Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story by Antonia Felix Read Free Book Online Page A

was regimented and intense. Juliemma Smith, a long-time family friend, said that Angelena organized Condi’s day as if she were in a regular classroom, but her lessons were more rigorous. “They didn’t play,” she said. “They had classes, then lunch time and back to classes.” Juliemma, who taught at Davis Elementary and helped John with the church youth fellowship, recalled seeing a reading machine at the house. “Condi learned how to read books quickly with a speed-reading machine. I had heard that President Kennedy used one, but I had never seen one before. That was also the first time I heard of homeschooling. Angelena and John were just interested in Condi maturing and getting the best of everything. It paid off.”
    Angelena also wanted Condi to have every chance to develop into a first-rate pianist, which meant she would need a sharp memory as well as excellent technique. Mother and daughter spent long hours together exploring the worlds of music and language and art, both at home and on trips into the city. And Condi adored her for it. “My mother was stunningly beautiful,” she said. “She was tremendously talented. . . . I remember how much exposure she gave me to the arts. I remember when I was six she bought me this recording of Aida .”
    Angelena’s unflagging guidance of Condi’s musical training from a very early age is typical of parents who have produced world-class musicians. Many of the great pianists had, like Condi, at least one musically trained parent who nurtured their talents early and was devoted to the child’s training. Van Cliburn, for example, began taking piano lessons from his mother at age three and studied with her until he entered Juilliard at age seventeen. Earl Wild heard classical music in the home from the day he was born and also began taking lessons from his mother at age three. Claudio Arrau began lessons with his mother as a toddler and read music before he read words. Clara Haskil, Alicia de Larrocha, Glenn Gould, and Arthur Rubinstein (one of Condi’s favorite pianists) each received very early encouragement. Duke Ellington also started piano lessons as a child, and even though he often complained that he would rather be out playing baseball, his parents made him stick with it.
    The benefits of a family background in music, dedicated parents, an exceptional aptitude that is recognized early (often at age three), a deep feeling for music, and prodigious raw talent have been the prerequisites for most great performers. Condi possessed all of them.
    Angelena knew that her daughter was exceptional in many areas, as did the rest of the family. “My sister always knew that Condoleezza was a different child,” said Genoa Ray. To confirm their notion that she was gifted, the Rices took Condi to Southern University in Baton Rouge for psychological testing. The results were undoubtedly impressive because Angelena told the family, “I knew my baby was a genius!”
    The first song Condi learned to play on the piano was “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and shortly afterward she began “accompanying” her mother at church by sitting beside her on the organ bench. At age four, she mastered a handful of pieces and gave her first recital. The intense focus on piano cut into her playtime, as did the other projects Angelena set up for her. Condi spent more time indoors—practicing piano and French—than did most of the other girls on the block. Two girls who lived across the street remembered “waiting for what seemed like hours for her to finish her latest Beethoven or Mozart and come outside.” When she did come out to play hopscotch or jump rope or play school, it wasn’t usually for long. “[She] wasn’t an outdoors child, running in the neighborhood,” recalled Ann Downing, one of Angelena’s neighbors and a member of her church. “She played with her parents, her family more or less,” she said. Angelena and John lived to fill Condi’s waking hours with