When Anne Patronen left her native Finland in 1984, that was probably the farthest thing from her mind, too; after all, she'd had only a few piano lessons in elementary school there, and though she'd always yearned to get serious about it, there were many other more immediate priorities at hand--not to mention a few major events, like marriage, a daughter, schooling in graphic design, getting established in a new job, and finding her way around the Twin Cities region of Minnesota.

To be sure, there is a sizeable Finnish colony in the North Central United States, and the climate wasn't all that different from her native land, either; so it didn't take too long to begin to feel at home. But time can really scamper when you're as busy as Anne keeps herself, and it was some ten years and a second marriage later that she casually mentioned to her husband, Jeff, that she had always felt sad at having had to give up the piano so long ago. Whereupon Jeff--who surely sounds like everybody's ideal husband--hit on the idea of presenting his wife with a novel and ingenious Christmas present: a piano teacher!

It seems Jeff had contacted Merriah Iverson, then teaching at a local music store and now director of Music Magic, a professional music studio just seven miles up Route 3, and arranged to have Anne resume her childhood love. So, in March of 1994, formal piano lessons began for her, and--only a month later--for daughter Katja as well. Then, in September, on Anne's next birthday, came the grand piano (sorry, ladies--Jeff 's already taken!)

Anne and Katja have plenty of music in their ancestry: Finns are an intensely musical people with a large wealth of native music, both ancient and modern, comprising a centuries-long culture of lively song and dance together with a strong classical tradition. At present there are some 30 symphony orchestras in Finland and many concert instrumentalists and singers. Opera is tremendously popular. Reknowned Finnish composers of recent times range from the clarinet virtuoso B. H. Crusell, a contemporary of Beethoven, to the great Jean Sibelius, who died in 1957. It was Sibelius who established a national Finnish style of classical composition and made the whole world familiar with the vivid character of his homeland.

[For more about this vivid country, visit Virtual Finland , in cyberspace!]

The Finnish Americans of the upper midwest keep alive this legacy in many ways. Amateur music groups abound, such as Ameriikan Poijat (Boys of America)--musicians and teachers in Minnesota and Michigan who carry on the Finnish brass septet tradition--and Singing Strings of St. Paul, MN, a student group founded by native Finn Helinä Pakola, who play violins and also perform as singers and folk dancers; they are now touring Finland. And Finns love celebrations: Anne says that every kind of observance--large or small, formal or informal--is an excuse for music making. The annual Laskiainen, held on the day before Lent begins, is the Finnish equivalent of Mardi Gras, and always features much music along with outdoor activities; Pikku Joulu (Little Christmas), a pre-Yuletide event, is an occasion for drinking, fun, and plenty of music; Vappu, akin to our May Day, is a time when the advent of Spring is doggedly celebrated even though it may well be still snowing.

For Anne and Katja, music has been not only a rich source of personal fulfillment but an opportunity to learn and present their native culture. Less than a year after beginning formal lessons they were performing solo and duet arrangements of folk songs in Merriah's studio recitals, held at the local civic center and shopping mall. Then Anne--who never does anything halfway--hit upon the idea of recording some of their music as a birthday present for her mother. The result was a professionally executed cassette tape entitled Äidille ("For Mother"), for which Anne also did graphics and printing, and which was followed this year by another cassette, Yhdessä Ain' ("Together Forever"), in honor of her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. At last December's Pikku Joulu celebration in St. Paul, hosted by Finnish American Cultural Activities, Inc., mother and daughter were featured in several solos and duets.

Last year, Katja--at the ripe old age of ten--took up the flute as well as piano, has already made several solo appearances, and has made a tape of her own compositions. The family thus can now boast two pianists, a flutist, a composer, a piano duo, and a flute/piano duo. Not bad for three years! Teacher Merriah considers them the ideal representatives of the kind of diligence she stresses at Music Magic. "Every lesson with them," she told us, "reminds me of why I love to teach music."