Yes, I play piano. No, I can't play whatever song you just suggested. I cannot play everything. And no, I’m not practicing humility, I really can’t play well.
Piano is typically the base instrument of all instruments. If you’re going to further your musical career, we’ve heard that it’s best to start with this beast. That’s why nearly everyone has had at least a few months of piano lessons. The only difference between me and everyone else is that it seems to be that I was not allowed to quit those said lessons even after I realized had little talent for it.
Piano is how many of us learned how to read music. It’s how we learned to stretch our fingers far more than they should be allowed to stretch. We’ve wasted our backs and butts away on a variety of benches, some good some bad, for hours of practicing Für Elise. My god, I am tired of hearing the same Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Bach songs over and over again.
I don’t have the energy to push those forearm muscles, whatever those are, to the brink so I can play staccato-ed 8th notes up and down the octaves. I can’t play scales quickly or fluidly, and my eyes can’t stop staring at my right hand (while praying that the left knows what the hell it’s doing). Wait, did I forget to take my foot off the pedal again? Why won't the sheet music just. stay. the. frick. up?! Not to mention the weeks taken to memorize; all of this hardly becomes a long-term commitment.
Now that I’ve been allowed to quit, I’ve hardly improved. I can walk past the Union and hear the beautiful sonatas of unknown peers. And I think to myself, “Of course it’s easier for them to like the piano when they’re so good”. How heartbreaking it is to know that you love something, but no matter how much time and effort you put into it, there will be no development. It’s not a matter of psychology. Is not this article simply a confession of unrequited love?
All that us mediocre players can do is entertain ourselves and the handful of friends around us with our Ocarina of Time and Linkin Park ditties. Unless one of our friends is a better player. Then you keep your hands to yourself. It’s either be shown-up or the follow-up.
Now that you may or may not have read this I do want to end on a high note. If you love something, then keep doing it. Piano has been a great distraction from homework and other stresses one doesn’t need in life. You can hit the keys in a way that lets out your anger or sadness or what-have-you. Let’s be honest. Even if we’re not that good, there’s a big chance that we actually like playing what little we can. So go to a secluded room in the basement of the music hall, take out that sheet music, and trip on that easy version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” until you can show off the beauty of mediocrity to your pals.
