Kid Teaches Himself to Play Piano
Jayme Littlefield’s self-taught skills inspired his community, the White Earth Reservation, to give him his own piano.
© Irina Viatokha/Dreamstime.com; Illustration composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Last year, Jayme Littlewolf decided to take up a new hobby. He got his sister’s toy piano, found some how-to videos on YouTube, and taught himself to play the instrument. Since then, the 7th grader has given many shows, and his talent has inspired his community to give him a generous gift.
[[Learning the Piano]]
Jayme’s love for the piano started at a young age. He enjoyed listening to music, and one day thought he’d like to try playing music himself. Once he had the basics down, his parents gave him a digital keyboard with 61 keys. It wasn’t a full-size keyboard (which has 88 keys), but it was large enough for Jayme to learn a lot of the songs he’d been wanting to try.
Jayme and his family live in Minnesota, on the White Earth Reservation, which is home to the Anishinaabe people. Anishinaabe people may also call themselves Chippewa or Ojibwe. It was on a family trip that Jayme’s talent revealed itself to the community.
In November 2023, Jayme’s family, along with other members of the community, went to Minneapolis to see their football team in a tournament. Jayme likes to find pianos to play whenever he travels—and he found one in the hotel where the family was staying.
“Every town or city we go through, he usually has one of our phones, so he uses Google and finds out where all the piano stores are—‘Can we go? Can we go? Just to look at them?’” Jayme’s father, Justin, told the Grand Forks Herald.
[[A Generous Gift]]
When Jayme sat down to play, a man named Brad Riggle was particularly impressed. Riggle, who lives on the reservation and also plays the piano, posted a video of Jayme online and asked the White Earth community if they would donate money to buy Jayme a piano. Not long after that, there was a baby grand piano in the Littlewolf living room.
Jayme practices all the time.
“He’s playing before he goes to bed, he plays when he gets home from school,” Jayme’s mom, Amy, told KARE11 News.
He plays for audiences, too. In September, Jayme performed at Norsk Høstfest, an annual festival in North Dakota. The fact the audiences love his music has Jayme excited for the future.
“Makes me want to keep doing it and going on and on with it,” he told the Grand Forks Herald after one performance.
