Bernice Sir has a passion for the piano and helping others.

She spent years working in the community as the director of the Miami Beach recreation center, where she taught piano to countless kids.

Now retired, she performs weekly at a home for senior citizens and teaches lessons out of her Miami Beach home.

Sir, 75, wants to give a needy child the chance to play the piano -- and is offering a one-year scholarship to study with her.

``Teaching really gives me a sense of accomplishment and happiness,'' Sir said. ``It makes me feel good that I can give something to another person that I always felt that I needed.''

In the current economy, piano lessons are a luxury for many families, she said.

A typical piano lesson costs between $25 to $50, depending on the length of the lesson, Sir said.

``I have felt over the years that students that were not able to afford piano lessons are a loss of great talent,'' said Sir, who moved from New York City with her family when she was 5. She said her parents, Polish immigrants, often struggled to pay for her lessons.

The scholarship is for a child between the ages of 6 and 15, who is excited about the piano and could not afford lessons otherwise.

Sir developed a love for the piano at a young age. Her parents bought her a dark mahogany upright piano when she was 8, and she has been playing ever since. Her mother, Ann Sir, always encouraged her to learn the piano.

Sir now plays for her 95-year-old mother and other senior citizens at the Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged at Douglas Gardens.

``My mother loves it and she sits with me at the piano,'' Sir said. ``I play Israeli music and stuff they grew up to.''

Sitting at the piano at her Miami Beach apartment, Sir begins to play Brahms' Hungarian Dance No.5, her posture perfect and fingers hitting the keys with the precision gained over decades of practice.

Surrounding her are crates of sheet music. A metronome sits on the piano and a plastic treble clef and quarter note hang from the chandelier over the instrument.

``It can give you fullness in the sound, and imitate everything from the piccolo to the drum,'' said Sir, describing why she fell in love with the piano. ``It also sounds beautiful just by itself.''

Teaching has always been a large part of Sir's life. During her summers as a college student at the University of Miami, where she majored in music and education, she worked with children in the Miami Beach Recreation Center. She later became the center's recreation director, teaching the piano along with Spanish and arts and crafts.

Her work at the camp helped her gain experience in teaching.

``I loved working with children,'' Sir said. ``Teaching always came naturally to me.''

Sir also taught piano at Miami Dade Community College during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and she worked as a teacher for Miami-Dade public schools for 25 years at places such as Liberty City Elementary.

Sir will interview students who apply for her scholarship. assessing their auditory agility and gauging their interest in taking lessons.

``I hope the scholarship student develops a love of music and their own innate abilities,'' she said.

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