Love me love my piano

I love playing the piano.  It's my instrument of choice and we're in a deep and lasting relationship.  Those nights when a small restless me couldn't get off to sleep weren't eased by story telling but by my mother playing the piano downstairs while we children lay in bed listening.  Often it was Chopin, the Nocturnes of course and the gentlest of the waltzes, whose music caught my imagination and transported me to a quiet place.  Sleep would come at last and I'd wake with those same melodies running around in my head.  Today it's the same, but more often than not the sounds in my head are whatever I'm working on myself or the pieces my students are playing in preparation for an exam or a performance.   

My grandfather used to say "keep playing, you won't regret it and no-one can take it away from you once you've learned.  Learn the theory too and then, when you're ready, listen to your own inner musical voice and let that come through".   Wise words from an old composer, teacher and performer.  

If you want to play the piano and love what you play, listen first to others and then take those first steps, learn the techniques, put in the hours.  You might fall in love for life and whatever and whoever comes along your faithful piano will always be a friend. Mine represents therapy for myself and for those who like what I play.  But it is also a practical friend providing for me through the use of my skills and offering what I know to others in passing them on. 

Make no mistake though, you need to want to play and to follow through on your resolve.  It takes time, effort, discipline and the ability to pick yourself up again when you meet with failure or feel it's all too hard.   If you have parents to support you and peers who are also learning, that makes a huge difference.  The understanding and trust that develops between you and your teacher is key.  I failed my Grade IV exam which was entirely through my own lack of focus and application and was miserable for weeks until, with the encouragement of my teacher and parents, I summoned the strength to re-double my efforts.  Grade V was the 'distinction' mark everyone else knew I had in me.  My higher music education was full of days of ups and downs but knowing how it felt to fail and then triumph would always pull me through.  I've seen a lot of students and coaxed a few through internal battles and external difficulties both musical and otherwise.   It's challenging enough for me to retain my interest in teaching and when I hear students play 'our' instrument of choice with enthusiasm, commitment and intelligent understanding of the music, I realise that I am still very much in love.