RENTON \u2014 DeShawn Shead is standing in the Seahawks\u2019 locker room, humming wedding music and wiggling his fingers across an imaginary keyboard.<\/p>\n
Shead, a defensive back, is not crazy. He is trying to demonstrate a point. He is trying to show how he taught himself the piano in the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d be really surprised by what I can play now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Saints Go Marching In.\u201d \u201cBeautiful Brown Eyes.\u201d \u201cMy Heart Will Go On.\u201d And the wedding music.<\/p>\n
Shead\u2019s wife surprised him with a piano for Christmas last year. Her parents had a piano at their house, and every time they\u2019d visit, Shead would play a few nursery rhymes.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a history, too. When he was younger, Shead\u2019s mom bought a keyboard for Christmas so he and his brothers could play. Shead played here and there until he got suspended from school for a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom took the TV, she took the radio,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd she left me with books and that piano. So I was just playing the piano all week. That\u2019s when I really started playing. When I was younger, I was running around doing all kinds of crazy stuff. I was getting in all kinds of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shead joined the football team in high school and started realizing he might have a future in football or track. But he stopped playing the piano along the way.<\/p>\n
Until his wife surprised him last Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife knew I liked the piano and she randomly, out of the blue, went and bought me a little keyboard and a self-teaching book,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was the offseason, so some of my off time I just taught myself how to play the piano.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Shead started playing again, he realized he had played it all wrong growing up. The keyboard he grew up on taught him to play by right or left hand. But Shead didn\u2019t know that until later, so he never learned how to play with his left hand and instead used both hands on the right side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t reading notes,\u201d he said. \u201cThe little keyboard showed me what buttons to press. That\u2019s how I learned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now he has a repertoire of songs and can even read music. The only issue is time, because in April a small time-consumer arrived in the form of a baby girl.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I go up there with my little girl and play with her,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019ll hit the keyboard, and I\u2019ll play a song on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shead, a former undrafted free agent and practice-squad player, is in his fourth season with the Seahawks. The team gave him an unexpected $25,000 bonus this week, and sometimes Shead finds himself reflecting on where he is now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a big believer in hard work pays off,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been grinding my way through. I never had it easy. It\u2019s just been a grind.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was talking about football. He just as easily could have been talking about the piano.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RENTON \u2014 DeShawn Shead is standing in the Seahawks\u2019 locker room, humming wedding music and wiggling his fingers across an imaginary keyboard. Shead, a defensive back, is not crazy. He is trying to demonstrate a point. He is trying to show how he taught himself the piano in the past year. \u201cYou\u2019d be really surprised by what I can play now,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen the Saints Go Marching In.\u201d \u201cBeautiful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-featured-articles"],"yoast_head":"\n