons. I know all about the chicken bones bouncing on the strings of the piano, what a riot she was. Did she make you do Plaidy finger exercises on your knuckles? Her husband had been a renowned ophthalmologist and eye surgeon in Hungary. I remember he would sit out in the living room on occasion. On numerous occasions Marguerite would drive them to Highland Park where her son lived. She was an amazing woman even when her arm was all swollen and wrapped, it didn't stop her.

Reply
Diane Van Orden Moon
10/24/2020 07:50:58 pm

Kathy Panek, what a treasure to come across your article about Madame Lidge. I studied with her privately in my home town of Libertyville. Just a short bike ride away from my home lived this masterful teacher and rare mentor. She taught me piano lessons during the 1960’s until near the time she entered a rest home and passed away. Her example of dedication and commitment to excellence has remained with me throughout my life. She also taught a group of her high school students pedagogy lessons. I began teaching then and have continued to teach for over 45 years. I tell my students about how Madame Lidge changed my life, convinced me of the importance of counting aloud and the magic that is felt through the art of the phrase. She was a music wonder. I feel incredibly blessed that our paths crossed. She has made a difference in countless lives. Ernest Lidge, your grandmother’s legacy lives on.

Reply
John Patrick Pearse
12/18/2020 10:10:01 pm

Kathy Panek et al

My memories of Madame Lidge are much the same as yours. As a child, my family moved to Libertyville in the late 1960's. My parents were looking for a piano teacher for me, and Madame Lidge was just up the street from my new school. Despite having taken lessons for maybe 4 years from other piano teachers, Madame made me do finger exercises for 2 months. This (and counting) strengthened my playing abilities beyond what I could have dreamed. I only took lessons from her for 3 years, but she was and is the greatest influence on my musical life. Unlike you, unfortunately, I wanted to be an architect, which is what I became. That said, enough of Madame rubbed off to give me three children who have all essentially pursued careers in music (7 degrees between them, all music related; my oldest daughter is a DMA). They've told me my piano playing when they were young was a major inspiration to them. I willingly credit Madame Lidge for that.

I would also give a "shout out" to her son Dr. Ralph Lidge, who performed orthopedic surgery on me. I had an infection earlier in the year I met Madame Lidge that left me with a pronounced limp. She harangued my mother after every lesson to "go see my son the doctor". Mom finally acquiesced, and Dr. Lidge performed corrective surgery on me maybe half a year later in Arlington Heights. Madame came to visit while I was recuperating in a body cast.

Kathy, thank you for sharing your memories of Madame Lidge. Yes, she was a treasure.

Reply



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