Fur Elise is a piece that most piano students learn how to play.  I only learned the simplified version – I never learned how to play the original version.

My father-in-law was an accomplished pianist.  I would often fall asleep to the tunes of Fur Elise or Sarabande or another piece.  Often times he would add in what he called “little trills” to change up the piece a bit.  He played Fur Elise so often and knew it so well that when he had trouble getting past the first few lines of it, we knew something was wrong.  While he was unable to play the piano toward the end of his life, he still loved music very much.

It has not yet been a year but we are still missing him and his presence tremendously.  I no longer fall asleep to Fur Elise and I am saddened that my children will not be able to experience the same.   I only hope that we will be able to instill the same love of music in our children.