Miller making music for 40 years

By Mary Grothause, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Friday, August 17, 2007 (2 years, 7 months ago)
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OTTOVILLE — Louise Miller has been teaching piano lessons for so long she can’t remember exactly how many years it has been other than “40 plus years.” Those students from years ago are still seeking her out, to teach their own children the enjoyment of making music.
Miller recalled the musical talent of her family from her childhood which led her down a musical road.
“My mother played violin in church and my father played the accordion for neighborhood dances and played the harmonica. One day, my Dad brought home an upright piano that still had some old sheet music and books in the bench,” she recalled. I used them to teach myself quite a bit, meanwhile begging my Mom to let me take lessons. She used her egg money to pay for my lessons. At that time lessons were $1.25. I was in the fifth grade and I would stay after school to take lessons in the parish hall. Basil Alt was my teacher.”
Miller also discovered the joy of singing when she was in the seventh grade and the school put on an operetta, “The Pied Piper of Hamlin.” Her lessons became a combination of piano and vocal. She sang at her first wedding at the age of 14. One outstanding memory for Miller was singing in a contest in Napoleon. She was chosen from over 100 contestants to sing at the Napoleon County Fair. The first three chosen at the fair went on to an amateur show in New York; Miller placed fourth.
One of Miller’s favorite memories was going with her mother to shop in Delphos.
“We would stop at the Equity for chocolate sodas. Then I was allowed to buy sheet music at Rose Fast’s Hat Shoppe. At that time, sheet music cost about 35 to 45 cents, now it’s $3.95,” she said.
Miller continued her lessons until Alt said he couldn’t teach her anymore. After high school graduation, she continued singing at weddings and funerals.
After she married Robert “Cookie” Miller and started a family, she still found a way to sing and give piano lessons. She calls her husband “Cookie” because he learned to do the cooking because students didn’t arrive for piano lessons until after school.
“He’s really a very good cook and he actually does make cookies, too!” she admitted.
Besides keeping herself updated by finding workshops to attend, Miller worked for several high school music directors who needed an accompanist for the chorus.
“Bob Bruns asked me to teach his daughter to play the piano and since I was teaching my own children, it seemed like a natural thing to do,” she explained.
And from there her music career spread, drawing students from Ottoville, Columbus Grove, Kalida and other areas. Miller prefers students to be in at least the second grade as by that time they have learned to read and concentrate. Many continue lessons for years. She just had three seniors graduate this year and move away to college.
Her students probably will remember the fun, informal “show-off parties” she created for recitals. “It could get pretty crowded with over 70 people here, students and their parents but it was fun. This year’s theme was Traveling Around the Globe and I made a Grecian dessert, baklava, for my students and their guests,” she said.
Miller has no plans to retire any time soon as long as she has her health saying, “It is nice to have something to enjoy that occupies so many hours of the day. I thank the Lord!”

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