It’s a warm spring day, practically perfect in every way, as the late morning sun spills over a sleek baby grand piano emitting the sounds of a student learning to play “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
The small practice room swells with the lively tune as Sabille Wanamaker, 14, comes across a difficult line, slowing her tempo to figure out her fingering. Her teacher, LaSarah Montgomery, opens the window while breaking down the song by line, measure and hand. As the birds begin singing loudly through the open window, Montgomery heads toward the keyboard to demonstrate the difficult part of the famous “Mary Poppins” song.
“This feels very Mary Poppins with the birds chirping,” she says to Sabille. “She’s going to come down with her umbrella and clean my house!”
Through a balance of firm, yet gentle and compassionate encouragement, Montgomery helps Sabille master the two measures that were giving her trouble.
“Mrs. Montgomery is really nice and she teaches very well,” Sabille said later. “She’s just always very, very encouraging and upbeat and happy. It’s just real fun and good all around.”
LaSarah Montgomery, 47, has been teaching the piano to kids for 24 years and has been playing herself since she was 8 years old. Her style of teaching, combined with her kindhearted personality, is what has made her so successful in teaching kids how to love and appreciate the piano.