GUEST,Pete Petersen at work, sounds like we had parallel mothers. Mine was born in 1911 and started giving lessons as a child as well. Played until her death in 1995. Same eclectic repertoire. Same affection for ragtime played properly. At one time she had a job at a S. S. Kresge store where she was hired to sell sheet music by playing it on a piano in the store's music department. Occasionally, an irritated customer would return a piece of sheet music because when they played it at home, it didn't sound the same. She just frequently couldn't resist making a song "her own." She learned ragtime from fingering the notes on a player piano as a child. Cheers!