Why I Gave up the Piano

When I was 10 I was thoroughly disillusioned with the piano. I had started lessons with great enthusiasm, but it had waned after a couple of years. I was not practising and my Mum decided she was not paying out £x a week for nothing. So my lessons were stopped. I didn't exactly want my lessons to stop, but I didn't really want to practise either. I was in a kind of stale-mate situation. I liked playing the piano, but my teacher was a bit cruel. There was a big box over the piano keys so that you couldn't look at your fingers, and if you went wrong she would rap the box with a ruler and make you jump. This didn't bode well for easy and enjoyable learning.

I was playing the piano at home for about a year on my own, and my Mum finally said I could have more lessons. However, the piano teacher I used to go to was fully booked up... so I had another teacher. She was like a breath of fresh air! I was filled with exhillaration and fun and if I started to feel bored she would make it fun and intersting with some weird facts or something like that.

This is the kind of thing I try to give in my lessons. Fun, compassion, excitement and inspiration all in one.