Rowland, Joanne--My Manhattan Primary Years

MY MANHATTAN PRIMARY YEARS

Joanne Rowland

June 1996

I had just begun my solo law practice in 1991 when Paul Gunther was made Bishop of the Manhattan Second Ward. At my request for an easy assignment, and my offer to play the piano for Primary, I was called and sustained immediately as Primary pianist. During the next three years I also served a stint as Merrie Miss Teacher.

At first I was concerned about being left out of adult activities at church. I wondered if there would be a spirituality void. I soon found that the children were very spiritual and, frankly, more fun than the adults. The children called me the Primary Piano Teacher. They came to visit me after or during the meetings, to sit on my lap and play the piano with me, or to show me something they knew how to play, or just to say "Hi."

Sharing time brought amusing and interesting insights in religious philosophy, church history, and general vocabulary. I remember annual discussions about pioneers crossing the plains. There was some discussion about sacrifices and deprivations which ended in half the group arguing that the pioneers did all that walking without shoes, and the other half holding the position that they had shoes; it was only stockings they were missing. Pretty much nobody thought they would have had both. In explanation of handcarts, a veteran New York child offered that they were sort of like hot dog stands.

At Thanksgiving time I remember an eager four-year-old guessing the meaning of gratitude; he suggested that it was "the stuff inside the turkey." After a discussion about reverence, another four-year-old drew an especially intense and artistically delightful picture with green dots in the corners, which she explained were angels watching to see if our arms were folded.

English is the first language in the Manhattan Second Ward, but not necessarily the first or only language for all of the children. Many English-as-a-second-language or bilingual children came and sat, watching and listening for a long time before doing any talking. I remember one bright-eyed little girl who was learning Portugues and English simultaneously in her bilingual family. Having attended choir rehearsals with her mother for the first three years of her life, she was very eager to be in her own choir, and sang the Primary songs enthusiastically before she seemed comfortable talking in either of her native tongues.

The Korean children were a special part of the Manhattan Second Ward Primary. While their parents met in a Korean Branch on the fourth floor, the children joined with our English-speaking Primary. When new families came from Korea, whose children did not know any English, a child who had been around for awhile would sit with the new child to translate. It was amazing to observe the skill of the six- and seven-year-old translators.

Patty Shelly Bushman led the Primary music with a theatrical flair. She taught the children to "perform" the songs as opposed to just singing them, and the Korean children seemed to enjoy the instruction and to excel in singing. The year the Fourth of July fell on a Sunday, there were a lot of Korean boys in Glen Nelson's Valiant B class. Royce Twitchell made a guest appearance in Primary to play George M. Cohen on the paino the way it should be played, and Patty taught the children "It's a Grand Old Flag." For me, that roomful of enthusiastic children from many lands, with a big Korean male contingent, will remain forever the definitive "Grand Old Flag" performance.