Danny White Plays the Piano! Thanks Ros for sharing! ;)

Piano and Football a.k.a. Mom Always Knows Best

Did you know Danny White plays the piano?  Yes, THAT Danny White, the football legend. Just after Thanksgiving, I emailed Betty Paul at the Phoenix Speaker's Bureau and asked her to forward an email message to Danny.  I hoped to research more about his childhood piano lesson experience.  Here is what I wrote:

In the 90's I remember reading an Arizona Republic or Tribune newspaper interview with Danny White in which he talked about his mother's influence on his piano playing.  I remember him talking about resisting piano lessons and begging his mother to let him quit.  I think the article said that Danny's mother agreed to let him quit taking lessons as long as he played the piano every day and that he still plays it for pleasure every day.

I asked if I had remembered the facts correctly, and if I could share them here on my blog, with you.  A big thank you to Betty who did forward my email to Danny.  Today, I received his response: 

Rosalyn,

I was forwarded your message and that is a true story. I took lessons from 5 years of age until 13. My Mom was relentless. Piano practice ALWAYS came before anything else after school. However, the "rest of the story" is that when I joined the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie we had a very progressive Strength and Conditioning Coach who always used the most innovative training methods. He had a device that flashed pictures on a screen that depicted two hands and two feet and we were to hit paddles that were attached to the screen and to each hand and foot, indicated on the screen as quickly as we could and see how many we could get correctly in a minute. After the first time I did it he looked at me and said, "You play the Piano don't you?"  His point was that when you play the piano you look at images on a screen and transfer them to your hands and feet and the quicker you can do it the better piano player you are. That process is exactly the same as playing Quarterback or any sport for that matter. You see something, your brain processes it and it sends messages out to your body and you "react" to what you see. Two important points to learn from this.........playing a musical instrument CAN make you a better athlete and............Mom always knows best. By the way my daughter Heather is also a Let's Play Music instructor. I hope this helps.

Danny White

Okay! So of course I LOVED this!  I think this is exactly what some of you piano moms need to continue the fight to keep your kids going and practicing!  Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Thanks Rosalyn for sharing!